1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:04,180 Welcome to the Prospering Soul Podcast. 2 00:00:04,180 --> 00:00:09,000 This limited series is all about how to take care of your soul and how to make sure you 3 00:00:09,000 --> 00:00:13,280 understand the ways to be healthy and balanced in life. 4 00:00:13,280 --> 00:00:18,960 In this series, John Meadert, lead pastor of Cross City Church, sits down to explain 5 00:00:18,960 --> 00:00:24,720 one of the most important secrets of his own spiritual growth and a detailed explanation 6 00:00:24,720 --> 00:00:28,760 of how people change. 7 00:00:28,760 --> 00:00:31,840 Welcome to the Prospering Soul Podcast. 8 00:00:31,840 --> 00:00:34,520 I'm John Meadert, pastor at Cross City Church. 9 00:00:34,520 --> 00:00:38,040 I've been pastor for about 40 years altogether. 10 00:00:38,040 --> 00:00:43,840 I have, over the last 30 years or so, really studied carefully how people change. 11 00:00:43,840 --> 00:00:51,000 I've learned that really what happens inside a person's soul is what makes them successful 12 00:00:51,000 --> 00:00:56,800 in life with all the other things on the outside if the inside is healthy and strong. 13 00:00:56,800 --> 00:00:59,000 That's why I love to talk about soul care. 14 00:00:59,000 --> 00:01:01,880 I love to talk about the subject called the prospering soul. 15 00:01:01,880 --> 00:01:07,720 I vividly remember visiting a couple a number of years ago in another city from where I 16 00:01:07,720 --> 00:01:08,720 am now. 17 00:01:08,720 --> 00:01:12,960 And this couple on the outside looked like they have everything together. 18 00:01:12,960 --> 00:01:14,480 It was a beautiful home. 19 00:01:14,480 --> 00:01:20,120 It was a bungalow style architecture type home that the husband had renovated completely. 20 00:01:20,120 --> 00:01:25,440 All the modern amenities inside, the windows, new doors, hardware, the whole bed, very classy. 21 00:01:25,440 --> 00:01:30,840 Two luxury vehicles sat in the driveway, the kind of cars anybody could be happy driving. 22 00:01:30,840 --> 00:01:33,400 These folks were picture perfect. 23 00:01:33,400 --> 00:01:35,720 They had a lot of beauty. 24 00:01:35,720 --> 00:01:37,800 They had a lot of money. 25 00:01:37,800 --> 00:01:40,600 The husband was ruggedly handsome, tremendously successful. 26 00:01:40,600 --> 00:01:45,000 The kids had this mirror image look of these parents and had a reputation as the best little 27 00:01:45,000 --> 00:01:46,000 athletes in town. 28 00:01:46,000 --> 00:01:47,160 It all looked so good. 29 00:01:47,160 --> 00:01:52,040 But when I sat down to talk to them, I could see something in their eyes that said it all. 30 00:01:52,040 --> 00:01:56,560 This family was prosperous in every way outwardly. 31 00:01:56,560 --> 00:02:00,920 Their souls, however, their insides were not prospering. 32 00:02:00,920 --> 00:02:04,640 And I had been called to come and discuss their marital problems with them. 33 00:02:04,640 --> 00:02:10,120 That didn't take me long to see that the problem was not necessarily their relationship, but 34 00:02:10,120 --> 00:02:13,400 the problem had to do with their lives, their hearts. 35 00:02:13,400 --> 00:02:17,520 Because their souls were not healthy, their relationship with each other was empty. 36 00:02:17,520 --> 00:02:21,420 And the only thing that was really shining about them was the outside of the life. 37 00:02:21,420 --> 00:02:26,040 So they were pretty polished on the outside, not so much on the inside. 38 00:02:26,040 --> 00:02:28,440 And what was on the outside was no longer enough. 39 00:02:28,440 --> 00:02:31,480 They needed something different inside of their lives. 40 00:02:31,480 --> 00:02:36,760 Well, just using that family as an illustration, I would say to you that the above scenario 41 00:02:36,760 --> 00:02:40,920 was repeated a million times a day in our world. 42 00:02:40,920 --> 00:02:41,920 Outwardly things look great. 43 00:02:41,920 --> 00:02:48,080 We have that Instagram look often, but on the inside, our hearts do not look quite so 44 00:02:48,080 --> 00:02:49,080 well. 45 00:02:49,080 --> 00:02:54,360 And as I was studying about how people change, I realized that this couple needed what we 46 00:02:54,360 --> 00:02:55,360 all need. 47 00:02:55,360 --> 00:02:56,360 We need a prospering soul. 48 00:02:56,360 --> 00:03:01,960 A few years ago, a friend recommended a book to me by a man named Peter Lord, and the title 49 00:03:01,960 --> 00:03:04,200 of the book was Soul Care. 50 00:03:04,200 --> 00:03:06,480 And I was intrigued by the title. 51 00:03:06,480 --> 00:03:10,880 I purchased the book back in about 1990 and began reading it. 52 00:03:10,880 --> 00:03:15,800 At the time I was traveling and I shared the gospel with someone that accepted Christ. 53 00:03:15,800 --> 00:03:18,720 I didn't have anything to give them to help them with their spiritual growth, so I gave 54 00:03:18,720 --> 00:03:21,040 them my copy of Soul Care. 55 00:03:21,040 --> 00:03:26,000 And I never replaced it, but the idea has always been in my mind that taking care of 56 00:03:26,000 --> 00:03:28,880 our souls is an incredibly important thing. 