6/12/2011: Soulish or Spiritual - Zac Poonen

so today I want to give you some meat to chew on we've drunk milk long enough so I hope you're all ready my subject is soulish or spiritual now that is a word which many Christians have probably never heard soulish we've heard of carnal or spiritual we've always thought there are only two alternatives no there are three and if we don't understand that there are three we can never reach what it means to be truly spiritual and that could be the reason why we feel quite excited with the Lord on Sunday morning but quite depressed on Monday and Tuesday because we haven't understood what it means to be consistently spiritual to live in the spirit so I want to turn to a verse now in 1 Thessalonians 5:23 we have it up there on a slide which tells us there are three parts to man man is spirit and soul and body 1 Thessalonians 5:23 God is a Trinity three persons in one God man is three parts in one person not two parts many Christians think we are to one visible the body and invisible the soul but there is a spirit deeper than the soul and the Bible says our spirit and soul and body must be preserved completely blameless till Jesus comes so that's the first thing we need to see the one who is ruled by his bodily passions is a carnal person the one who is controlled by the Holy Spirit in his life is spiritual but in between a person could be influenced by his soul his human personality and then he is soulish and he's not spiritual and that's where deception can come in many people live in their soul and they think they are spiritual that's what I want to try and explain as I said it's a little bit of meat but I think we are ready to chew on that I'll try and make it minced meat so that it's easier to easier to chew but you know one of the things that the Holy Spirit says in the book of Hebrews and chapter 5 is that the time has come he says when you should have been eating meat Hebrews 5 verse 12 you should have become teachers by now but you're still drinking milk and that's a disappointment that a father has just like any parent would have if their child is still drinking milk when they're 10 years old they can't eat chew have you been a believer more than two years have you been born again more than two years then it says that we should be drinking milk and we should be eating meat and go beyond drinking milk so I want to move on to another verse in the next slide and that's Hebrews chapter 4 and verse 12 here it says that the Word of God brings a division it Pierce's as far as the division of soul and spirit so God's Word seeks to come to that in-between part of soul and spirit in order to penetrate our spirit now these are verses which probably I'm sure all of you are ready because it's in the book of Hebrews but you probably never given much serious thought to it you've probably never meditated on it this is a tragedy with so many Christians that when they come to a difficult word you just skip it and go on to the next verse well that way you'll never get a spiritual education we got to stop there and say you know sometimes when I read the scriptures I get stuck on a verses like a stoplight and I stop there and I wake up next morning and I'm still on the same verse and that's how I got it understood the scriptures I don't want to get past it till God shows me what that means if you really respect God and His Word you'll want to know everything that every verse of scripture means what does it mean when it says the Word of God pierces as far as the division of soul and spirit and if you mean a believer say 10 years and someone were to ask you that question you should be able to give an answer so that's what I want to try and explain to you let me go to another verse now John chapter 1 and verse 14 in the next slide it says about Jesus the correct translation of that I have it here in the NASB in John 1:14 is the word became flesh and the word dwelt is tabernacled among us now it's very interesting that the Holy Spirit uses that word tabernacled in our midst because that reminds us of the Old Testament tabernacle where you read in the book of Exodus that God has taken ten to fifteen chapters of the Bible to explain the tabernacle and then it's referred to in the New Testament in the book of Hebrews chapter 9 Hebrews chapter 9 unfortunately is not a very popular chapter with many Christians we don't like to chew on the meat and that's the reason why we don't grow up and that's what I want to try and explain today Jesus tabernacled in our midst he was the perfect example of a spiritual man he didn't come to earth only to die on the cross he came to show us how God wanted man to live how God wanted you and me to live and he didn't just show us that he said when I go to heaven I'm gonna pray to the Father and He will send the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost he sent him in order that we can live as Jesus lived you know 1 John 2:6 says if anyone says he's a Christian living bible paraphrases like this he should live like Jesus lived now most Christians say that's impossible it is impossible without the power of the Holy Spirit now let me explain this first of all every born-again Christian has the Holy Spirit if you don't have the Holy Spirit you're not even born again if you're not sure that let me turn you to Romans chapter 8 and verse 9 that's a very important verse to remember so that you're never in doubt about it Romans chapter 8 and verse 9 the last part of that verse says that if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ see the last part of that verse he does not belong to him that's crystal-clear the Spirit of Christ is the Holy Spirit if you don't