Living by the Spirit – Part 5

Joke:  A mother was preparing pancakes for her young sons when the boys began arguing over who would get the first pancake. She thought of how great an opportunity it was for a moral lesson.

“If Jesus were sitting here,” she told them, “he would say, ‘Let my brother have the first pancake. I can wait.’”

The younger boy turned to his brother and said, “You be Jesus.”

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We have been looking at a series entitled Living By The Spirit.

The thing I want you to understand in this series is not that one part is good and another part is bad, but rather it is lining up the parts the way God designed it to be.  That’s the key.

Let’s start this morning by looking at John, he said in his 3^rd letter in verse two:

3 John verse 2 (KJV) – ² Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth.

Listen God wants us to prosper.  The message from some about prosperity may be a little out of whack, but God wants us to prosper.  He says I want you to have good health, even as your soul prospers.

He says I want you to prosper, I want you to be healthy and I want you to be healthy in your mind, in your will, and in your emotions.

I want you to be healthy in every way.  God did not come to give life, abundant life in just one area.  He came to give us abundant life in every area.

In Thessalonians Paul said it this way:  1 Thessalonians 5:23 (NIV) – ²³ May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

He is concerned about our whole being.  And when, the spirit is king, the soul is servant, and the body is slave when they are in that divine order, there is favor, blessing, authority, health, and life that flows from the very presence of God into ever crevice of our being.

And a healthy soul is one that is submitted to the spirit, but a healthy soul and listen church a healthy soul yearns just like the spirit does for the presence of the living God.

Psalm 84 the psalmist said this:  Psalm 84:1–2 (NIV) – ¹ How lovely is your dwelling place, Lord Almighty! ² My soul yearns, even faints, for the courts of the Lord; my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God.

Whenever you are a healthy individual and everything is lined up according to the way God designed it, under His authority can I tell you, your emotions want to be in the presence of God, your mind wants to be in the presence of God, your will loves to be in the presence of God.  He said My soul yearns, even faints, for the courts of the Lord; my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God.

When you and I are healthy everything within us, wants to be in His presence.  And by healthy I’m talking about just physical health.

Psalm 116:7 (NIV) – ⁷ Return to your rest, my soul, for the Lord has been good to you.

Whenever your soul begins to get disturbed maybe because of bad news, you can say soul be at rest God has been good to you.

He’s not going to stop being good to you, He doesn’t change He doesn’t alter He hasn’t brought you this far to let you sink.  God is good all the time, and all the time God is good.

Proverbs 14:30  (NIV) – ³⁰ A heart at peace gives life to the body, but envy rots the bones.

When your soul is healthy it is actually good for your body, when your soul is not healthy your emotions are all out of whack, your mind is just going crazy it can effect even your physical body.

In fact some diseases can actually be tracked back to some soulish realm.  Things like worry, anxiety, stress,unforgiveness those things can cause physical issues in our bodies.  But a peaceful heart actually gives life to the body,  envy Scripture tells us, rots the bone.

I think the only think greater than divine healing, is living in divine health.

See God desires to bless every area of our life with abundant blessings.  In fact can I say and this may challenge your theology, it may even ruffle a few feathers.   But I believe we blame the devil for things we need to take responsibility for.

From the beginning of time people have not wanted to take responsibility for themselves.  Adam blames Eve, Eve blames the serpent.  It’s no different today.

We are not yet where we need to be as a church.  As long as someone can come in here blind and walk out the same way there is something more.  As long as there are people that can walk in here and walk out still bound by depression or whatever, we haven’t arrived yet.

When you walk into the presence of God you should leave healed and changed.  And if we don’t challenge ourselves we will just be stuck where we are.  What got us here will keep us here.  If you want to go to the next level you have got to change some things.

In fact here’s one, I believe that a person that is not saved with a healthy soul actually attracts prosperity and health.  An individual that doesn’t even know Christ but they have a good way of thinking, they see positive, they actually have hope.  They talk positive, they speak vision, they don’t even know God and yet they operate in a level that many Christians don’t even operate in. Why are they prosperous?  Because there is a principle there a peaceful heart brings life to the body.

An unbeliever with a healthy soul a healthy positive mind set, actually attracts prosperity, and health.  Why this that?  Because God honors His Word.

Look at Romans 12 beginning with verse 1.  Romans 12:1 (NIV) – Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. ² Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

But listen as long we always have the same mentality as we had before we came to Christ you will always be questioning God’s goodness, you will always be questioning rather this is God’s will or that is God’s will.  But when you renew your mind and when you develop the mind of Christ inside of you, you will have the ability to test things and come to the conclusion God is always good.  And you will have a healthy soul and a healthy soul loves the presence of God a healthy soul even magnifies the Lord.

Mary had a healthy soul, she was healthy in her thinking and look what she said in Luke 1:46 – ⁴⁶ And Mary said: “My soul glorifies the Lord.  The KJV translates the word glorify as magnify, which is a much better translation.