57 00:03:28,880 --> 00:03:31,600 And so I just began to study the Bible myself. 58 00:03:31,600 --> 00:03:38,560 I began to yearn for God to show me a way that I as a pastor and a counselor could share 59 00:03:38,560 --> 00:03:42,920 truths from the scripture with people about why they have struggles in their personal 60 00:03:42,920 --> 00:03:43,920 lives. 61 00:03:43,920 --> 00:03:50,720 For example, how do I explain to someone why they cannot seem to get rid of habitual sin 62 00:03:50,720 --> 00:03:53,840 that's been ingrained in their lives for years? 63 00:03:53,840 --> 00:03:57,960 How can I explain why they can't deal with certain fears and anxieties about different 64 00:03:57,960 --> 00:04:00,600 aspects of their life? 65 00:04:00,600 --> 00:04:04,120 Why can I not explain to them how they struggle in acts of obedience? 66 00:04:04,120 --> 00:04:10,160 And I actually pray, God, give me the ability to connect with people, to give them answers 67 00:04:10,160 --> 00:04:12,880 from your word, because I knew those answers were there. 68 00:04:12,880 --> 00:04:17,160 And what God revealed to me, I am sharing with you. 69 00:04:17,160 --> 00:04:20,640 In this series of talks, we're going to be dealing with subjects like, what am I? 70 00:04:20,640 --> 00:04:23,720 I mean, how am I as a human being actually made up? 71 00:04:23,720 --> 00:04:28,240 We're going to talk about the divine process of obedience, how we actually learn to obey 72 00:04:28,240 --> 00:04:31,040 the Lord, how we learn to do the right thing. 73 00:04:31,040 --> 00:04:33,640 And some of us out there would just say, well, that's simple, you just do it. 74 00:04:33,640 --> 00:04:37,840 Well, it is simple in that you just do it, but what if you can't just do it? 75 00:04:37,840 --> 00:04:43,560 What goes wrong when you can't do what you know you want to do or should do? 76 00:04:43,560 --> 00:04:47,080 What about when you fail to do what you know is absolutely right? 77 00:04:47,080 --> 00:04:48,080 What happens then? 78 00:04:48,080 --> 00:04:53,200 We need to come to grips with the clear answer to that question. 79 00:04:53,200 --> 00:04:57,360 In the process of this podcast, we'll be talking about enemies of the soul. 80 00:04:57,360 --> 00:05:00,880 I don't know if you know this, but you're in a war, literally, and you need to know 81 00:05:00,880 --> 00:05:02,520 how to win that war. 82 00:05:02,520 --> 00:05:06,400 We look at some weapons we use against the enemies of our soul. 83 00:05:06,400 --> 00:05:11,360 The Bible says we have everything in Christ Jesus pertaining to life and godliness. 84 00:05:11,360 --> 00:05:14,600 You'll remember some of the verses as I share these truths with you. 85 00:05:14,600 --> 00:05:16,400 So we'll look at weapons we use. 86 00:05:16,400 --> 00:05:20,520 I'm going to teach you the three battlefields on which this war is waged, the battle of 87 00:05:20,520 --> 00:05:25,680 the mind and the will and emotions, which is what makes up your soul, by the way. 88 00:05:25,680 --> 00:05:30,400 We're going to talk about the price that you have to pay in order to have a prospering 89 00:05:30,400 --> 00:05:31,400 soul. 90 00:05:31,400 --> 00:05:38,440 It's very costly to live a life that's filled with prosperity inside, and yet it can take 91 00:05:38,440 --> 00:05:42,600 place and you can overcome the things that set you back. 92 00:05:42,600 --> 00:05:46,880 One insightful writer that I read years ago made this statement. 93 00:05:46,880 --> 00:05:50,840 He wrote, the truth will set you free, but first it will make you miserable. 94 00:05:50,840 --> 00:05:54,920 That podcast that we're talking about, the Prospering Soul podcast here, may well do 95 00:05:54,920 --> 00:05:55,920 that with you. 96 00:05:55,920 --> 00:05:59,160 It may make you miserable for just a little bit. 97 00:05:59,160 --> 00:06:03,760 But I want you to know there's a great end to this, a goal in mind. 98 00:06:03,760 --> 00:06:10,520 And I want you to stay with me as I introduce this prospering soul idea and help you understand 99 00:06:10,520 --> 00:06:15,320 yourself according to the Bible and help you understand how to bring great change into 100 00:06:15,320 --> 00:06:17,960 your life and to prosper. 101 00:06:17,960 --> 00:06:20,160 There's a Bible verse in 3 John. 102 00:06:20,160 --> 00:06:24,920 It's in the first few verses of 3 John and it's a letter from John to Gaius. 103 00:06:24,920 --> 00:06:28,440 And let me just read these first few verses and pick up on the word prosperity in just 104 00:06:28,440 --> 00:06:30,200 a moment as I read it. 105 00:06:30,200 --> 00:06:35,480 It says, the elder to the beloved Gaius, whom I love in the truth, beloved, I pray that 106 00:06:35,480 --> 00:06:39,320 you may prosper in all things and be in health just as your soul prospers. 