have the Holy Spirit you don't even belong to him you're not even converted but to have the Holy Spirit doesn't mean you're filled with the Holy Spirit most Christians are not filled with the Holy Spirit so that's what I want to explain how we can live a spirit full of life so now let me go on since Jesus was Tabernacle let's go to the next slide lessons from the tabernacle that's what I want to explain to you lessons from the Old Testament Tabernacle which we want to chew on and understand the next slide the picture of the tabernacle I want to show you this so that you understand here's what the tabernacle look like man has three parts I told you spirit soul and body and so when God made that tabernacle which is to represent Jesus finally and also us as human beings he made the tabernacle in three parts man has one part of his body visible that's the body and two parts invisible soul and spirit and so God made the tabernacle they didn't understand it all in the Old Testament but now we do because we have the holy spirit had two parts one was holy place and the other was the most holy place and that correspond to body soul and spirit this tent had a partition in the middle which separated the most holy place from the holy place now if you never understood the tabernacle you understand it now and you'll understand its application to our to our life one part visible let me repeat the outer court and - covered in the tent the holy place in the most holy place corresponding to soul and spirit exactly corresponding to Jesus tabernacling in our midst and we are the tabernacle of God when the Bible says we are the temple of the Holy Spirit this is what it means now the other thing I want you to mention I want to show you I don't have time to show all this I'm trying to concentrate seven hours of preaching into 45 minutes so we'll have to rush through this God dwelt not in the outer court not in the holy place but in the most holy place if you read the Old Testament you understand that the ark was in the most holy place the mercy seat was in the most holy place and it was there that God spoke the fire of God and the cloud during the day symbolizing God's presence did not dwell in the outer court of the holy place but over the most holy place and that was the place where nobody could go in the Old Testament because there were curtains there was a curtain right at the entrance before the outer court where you entered that's a picture of salvation where you enter right in and there's the sad the place where they offered the sacrifice is the altar the brazen altar symbolizing Calvary followed by a big tub of water called a labor symbolizing water baptism now many Christians were satisfied with just that altar and the labor it's enough if my sins are forgiven Calvary and water baptism I'm saved but the Lord has more for us than that he wants us to go through that first part pictures Jesus is our Savior but then he wants to he's also called the Baptizer in the Holy Spirit the one who fills us Baptizer means immerser baptism is immersion immerses us in the Holy Spirit and that's where he leads us further into a life of service and that's represented in the holy place in the outer part anybody could walk in all the people come in with their animals to sacrifice but in the holy place it was the priests those who were the leaders who wanted to serve God and that's one step forward when you moved on from being I'm saved and I'm forgiven and I'm on my way to heaven and you want to be filled with the Holy Spirit because you want to serve God that's one step forward and you know Jesus has the Baptizer but there's one more title of Jesus and I want to show you that in Hebrews chapter 6 and verse 20 which is not a well-known title of Jesus it's very few Christians even know there's such a title that Jesus has Hebrews chapter 6 and verse 20 here it says if you turn with me to that verse Jesus has entered as a forerunner as a forerunner now if you look at the previous verse verse 19 he's a forerunner entering within the veil it says in Hebrews 6:19 where did he enter as a forerunner within the veil now the veil was that thick curtain between the holy place and the most holy place you see there man was body soul and spirit Jesus has made a way for us through the veil and where is that veil come between the holy place in the most holy place corresponding to between soul and spirit you remember that verse we saw in the beginning the Word of God pierces through the division of soul and spirit what is the division of soul and spirit here it is that veil symbolizing that nobody could get into God's presence in Hebrews chapter 9 it says that veil symbolized the way into God's presence was not open nobody could come into God's presence in the old testimony they tried to go there they died because there was this thick veil God was saying there's something there which prevents you fellows from coming into my presence if we can understand that and get through that and allow the Word of God to pierce through the division of our soul and spirit we can live in God's presence 24/7 24 hours a day seven days a week if we could understand this and this is what I'm trying to trying to explain this is the most important thing I want to explain in this message what does it mean to go through the veil what is that rent Vail mean when Jesus died on the cross and the veil was rent from the top does it just mean that we can call God our Father yes but it also means that we can live in that most holy place all the time we don't have to just go in and out and in and out no we'd go right in there and live all the time there we thank God for the outer court we thank God for