She didn’t say my Spirit magnifies the Lord she says my soul, my will, I choose as an act of my will to magnify the Lord.  I don’t care what it looks like, I magnify Him.  I don’t care how I feel, I magnify Him.  Soul magnify Him, He is worthy to be praised.

(Talk about her situation)

Luke 1:47 (NIV) – ⁴⁷and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,

See a healthy soul magnifies the Lord, but an unhealthy soul even if it belongs to a born again, spirit filled believing Christian, an unhealthy soul does not always want magnify the Lord, but will often times want to magnify the enemy.

An unhealthy soul has to struggle to magnify the Lord, because it is contrary to its nature.  But a healthy soul that has been lined up under the spirit all of a sudden it will magnify the Lord and begin to put the devil where he belongs.

But our problem many times in The Body of Christ because we have not been trained properly, we spend most of our time magnifying the enemy.  And diminishing the Power of God.

Understand this church whatever it is the controls your affections, will indeed over time control your life.  As I have mentioned several times in this series whatever you feed, grows.

Listen we give Satan and the powers of darkness way too much credit.   Look at Colossians chapter 2 look beginning in verse 13:

Colossians 2:13 – 15 (NIV) – ¹³ When you were dead (that’s your Spirit before you came to know God) in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God (God just interrupted your life because He loves you) made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, ¹⁴ having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross. ¹⁵ And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.

Listen to me, Satan on the day of the crucifixion thought he was making a public spectacle of Jesus, because Jesus was stripped naked in front of everybody and humiliated and Satan thought he was making a public spectacle of my Savior, but let me tell you what the Bible says:  Jesus made a public spectacle of the enemy at the cross.  That’s what the Word says.

Take that Devil.  He made a public spectacle of him and he stripped him, He disarmed him of all power and authority triumphing over them at the cross.

I want to make it really clear I don’t care what your theology is, I don’t care what your experience is,  God’s Word says Satan has no authority.

Listen when Jesus, after the crucifixion rose again He came to His disciples in what has been called the great commission and He said this:  Matthew 28:18 (NIV) – “. . . All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.

Now if all authority belongs to Jesus how much is left over for the devil?  ZERO!  He said all authority is given to me and I give it to you.  Go and preach the gospel.

Well pastor thank you, but you don’t know whats happening in my life.

I’m going to tell you what’s happening in your life I’m going to expose you in just a minute.  I just need to establish right now that the devil has no authority.  He has zero authority according to the Word.  Well you don’t know what he’s doing in my life.

The reason why he is doing it in your life is that you are giving him authority to do it by believing the lies the enemy shoots at you.

He has no authority, he has no weapons he has been disarmed, and he is no longer creative.

When he was in heaven he had anointing to produce music constantly to the Lord, he had the most creative spirit upon him.  But when he got cast out of the heavens and into hell he lost all his creativity.  That’s the reason he hates you.  Because the Creator lives inside of you and you are a creative being.

The enemy despises you.  This is the reason why Paul can say stuff like this in 1 Corinthians 10:13:

1 Corinthians 10:13 (NIV) – ¹³ No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. (you know why?  Because the devil’s not creative, he’s been using the same tactic for all humanity, it’s all common).

Listen to me this is why Paul in his second letter to the Corinthians chapter 2 verse 11 says this:

2 Corinthians 2:11 (NIV) – ¹¹ in order that Satan might not outwit us.  For we are not unaware of his schemes.

See that he doesn’t have any weapons, but if he can get you to believe his lies

in order that Satan might not outwit us.  For we are not unaware of his schemes.

Do you know why we are not unaware of them?  Because he has no new tactics.

Listen if we will be honest with ourselves the devil tries to get us to trip up on the same things over and over and over again.  It’s the same thing.   The enemy want’s to steal your identity.

I want you to understand exactly who our enemy is.

Look at John 10:10 quickly for a minute:  John 10:10 (NIV) – ¹⁰ The thief comes only (that means the only time he is going to come is) to steal and kill and destroy;

Now listen to me church I think it happens in that order.

Listen to me he has to steal first, and what he steals is your identity.  And the way that he does it is by lying to you.  If he can lie to you and you buy into his lie then he can actually steal the authority God has given to you when he created you.  And once he steals and gets control of your mind, your will, and your emotions than he uses your soul to kill you spiritually by trying to get you to believe you don’t measure up.

See the only time he comes is to do destruction in your life.  But God said I have come that you might have life and that more abundantly.  And by the way that again is every area of your life.

Listen, Satan because he has no authority, because he has no weapons, because he has no creativity, he has to steal your identity.

They say in America 1 in 7 have their Social Security number being used by someone else and you don’t even know it.  1 in 7.

Do you know how come people want to steal someone else’s authority?  It’s because their losers, and they don’t have anything of their own authority to use.  And so they want to steal your bank account to steal your money to get what they want.