107 00:06:39,320 --> 00:06:41,560 I hope you caught that. 108 00:06:41,560 --> 00:06:45,520 He goes on and says, for I rejoice greatly when brethren came and testified of the truth 109 00:06:45,520 --> 00:06:48,920 that is in you just as you walk in the truth. 110 00:06:48,920 --> 00:06:52,560 I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth. 111 00:06:52,560 --> 00:06:57,520 John, the apostle, is saying to this man, Gaius, he's saying, beloved, I pray that you 112 00:06:57,520 --> 00:07:02,320 may prosper in all things and be in good health just as your soul prosper. 113 00:07:02,320 --> 00:07:04,680 That word prosper means to make good progress. 114 00:07:04,680 --> 00:07:05,880 It means to grow. 115 00:07:05,880 --> 00:07:08,680 It doesn't really have anything to do with finances. 116 00:07:08,680 --> 00:07:12,360 It doesn't mean cars, money, and houses. 117 00:07:12,360 --> 00:07:16,840 It simply means good progress in your personal life. 118 00:07:16,840 --> 00:07:22,280 Taken literally, this Bible verse says, I pray that you might make good progress in 119 00:07:22,280 --> 00:07:25,760 all things, that you might grow and continue to grow. 120 00:07:25,760 --> 00:07:29,440 When he was addressing people who had made a commitment to Jesus Christ. 121 00:07:29,440 --> 00:07:31,560 And here's the big deal here. 122 00:07:31,560 --> 00:07:35,680 He saw a connection between the soul making good progress and the rest of life making 123 00:07:35,680 --> 00:07:36,680 good progress. 124 00:07:36,680 --> 00:07:38,600 Again, I'll read that verse. 125 00:07:38,600 --> 00:07:44,920 I pray that you prosper and be in good health just as your soul prospers or progresses well. 126 00:07:44,920 --> 00:07:49,960 So I'm going to come at this with the idea of if we can help your soul prosper, if we 127 00:07:49,960 --> 00:07:56,880 can make your soul progress well, then the rest of your life will do well in addition 128 00:07:56,880 --> 00:07:57,880 to that. 129 00:07:57,880 --> 00:08:01,480 What goes on on the inside definitely affects everything else. 130 00:08:01,480 --> 00:08:05,360 I don't think it's a surprise to anyone that when things are going bad spiritually, they 131 00:08:05,360 --> 00:08:08,160 seem to be going badly everywhere. 132 00:08:08,160 --> 00:08:14,280 In the book of Psalms, David spoke of a connection between sin and even the aching in his bones. 133 00:08:14,280 --> 00:08:17,480 He says, my bones grown because of my sin. 134 00:08:17,480 --> 00:08:21,900 The same is true of Solomon in Proverbs chapter 17. 135 00:08:21,900 --> 00:08:26,640 He talks about the connection between soul and the rest of your life. 136 00:08:26,640 --> 00:08:30,360 So there's a direct link between the physical and the spiritual. 137 00:08:30,360 --> 00:08:34,000 We should come to a common agreement that if things are not going well spiritually, 138 00:08:34,000 --> 00:08:39,780 even though they may seem okay physically or financially, they're in fact not okay. 139 00:08:39,780 --> 00:08:43,540 And one day we'll wake up and find out just how bad it really is. 140 00:08:43,540 --> 00:08:47,920 So there's a connection between how well you progress in your soul and how well you are 141 00:08:47,920 --> 00:08:50,440 in the rest of your life. 142 00:08:50,440 --> 00:08:53,400 And John says something else in verse three that I'll bring to your attention. 143 00:08:53,400 --> 00:08:58,720 He said, I rejoice greatly when brethren came and testified of the truth that is in you 144 00:08:58,720 --> 00:09:01,360 just as you walk in the truth. 145 00:09:01,360 --> 00:09:07,120 So this verse tells us that the truth that is in us directly influences the way we walk. 146 00:09:07,120 --> 00:09:08,120 Here's a principle. 147 00:09:08,120 --> 00:09:10,720 If you're writing something down, this is a great thing to write down. 148 00:09:10,720 --> 00:09:14,360 What is in you influences what comes out of you. 149 00:09:14,360 --> 00:09:18,920 Have you ever stopped to wonder why did I say what I just said or why did I think what 150 00:09:18,920 --> 00:09:19,920 I just thought? 151 00:09:19,920 --> 00:09:23,600 Well, what is inside of you influences what comes out of you in the way of your thought 152 00:09:23,600 --> 00:09:26,960 life or what you say or your action. 153 00:09:26,960 --> 00:09:30,360 And what comes out of you is not just something that just happens. 154 00:09:30,360 --> 00:09:32,920 It's not just natural. 155 00:09:32,920 --> 00:09:35,040 It's really connected to what's on the inside of you. 156 00:09:35,040 --> 00:09:38,120 What comes out of your mouth or your thought life or your actions. 157 00:09:38,120 --> 00:09:42,040 It's a direct connection to what truth is in you. 158 00:09:42,040 --> 00:09:46,840 You see, you do what you believe. 159 00:09:46,840 --> 00:09:48,680 You can't just throw what you believe out the window. 160 00:09:48,680 --> 00:09:54,040 Our actions and our behavior are directly linked to what we believe about God or about 161 00:09:54,040 --> 00:09:57,800 truth or about our relationship with God. 162 00:09:57,800 --> 00:10:03,600 And every other aspect of truth or doctrine is not something we can neglect or despise. 