Calvary we thank God for back water baptism we thank God for the baptism in the holy spirit we thank God for knowing Jesus as our Savior and if in addition to that you know him as the Baptizer and the Holy Spirit was fully of the Holy Spirit wonderful but I want you to know him as a four-runner Savior Baptizer forerunner do you know him as 400 there are many dear brothers who preached the baptism the Holy Spirit praise God for that but they don't know Jesus as a forerunner I never knew him as a forerunner for years and that's why I was defeated defeated defeated for 16 years after I was born again and baptized as a full-time Christian worker I was defeated in my thoughts I was defeated in my inward life I was preaching things that were not true of me 24/7 till I realized my hypocrisy I got so fed up I was ready to quit the ministry and I said Lord I'm a hypocrite and I began to seek God again and God filled me with the Holy Spirit all over again and opened my eyes to show me Jesus as my forerunner it changed my life so I'm telling you from our own experience and I believe it can change your life I'm no better than you I was a sinner saved by grace just like all of you but Jesus made this way for me and now I want you to turn to Hebrews 10 and verse 20 that's there on the slide Jesus made inaugurated it's a lovely verse have you thought of this verse a new and living way through the veil that is his flesh and I want to say that flesh is his self will I want to explain that in a moment why do I say his flesh was his self will now flesh has got different meanings it's used even in terms of meat in the New Testament but it's not just that we have a flesh in terms of a body it's more more than that when the New Testament speaks of the word flesh I want to show you a verse in Galatians in chapter 5 in Galatians 5 and verse 17 it says here that the Holy Spirit the flesh sets its desire against the holy spirit and the holy spirit against the flesh what is that verse mean does it mean the Holy Spirit against my body certainly not this is the temple of the Holy Spirit how could he be against my body it's my body against the Holy Spirit now the flesh is something deeper than the body it's myself will it's what every child is born with a self will a stubborn self will and that is the veil which prevented man from entering into God's presence man's self will now the question is did Jesus come with a will of his own we have a mind that's our soul we have emotions that's also part of our soul that's our personality some people are introverts very shy and reserved some people are extroverts exuberant the type of person who can slap people on the back and say hi and some people are very shy and reserved emotions are different personalities are different but when it comes to the will whether you're an introvert or an extrovert we've all got a stubborn self-willed every one of us from the time of your born we see every every child is like that and until that will is broken until we allow the Holy Spirit to break that will we don't go through the whale to live in the spirit so does it mean we ignore the mind and emotions no not at all God's given them we don't ignore our body we got to keep them healthy and fit we got to use our mind and our emotions but if you stop there you'll never go to life in the spirit you'll never be able to worship God in the spirit it's the will this self will that is the veil now did Jesus have this let's go to get cemani did he have a will which was contrary to the Father's will that's a question did the father want him to drink the cup yes did he want to drink the cup no he's honest there's nothing wrong and being honest with God that's not a sin lord I don't feel like doing this that's not a sin but if it's your will I'll do it that's what Jesus said in Gethsemane let's see that clearly he had a will that was different from the father's well it wasn't sinful if he didn't have a will of his own he would not be a human being he wouldn't be like us he could never be tempted like us he could not be an example to us he couldn't say to us follow me I'd have to say to him I can't follow you you never had this will to of your own to choose you never had a will to deny now let me show you John 6:38 which I call the one-line autobiography of Jesus Christ John 6:38 why did Jesus come down from heaven let's hear it in his own words we've got so many explanations as to why he came a game to die on the cross he came to forgive our sin that's all true but he himself says I came from heaven for one purpose to deny my own will and to do the will of him who sent me now if his will was the same as the will of him who sent him why should he deny it I mean if my if my little boys will is the same as mine he doesn't have denies denies well yesterday now is will when it did when I his will is contradicting his father's will not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me now when he was in heaven he didn't have to say that in heaven he could say I do my own will because it's the same as my father's will Father Son and Holy Spirit 1 1 but when he came to earth this is part of his humiliation part of his becoming like us in order to be an example for us if you appreciate that you loved him more he took upon himself a will to deny and he denied it all life and I'll tell you it was painful just like it's painful for our little children to deny their will and it's painful for you and me to deny our will to do the Father's will this is the secret of spirituality there's nothing wrong with our mind or our emotions Jesus used his mind I mean he when you read the things he proclaimed the way he taught it's so clear he had such a