Satan is a loser he has no power he has no authority he has no creativity and looks at you and says if I could steal your identity I can use that which belongs to you for my own purposes.

I can use your gifting’s, I can use your callings, I can use you as a weapon for my purposes and I will let you keep the name Christian.  Listen he wants to steal your identity so that he can use your gifting’s, your callings that was placed upon your life, for his own purposes.

Let me remind you that rather you serve God or not, God has put a calling upon your life.  He put a destiny upon you and He put gifts inside of you so that you can fulfill the destiny that He had planned for you before you were even born and in Romans it says that the gifts and the callings of God are without repentance.

If God created you with a gift of music it was for the purpose of glorifying Him and leading other people into His presence.  And if you don’t recognize your identity or you give your identity over to Satan he will come upon you and use what’s inside you for his purposes. He didn’t and cannot anoint you, only God can anoint you, he is not a creator he is a mimic a copycat and a liar and a stealer.  That’s why people are so talented in music, but some because they don’t understand or acknowledge God have used those talents for other purposes.

This is the reason why Paul says in 2 Corinthians chapter 10 and verse 5:  ⁵ We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.

Because the devil will come and he will yak in your ear and if you suck it up friend he now has control of you.  But a healthy soul yields to the Lord.

The devil doesn’t always make you do it.

The devil may have allowed David to see the bathing woman from his roof.  But it was ultimately Davids mind that got the best of him to have her summoned to his bedroom.  Our enemy is limited in what he can do unless we give into the lies he throws at us.

One more time. . .1 Corinthians 10:13 (NIV): 13 No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.

Satan is not omnipotent, he is not all powerful.  He is not omniscient, he is not all knowing.  He is not omnipresent, he is not everywhere.  But Satan does want to be god that’s what got him kicked out of heaven.  And he does want to convince you that he is god.

Listen to me he is not god, but wants to be god and he will not be god unless you make him god.

Church I am convinced that most of the problems and afflictions that we struggle with are not because of the devil’s power, but because of the fallen nature of man.  That’s the reason why we have got to renew our mind.

I am also convinced church that many real Christians are still tormented in their mind because a principality of darkness planted a lie in their minds sometime in their past and they have nurtured it, nursed it, and rehearsed it, and repeated it until they believed it.

Listen they love God and they are filled with the Spirit, they love Jesus will all their heart and they are on their way to heaven, but while they are here on earth they are living through hell because they have believed the lie of the enemy and not recognizing that at Calvary Jesus Christ stripped him of all authority over your life and it was applied for you by the blood when you accepted Christ as your Savior and Lord.

Flip Wilson made a bunch of money on the phrase “the devil made me do it.”  Where do you think he got that from. . .CHURCH FOLKS.

Sick – we blame the devil instead of what we eat.  Broke we blame the devil instead of what we spend our money on.  WE NEED TO RENEW OUR MIND, and not give that loser so much credit.

Listen church we need to realize that we are a glorious church and we have all authority over the powers of the darkness.

This is why Paul said to his spiritual son Timothy in 1 Timothy 4: 16 – ¹⁶ Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers.

We teach by our life.

That is the reason why we have got to have a healthy soul.  So that we say the right things, live the right things, and love the right things.

We need to renew our mind, and change the way we talk, because the way we talk governs our future.

Listen I’m drawing to a close this is the reason way Paul says in Philippians that we have to have the mind of Christ.  We have to renew our mind, that’s our soul and we need the same mind, will, and emotions that Christ had.

If we will do that than we will be able to say like Jesus did in John chapter 14 verse 30.

John 14:30 (NIV) – ³⁰ I will not say much more to you, for the prince of this world is coming. He has no hold over me,  why could Jesus say that because He had a soul that was lined up in submission with the Father and the devil had no place where he could get a hold of Jesus for his life was in subjection to the Spirit.

Jesus’ life was so clean, mind so pure that the enemy had nothing he could hold unto.  And if you and I could develop the mind of Christ and can I say I’m not there yet at least not all the time, we could tell the devil you know what you have nothing to use on me, you have no hold on me.  I’m not giving you any ammunition, you are  a loser you have no authority.

Jesus said the prince of the world is coming, but he’s not taking my life I’m lying it down for you.

Listen church when the enemy brings up your past, you just need to remind him of his future.

And if he has to dig up stuff from your past, that’s proof that he has nothing on you in the present.

If he reminds me of something in my past I can rejoice and say what you have nothing more recent then that.  Thanks devil, I’m getting there.

John 14:30–31 (NIV)

³⁰  . . . He has no hold over me, ³¹ but he comes so that the world may learn that I love the Father and do exactly what my Father has commanded me.

That’s where we need to go church, we need the mind of Christ.

Help me Lord renew my mind, help me to study Your Word and let it interpret my future, instead of letting my past experiences interpret Your Word.

Next week we will be looking at self-control.