163 00:10:03,600 --> 00:10:07,400 So John's bringing that out for this individual he's writing to. 164 00:10:07,400 --> 00:10:11,920 I rejoice greatly when brethren came and testified of the truth that is in you. 165 00:10:11,920 --> 00:10:16,160 Just as you walk in the truth, I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in 166 00:10:16,160 --> 00:10:17,160 the truth. 167 00:10:17,160 --> 00:10:20,600 So let me just tell you, if your soul is going to prosper, you're going to have to have an 168 00:10:20,600 --> 00:10:23,600 understanding of who you are. 169 00:10:23,600 --> 00:10:28,280 And my prayer is that we would learn to nurture and take care of our soul in the days ahead. 170 00:10:28,280 --> 00:10:33,680 Now we're going to begin in John, with the verses I've shared with you, but really there's 171 00:10:33,680 --> 00:10:37,840 a prior verse that God got my attention with in the book of Proverbs. 172 00:10:37,840 --> 00:10:43,880 It says this, keep your heart with all diligence for out of it sprung the issues of life. 173 00:10:43,880 --> 00:10:46,960 That's chapter four, verse 26 of Proverbs. 174 00:10:46,960 --> 00:10:50,640 During the period of time which I had been studying this, I'd been bombarded by all kinds 175 00:10:50,640 --> 00:10:54,120 of literature concerning how to help people. 176 00:10:54,120 --> 00:10:57,960 Most of them took the approach of intermingling a little bit of psychology and psychotherapy 177 00:10:57,960 --> 00:11:01,800 with certain teachings of the Bible and applying them to people's lives. 178 00:11:01,800 --> 00:11:06,560 And the insinuation was, yes, you need the Bible, but you also need psychology without 179 00:11:06,560 --> 00:11:10,400 which you will not be able to obtain victory. 180 00:11:10,400 --> 00:11:17,080 And as I read one of Jay Adams' books on biblical counseling, my questions were echoing 181 00:11:17,080 --> 00:11:19,680 inside as I read what he wrote. 182 00:11:19,680 --> 00:11:23,480 It says this in his book on biblical counseling. 183 00:11:23,480 --> 00:11:27,240 He said, was the Christian world really left in the dark for all these years until psychology 184 00:11:27,240 --> 00:11:28,240 came along? 185 00:11:28,240 --> 00:11:29,640 Were we really left alone? 186 00:11:29,640 --> 00:11:31,120 Were we really without the truth? 187 00:11:31,120 --> 00:11:36,160 Did the church have nothing to say until the early 1900s when some of the psychology wise 188 00:11:36,160 --> 00:11:39,440 men and gurus began to come to the forefront? 189 00:11:39,440 --> 00:11:42,800 Did Charles Spurgeon, who was a great preacher, not have anything to say from the word of 190 00:11:42,800 --> 00:11:44,760 God that would change people's lives? 191 00:11:44,760 --> 00:11:47,120 Did John Cabin not have anything to say? 192 00:11:47,120 --> 00:11:48,840 How about the Wesley brothers? 193 00:11:48,840 --> 00:11:52,160 How about Peter and Paul and the apostles in the New Testament? 194 00:11:52,160 --> 00:11:56,040 They didn't seem to have a need for psychology and psychotherapy to help people. 195 00:11:56,040 --> 00:11:58,720 And what about Jesus himself? 196 00:11:58,720 --> 00:12:02,840 Was not he equipped to deal with the same issues in people's lives that we deal with 197 00:12:02,840 --> 00:12:04,120 today? 198 00:12:04,120 --> 00:12:07,920 If all that is true and these men were equipped and had something to share that would change 199 00:12:07,920 --> 00:12:15,120 lives, then would we not find answers in the scriptures instead of in modern secular thought? 200 00:12:15,120 --> 00:12:17,760 Wouldn't we find answers in God's word? 201 00:12:17,760 --> 00:12:22,240 And that's my conviction that we have answers in God's word. 202 00:12:22,240 --> 00:12:24,760 It's not that modern thought can't help at all. 203 00:12:24,760 --> 00:12:29,720 It's simply that it often deviates from the truth of God's word. 204 00:12:29,720 --> 00:12:35,760 I think there's an ancient secret that people are missing and that is that God has spoken 205 00:12:35,760 --> 00:12:37,480 about the problems we face in life. 206 00:12:37,480 --> 00:12:41,820 And I began to conclude years ago that there was no way to find an answer to human predicament 207 00:12:41,820 --> 00:12:44,960 apart from the scripture. 208 00:12:44,960 --> 00:12:48,760 And if I take every problem to the scripture, I'll find the answers I need. 209 00:12:48,760 --> 00:12:52,640 We won't have all of our questions answered all the time, but we will find solutions to 210 00:12:52,640 --> 00:12:54,680 the problems that we face. 211 00:12:54,680 --> 00:13:00,280 And we'll find the kind of prosperity, that soul prosperity that God promises in scripture. 