crystal-clear mind he spoke in a way that even little children could understand and yet there was such a depth of meaning in his words that we spent years trying to understand the meaning of that he used his mind his emotions he used his emotions he felt he wept he felt compassion for the poor he was excited when children were praising God we need to use our mind our emotions we need to study the scriptures I've spent 50 years studying the scriptures and I've used my mind all the time but you know you can know the Bible and never be spiritual the greatest example is the devil no one in the universe knows the Bible better than the devil among all created beings you can't beat him at Bible knowledge he'd win any Bible competition memory competition because he knows every verse he could even quote a verse to Jesus can you imagine picking out the right verse from the Old Testament to tempt Jesus he knew the Bible so well so don't any of us think we're spiritual because we know the Bible and don't ever become proud because you know the Bible better than somebody else that's crazy it's proves you don't know the Bible if you think that if you read makes you proud the Bible is meant to make us humble not proud the likewise with emotions there's nothing wrong with our emotions we need to be expressive in our praise God you know when I was born again I didn't know much about Christianity I was 19 years old and I joined a church where they thought that the best the only right way to be in church was as if you were sitting in a funeral quiet serious grim and it was pretty dead and then I read in the scriptures in Revelation 19 it's quite a verse Revelation 19 and verse 6 if you turn with me there that in heaven revelation 19:6 they used to praise God with a sound like mighty peals of thunder and I said boy I'm gonna get a culture shock if I get to heaven if I don't learn to praise God like that over here and that's why I'll tell you honestly I'm really excited when I come and hear the praise in abundant life probably but it's probably better than almost anything I've tasted anywhere else I'm really excited I believe in expressing my emotions I believe in clapping and I believe in raising my voice and I would even dance with any of you if I didn't cause an embarrassment to others I believe that I believe in expressing my emotions but I what I say is I don't believe that my knowledge of the scripture and my excitement and praise makes me spiritual that is not spirituality you've got to go beyond mind and emotions through the veil Jesus is a forerunner who went through the veil I've got to go beyond I'm not saying I shouldn't use my mind and emotions but I must allow the Holy Spirit to control my mind and emotions and for that I have to say no to my own will in other words after I've studied the scriptures and after I got excited praising the Lord on Sunday I need to go home for the rest of the week into the office and whenever I'm tempted to do my own will to say Spirit of God give me grace now to say no to that when somebody gets angry with me and I'm tempted and my will says respond to him in the same way respond to your wife and your husband the way she's talking to you say no you know the Holy Spirit can make you perpetually patient with a nagging wife do you believe that is your God and input and helpless God who can't even help you to be patient with a nagging wife or a difficult husband then you must be worshipping an idol not the God of the Bible whose fills us with the Holy Spirit he can help us overcome any temptation when people have a road-rage the Holy Spirit can help you to be patient when all the guys are violating the rules on the road and they give you the finger on the road the Holy Spirit can help you to love them you can't do it on your own you've got to deny your will and say Lord I'm gonna die here here's another opportunity to die that's what it means going through the veil are you serious do you really want to dwell in God's presence now I'll tell you one of the benefits of dwelling in God's presence if you get through the veil into the most holy place let me show you a verse that's helped me a lot Psalm 16 please turn with me to Psalm 16 and verse 11 Psalm 16 and verse 11 says in the middle of that verse it says in Psalm 16 verse 11 that would make known to me the path of life in thy presence is fullness of joy it's a lovely verse Psalm 16 and verse 11 in thy presence is fullness of joy and I test myself whether I'm in God's presence by one thing do I have fullness of joy right now then I'm in God's presence anytime anytime seven days a week 24 hours a day I lose the fullness of joy I have to say to myself for some reason or the other I'm not in the most holy place now I'm not in God's presence and the reason is I've backed out from the most holy place because I don't want to deny my will in some situation I want to assert myself I don't want to go the way Jesus went of self-denial then I back out of God's presence and I want to tell you that's the reason why we are so often discouraged depressed gloomy I was like that for years after I was born again frequently discouraged depressed bad moods anger name it I was the average Christian born again on a way to heaven but defeated every day of the week but praising God and clapping on Sunday morning and I said Lord I'm sick and tired of living this life I'm a hypocrite and one thing on Sunday another thing the rest of the week I'm not supposed to be like that Jesus wasn't like that he was consistently spiritual because he never did his own will he always went through the veil and he's a forerunner for us so that's what I want to try and explain to you and that's