212 00:13:00,280 --> 00:13:02,240 So that's the journey we're on. 213 00:13:02,240 --> 00:13:06,320 And in order to do that, we need to think a little bit about who we are. 214 00:13:06,320 --> 00:13:07,800 How are we made up? 215 00:13:07,800 --> 00:13:13,240 And I'm going to begin that part of this talk by asking the question, are you spirit or 216 00:13:13,240 --> 00:13:14,240 are you soul? 217 00:13:14,240 --> 00:13:17,800 We know you have a body, but are you spirit or are you soul? 218 00:13:17,800 --> 00:13:22,920 You know, if you do a word study on the word soul in the Bible, you may end up being confused, 219 00:13:22,920 --> 00:13:27,720 just like I was at first, in the Old Testament, you find soul defined synonymously with heart 220 00:13:27,720 --> 00:13:28,720 and spirit. 221 00:13:28,720 --> 00:13:33,640 But if you search the New Testament and notice the unfolding of scripture and how the word 222 00:13:33,640 --> 00:13:38,760 soul is used on a timeline or in chronological order, something happens to this word. 223 00:13:38,760 --> 00:13:40,880 It begins to morph. 224 00:13:40,880 --> 00:13:45,260 Its use begins to allow for a clearer and cleaner definition. 225 00:13:45,260 --> 00:13:49,400 When Jesus spoke of the word soul, he used it in the same way we might use the word spirit. 226 00:13:49,400 --> 00:13:54,480 But after the resurrection and after the Holy Spirit was given to all believers, the word 227 00:13:54,480 --> 00:13:58,240 soul is used in an entirely different manner. 228 00:13:58,240 --> 00:14:01,880 From that point forward, the word soul is almost always distinguished from the word 229 00:14:01,880 --> 00:14:05,400 spirit and most often in the same verses. 230 00:14:05,400 --> 00:14:07,800 So I'm going to give you some examples of that. 231 00:14:07,800 --> 00:14:11,520 And first, that's the only one's five, verse 23. 232 00:14:11,520 --> 00:14:15,480 Paul says, now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely and may your whole 233 00:14:15,480 --> 00:14:21,600 spirit, soul and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 234 00:14:21,600 --> 00:14:25,200 So Paul prayed for them in a very specific way. 235 00:14:25,200 --> 00:14:30,800 He basically said, I pray that every aspect of your life will be preserved blameless until 236 00:14:30,800 --> 00:14:32,240 Jesus Christ comes back. 237 00:14:32,240 --> 00:14:37,520 But he uses under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit some key words that we need to know. 238 00:14:37,520 --> 00:14:40,880 What the Holy Spirit reveals here is important that man's nature is trichotomic. 239 00:14:40,880 --> 00:14:46,680 Now I know that's kind of a philosophical word, but trichotomy means there's a threefold 240 00:14:46,680 --> 00:14:48,760 makeup of your being. 241 00:14:48,760 --> 00:14:53,440 Paul uses three words to describe the complete man, spirit, soul and body. 242 00:14:53,440 --> 00:14:58,920 And what we see here in that verse and also in Hebrews 412 is a clear distinction between 243 00:14:58,920 --> 00:15:01,320 the three different parts of our lives. 244 00:15:01,320 --> 00:15:09,440 And Paul prays that God would sanctify or grow or progress each area of our being. 245 00:15:09,440 --> 00:15:12,280 So let's look more deeply at that. 246 00:15:12,280 --> 00:15:17,880 First off, let's examine and acknowledge the fact that each of us have a body. 247 00:15:17,880 --> 00:15:20,600 I mean, the truth is, it's hard to deny that. 248 00:15:20,600 --> 00:15:23,440 Some of you would like less body, some of you would like more, some of you would like 249 00:15:23,440 --> 00:15:25,900 a younger body, some older, but we all have a body. 250 00:15:25,900 --> 00:15:27,160 Everybody has a body. 251 00:15:27,160 --> 00:15:31,380 The word body there simply means a flesh and blood aspect of us. 252 00:15:31,380 --> 00:15:33,600 But the body does not make up what we are. 253 00:15:33,600 --> 00:15:35,200 It's just what we live in. 254 00:15:35,200 --> 00:15:37,600 I've seen bodies that didn't have a spirit or soul in them. 255 00:15:37,600 --> 00:15:38,600 I've seen dead bodies. 256 00:15:38,600 --> 00:15:41,960 They didn't have any life in them because there's more to life than just the body. 257 00:15:41,960 --> 00:15:48,000 In fact, the most important aspect of life is not the body, but the soul and the spirit. 258 00:15:48,000 --> 00:15:52,720 And in these verses, we find Paul asking God to preserve your whole spirit, soul and body. 259 00:15:52,720 --> 00:15:56,200 So what's the soul and the spirit that Paul mentions? 260 00:15:56,200 --> 00:15:59,160 Well, the word soul in the Greek is the word suke. 261 00:15:59,160 --> 00:16:02,700 It's where we get our English word psyche or psychology. 262 00:16:02,700 --> 00:16:06,720 And the word suke means mind, the will and the emotions. 263 00:16:06,720 --> 00:16:09,280 All of us as human beings have a body. 264 00:16:09,280 --> 00:16:13,280 And in that body dwells a soul which is made up of the mind, will and emotions. 265 00:16:13,280 --> 00:16:15,480 This is key to you understanding yourself. 266 00:16:15,480 --> 00:16:19,720 Now, in addition to that, the word spirit is the Greek numa. 267 00:16:19,720 --> 00:16:22,280 It literally means the breath of life. 268 00:16:22,280 --> 00:16:25,520 It's often used to describe the wind in its Greek form. 269 00:16:25,520 --> 00:16:29,760 So the word spirit deals with the breath of life and each person, what gives life and 270 00:16:29,760 --> 00:16:31,760 what kind of life it gives. 271 00:16:31,760 --> 00:16:36,000 I'm aware there's a lot of notable scholarly writers who say that man is dichotomic. 272 00:16:36,000 --> 00:16:40,600 That he's twofold in his makeup and they reject the trichotomic understanding that I've just 273 00:16:40,600 --> 00:16:46,600 introduced you to and prefer to see just spirit and soul in some sort of union. 274 00:16:46,600 --> 00:16:50,240 Or they simply believe that these two were two words describing the same element. 275 00:16:50,240 --> 00:16:51,240 And I've read their arguments. 276 00:16:51,240 --> 00:16:55,680 They've never been satisfied with their explanations of the two passages of scripture that make 277 00:16:55,680 --> 00:16:58,840 such a clear distinction here. 278 00:16:58,840 --> 00:17:04,080 And I note the separateness in this Bible between soul and spirit. 279 00:17:04,080 --> 00:17:08,120 And it seems Christians make the mistake of only looking at the aspect of spirit in their 280 00:17:08,120 --> 00:17:09,120 life. 281 00:17:09,120 --> 00:17:11,240 They don't understand how the spirit relates to the soul. 282 00:17:11,240 --> 00:17:14,840 But that's the focus of this study more than anything else. 283 00:17:14,840 --> 00:17:20,040 When we understand that the soul is directly influenced by the spirit and understand how 284 00:17:20,040 --> 00:17:25,240 to let it be influenced by the spirit as it should be, we've begun to solve some real 285 00:17:25,240 --> 00:17:27,840 problems in our lives. 286 00:17:27,840 --> 00:17:30,800 Now the second thing to keep in mind is this one. 287 00:17:30,800 --> 00:17:34,440 The soul is directly influenced by the spirit. 288 00:17:34,440 --> 00:17:36,920 The soul is given life by the spirit, you might say. 289 00:17:36,920 --> 00:17:41,640 Remember the word spirit means the breath of life, the wind. 290 00:17:41,640 --> 00:17:45,200 The spirit inside of you gives life to the soul, that is the mind, will and emotions 291 00:17:45,200 --> 00:17:50,560 and directly influences how you think and what you feel and what you want to do. 292 00:17:50,560 --> 00:17:54,280 In Hebrews 412, there's a great verse that talks about this. 293 00:17:54,280 --> 00:17:57,400 And it talks about it in relation to the word of God. 294 00:17:57,400 --> 00:17:58,400 Listen carefully. 295 00:17:58,400 --> 00:18:02,880 For the word of God is living and powerful and sharper than any two edged sword, piercing 296 00:18:02,880 --> 00:18:05,440 even to the division of soul and spirit. 297 00:18:05,440 --> 00:18:07,560 I hope you caught that. 298 00:18:07,560 --> 00:18:11,920 Piercing to the division of soul and spirit and of joints and marrow and is a discerner 299 00:18:11,920 --> 00:18:15,000 of the thoughts and intents of the heart. 300 00:18:15,000 --> 00:18:18,120 So that passage distinguishes between the soul and the spirit. 301 00:18:18,120 --> 00:18:20,760 That's the second passage we looked at that does it. 302 00:18:20,760 --> 00:18:25,120 So I want you to see some analogies here that help you understand how the soul is influenced 303 00:18:25,120 --> 00:18:26,560 by the spirit. 304 00:18:26,560 --> 00:18:33,040 In this verse, there's a distinction between soul and spirit, joints and marrows and thoughts 305 00:18:33,040 --> 00:18:34,040 and intents. 306 00:18:34,040 --> 00:18:36,600 Let me just take one example out of these. 307 00:18:36,600 --> 00:18:38,560 Hebrews 412 gives us this. 308 00:18:38,560 --> 00:18:43,080 It says, let's look at what gives life to what. 309 00:18:43,080 --> 00:18:48,120 And the middle example is in this verse that says the division of soul and spirit and secondly 310 00:18:48,120 --> 00:18:49,920 of joints and marrow. 311 00:18:49,920 --> 00:18:53,680 And we can understand that because we know something about the body. 312 00:18:53,680 --> 00:18:58,280 You know that the bone is the skeletal structure inside of your skin and under your muscles, 313 00:18:58,280 --> 00:18:59,680 they give support to your body. 314 00:18:59,680 --> 00:19:00,720 They keep you standing up. 315 00:19:00,720 --> 00:19:03,800 You remove your bones and you simply slash to the floor. 316 00:19:03,800 --> 00:19:07,320 You have nothing to hold you up, but something inside those bones actually gives life to 317 00:19:07,320 --> 00:19:10,120 them and it's called marrow. 318 00:19:10,120 --> 00:19:13,840 Basically it flows on the inner part of that bone and literally gives life to the bones 319 00:19:13,840 --> 00:19:14,840 and joints. 320 00:19:14,840 --> 00:19:19,640 It allows your bones not to become brittle, so brittle that they just break and crumble. 321 00:19:19,640 --> 00:19:21,100 It fights diseases. 322 00:19:21,100 --> 00:19:23,040 All kinds of things take place within that marrow. 323 00:19:23,040 --> 00:19:28,080 But the point is that the marrow gives life to the bones and the joints. 324 00:19:28,080 --> 00:19:31,060 Your bones and joints aren't much without that marrow. 325 00:19:31,060 --> 00:19:34,800 The last illustration of this verse is that the word of God is a discernment of the thoughts 326 00:19:34,800 --> 00:19:36,720 and intents of the heart. 327 00:19:36,720 --> 00:19:40,960 Your thoughts are not just random poppies, not just things that happen in and of themselves. 328 00:19:40,960 --> 00:19:44,120 They are directly influenced by the intents of your heart. 329 00:19:44,120 --> 00:19:47,320 So the intent of your heart gives life to your thoughts. 330 00:19:47,320 --> 00:19:52,960 John MacArthur's commentary on Matthew says, the lust is what causes one to look. 331 00:19:52,960 --> 00:19:56,520 And I'm pointing out these analogies so that you can understand in the same way the marrow 332 00:19:56,520 --> 00:20:02,040 gives life to the bones, in the same way the intents of your heart gives life to your thoughts, 333 00:20:02,040 --> 00:20:04,160 the spirit gives life to the soul. 334 00:20:04,160 --> 00:20:06,640 I'll even go further and say this. 335 00:20:06,640 --> 00:20:10,240 The spirit determines the nature of the soul. 336 00:20:10,240 --> 00:20:14,920 The spirit you have in you determines the nature of your mind, your will and emotions. 337 00:20:14,920 --> 00:20:20,380 And the key to you as a follower of Jesus, to changing what you think or what you want 338 00:20:20,380 --> 00:20:24,680 to do and how you feel when you do it, is to learn to get on the same wavelength as 339 00:20:24,680 --> 00:20:27,400 the spirit that lives inside of you. 340 00:20:27,400 --> 00:20:32,360 Your spirit, if you have the spirit of God, directly influences your soul. 341 00:20:32,360 --> 00:20:35,320 This is key to learning how to change. 342 00:20:35,320 --> 00:20:40,580 I want you to look with me at some biblical examples of how the nature of the spirit determines 343 00:20:40,580 --> 00:20:42,480 the action of the soul. 344 00:20:42,480 --> 00:20:46,040 And then we'll get more specific at how it relates to you. 345 00:20:46,040 --> 00:20:53,880 In Mark 5 there's a story that the Bible has of a man called the Geresine Demoniac. 346 00:20:53,880 --> 00:20:55,840 And here's what the passage says. 347 00:20:55,840 --> 00:21:00,000 It says, They came to the other side of the sea, to the country of the Gadarenes. 348 00:21:00,000 --> 00:21:03,560 And when he had come out of the boat, that would be Jesus, he immediately there met him 349 00:21:03,560 --> 00:21:06,320 out of the tombs, a man with an unclean spirit. 350 00:21:06,320 --> 00:21:10,080 He had his dwelling among the tombs, and no one could bind him, not even with chains, 351 00:21:10,080 --> 00:21:14,200 because he had often been bound with shackles and chains, and the chains had been pulled 352 00:21:14,200 --> 00:21:17,320 apart by him, and the shackles broken in pieces. 353 00:21:17,320 --> 00:21:20,480 Neither could anyone tame him, and always night and day he was in the mountains and 354 00:21:20,480 --> 00:21:24,400 in the tombs crying out and cutting himself with stones. 355 00:21:24,400 --> 00:21:25,560 So this man's demon possessed. 356 00:21:25,560 --> 00:21:30,680 He didn't know Jesus Christ, even though the demons inside of him recognized Jesus as Jesus 357 00:21:30,680 --> 00:21:31,920 approached. 358 00:21:31,920 --> 00:21:36,760 But this was a man full of the spirit of evil, an unclean spirit. 359 00:21:36,760 --> 00:21:41,080 It's also a stark picture of someone's soul, their mind, will, and emotion being directly 360 00:21:41,080 --> 00:21:45,360 influenced by that spirit that dwelled inside of him. 361 00:21:45,360 --> 00:21:50,240 That's a clear, vivid example that the spirit gives life to the mind, will, and emotions, 362 00:21:50,240 --> 00:21:56,200 and in this case even the body, he was able to rip those chains off of him. 363 00:21:56,200 --> 00:22:01,760 Now there's another passage in Luke chapter 9 verse 51 that says this, it came to pass 364 00:22:01,760 --> 00:22:06,240 when the time came, had come for him to be received up, that he steadfastly set his face 365 00:22:06,240 --> 00:22:07,480 to go to Jerusalem. 366 00:22:07,480 --> 00:22:10,000 This is Jesus on his way to the cross. 367 00:22:10,000 --> 00:22:15,000 He sent messengers before his face and as they went they entered a village of the Samaritans 368 00:22:15,000 --> 00:22:16,000 to prepare for him. 369 00:22:16,000 --> 00:22:20,280 And when his disciples, James and John saw this, they said, Lord, do you want us to command 370 00:22:20,280 --> 00:22:23,520 fire to come down from heaven and consume them just as Elijah did? 371 00:22:23,520 --> 00:22:28,360 But he turned and rebuked them and said, You do not know what manner of spirit you are 372 00:22:28,360 --> 00:22:33,280 of, for the Son of Man did not come to destroy men's lives but to save them. 373 00:22:33,280 --> 00:22:35,160 And they went to another village. 374 00:22:35,160 --> 00:22:36,960 So Jesus used an unusual line here. 375 00:22:36,960 --> 00:22:42,860 He said, You do not know what manner of spirit you are of, meaning that John and what John 376 00:22:42,860 --> 00:22:45,600 said did not come from the Holy Spirit. 377 00:22:45,600 --> 00:22:50,500 He said, Wait a minute, these guys were disciples, but these disciples had not yet been given 378 00:22:50,500 --> 00:22:51,540 the Holy Spirit. 379 00:22:51,540 --> 00:22:53,520 They were walking with Jesus and following him. 380 00:22:53,520 --> 00:22:58,000 They were starting to learn of his teaching, but they wanted to send fire down from heaven 381 00:22:58,000 --> 00:22:59,000 to burn up people. 382 00:22:59,000 --> 00:23:04,840 He would oppose Jesus at the time and Jesus said, You don't know what spirit you are of. 383 00:23:04,840 --> 00:23:08,720 He says, Your spirit is influencing your mind, will and emotions and what you're saying is 384 00:23:08,720 --> 00:23:12,200 not according to my will or the will of my Holy Spirit. 385 00:23:12,200 --> 00:23:14,000 I don't want you to do that. 386 00:23:14,000 --> 00:23:16,080 But I can take this even further. 387 00:23:16,080 --> 00:23:17,840 You might have said to these guys, what are you saying? 388 00:23:17,840 --> 00:23:19,080 You need to quit talking like that. 389 00:23:19,080 --> 00:23:20,560 What's wrong with you? 390 00:23:20,560 --> 00:23:26,320 But Jesus went further and recognized the real problem and that was the spirit in them. 391 00:23:26,320 --> 00:23:31,120 Do you remember how John later responded to opposition in Acts 4? 392 00:23:31,120 --> 00:23:34,760 After Pentecost, after he would receive the Holy Spirit. 393 00:23:34,760 --> 00:23:39,440 John and Peter responded to persecution by praying for more boldness and trusting God 394 00:23:39,440 --> 00:23:40,440 with the result. 395 00:23:40,440 --> 00:23:43,520 It's the same man, but something took place in his life. 396 00:23:43,520 --> 00:23:48,840 There was a change of spirit that changed John's life and get this key. 397 00:23:48,840 --> 00:23:53,500 The change of spirit changed his response to the circumstance. 398 00:23:53,500 --> 00:23:56,900 This is the point I'm going to make to you over and over again. 399 00:23:56,900 --> 00:24:02,200 When you have a changed spirit, when the Holy Spirit lives inside of you, it will change 400 00:24:02,200 --> 00:24:06,960 how you respond to every circumstance in life. 401 00:24:06,960 --> 00:24:09,440 There is a direct link between spirit and soul. 402 00:24:09,440 --> 00:24:13,080 That's why we often know by looking at the fruit of a person's life, what spirit lives 403 00:24:13,080 --> 00:24:14,080 inside of them. 404 00:24:14,080 --> 00:24:18,460 That's why you and I, as born again believers, have every reason to expect good fruit to 405 00:24:18,460 --> 00:24:22,720 come out of our lives because of the spirit that dwells inside of us. 406 00:24:22,720 --> 00:24:27,800 He's the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit should directly influence what we say and what our 407 00:24:27,800 --> 00:24:30,460 mind, will and emotions come up with. 408 00:24:30,460 --> 00:24:35,480 He influences the soul. 409 00:24:35,480 --> 00:24:39,840 As you process that over these last few moments, I want you to try to get that in mind. 410 00:24:39,840 --> 00:24:41,960 You're made up of three parts. 411 00:24:41,960 --> 00:24:47,240 You have a body, you have a spirit, and if you've been saved, born again, you've been 412 00:24:47,240 --> 00:24:52,720 given the spirit of God, and you have a soul, a mind, will and emotions. 413 00:24:52,720 --> 00:24:59,560 It is the cultivating of the mind, will and emotions to be in tune with the spirit that 414 00:24:59,560 --> 00:25:03,000 God's made to dwell in you that brings incredible change to your life. 415 00:25:03,000 --> 00:25:07,080 It allows you to face circumstances in a good way instead of a bad way. 416 00:25:07,080 --> 00:25:11,920 It allows you to control anger or fear or panic. 417 00:25:11,920 --> 00:25:16,960 All those kinds of things can be brought under control by the power of the Holy Spirit that 418 00:25:16,960 --> 00:25:21,080 gives life to your mind, your will and emotions. 419 00:25:21,080 --> 00:25:25,200 In our next podcast, we're going to talk about what spirit influences you. 420 00:25:25,200 --> 00:25:30,280 Just look at your life and see how you respond to things that are challenging, and ask yourself 421 00:25:30,280 --> 00:25:36,320 the question, what's giving life to my mind, to my will, to my emotions? 422 00:25:36,320 --> 00:25:39,960 What spirit influences me? 423 00:25:39,960 --> 00:25:42,680 Stay tuned with us on the Prospering Soul Podcast. 424 00:25:42,680 --> 00:25:47,680 Looking forward to seeing you connect again as we walk through the Prospering Soul truths. 425 00:25:47,680 --> 00:25:52,240 I pray it'll be fruitful for you, and it will change your life like it's changed mine. 426 00:25:52,240 --> 00:25:55,400 Thank you, and God bless.