where we worship God let me turn you to John for here's another lovely verse John 4:24 with Jesus spoke to the Samaritan woman he says the time has now come John 4 and 23 sorry because yeah God is a spirit and those who worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth that is worshiping the Spirit is in the most holy place remember they couldn't do that in the Old Testament they could only worship God in the body clap shout sing raise your hands praise God for that they could worship in their soul with their mind and their emotions getting excited but worship in the spirit what is that let me turn to the previous verse John 4 verse 23 an hour is coming jesus said that he was referring to the day of pentecost on the day of pentecost an hour is coming and now is when the true worshipers will worship the father in spirit and in truth so that's the privilege we have from the day of Pentecost onwards where we can get into the most holy place now and worship continuously worship the father the hour is coming it's not yet oh that veil was not rent yet you couldn't come there yet but it's coming and when the veil was rent and the Holy Spirit was poured out people could worship the father in spirit praise God that we can use our mind when we worship praise God that we can use our emotions but I want to encourage you to live this life of denial of yourself what does it mean when we pray our Father who art in heaven like we heard in the song just now thy will be done on earth in my life as it is done in heaven how did the Angels do God's will in heaven do you know they never do their own will they wait on the father and say what do you want me to do that's how Jesus lived he when the devil tempted him to just turn stones into bread which he had the power to do to satisfy his hunger you know what he said I haven't heard from my father yet so I'm not gonna do it man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds from God what did he mean I haven't heard my father tell me yet to turn the stones into bread so even though I have the power I will not use it what submission this is true spirituality where I listen I listen I don't do my own will even for good things for example Martha in the kitchen was doing a lot of good things but Jesus hadn't told her to do that and when she came complaining about Mary Jesus said to her you're worried about too many things I don't want all that take a lesson from Mary you know what she's doing she's listening listening listening to me and then doing what I tell her to do there's a lovely paraphrase of 1 Corinthians 4:2 in the Living Bible which says 1 Corinthians 4:2 in the Living Bible says the most important thing about a servant is that he does just what his master tells him to that's what it means to be faithful this is what it means to live inside the veil so worship is not just being excited and emotions all part of it but it goes be on that too bowing down in it throughout every time comes about a hundred times in the Old Testament in the New Testament and Old Testament I would encourage you to take a concordance and study worship that's how I studied scriptures take a concordance and look at all the verses and I discovered worship men bowing down before God acknowledging his lordship it you could do it on Idol people did it to the idols people do it to money these days they bow down to money and say you're my god I'll do whatever you tell me to do that's their Idol but to worship Jesus Christ to worship the father is to bow down and say Lord you're everything to me and one of the clearest verses that I found on that is Psalm 73 in verse 25 Psalm 73 in verse 25 says the psalmist says whom have I in heaven but the well-known verse and there's nothing on earth I desire beside thee that I have discovered is true worship Psalm 73 verse 25 whom have I in heaven but thee that means when I get to heaven I'm not bothered about the mansions on the golden streets and all it's you lord it's you even when I get to heaven I'm not looking just for my tears to be wiped away I want to be with Jesus and here on earth what do I desire nothing but you there are many things I need Lord but I desire only you and when I desire only God he takes care of all the other needs I'll tell you that you'll discover that in your life you seek to be a worshiper where you say that god I desire no one on earth but you guys are nothing on earth but you you'll find that God adds all the other things to you he'll add for you the house the wife the husband the job whatever you need when you when you seek his kingdom first now I want to move on to another picture it's a picture Jesus uses a lesson from the two houses let me go on to the next slide lessons from the two houses you remember the two houses that Jesus spoke about at the end of the Sermon on the Mount let me turn first of all to Matthew chapter 7 and verse 24 Matthew 7 and verse 24 look at that first everyone who hears these words of mine that means he's a person who reads the Bible or comes to church where else will they hear God's Word and does them that's the important thing in other words he doesn't just understand it he doesn't just get excited about it he understands he gets excited and then what does he do he exercises his will and says Lord I will not do my will but I'll do what you say and you know he said that at the end of the Sermon on the Mount where he had commands like love your enemies I can understand it I may not get excited about it but I see their God says I have to do it and the day I say Lord I don't feel like loving my enemy and I'm gonna love him by the grace of God you've build your house on the rock but if you just read and say I was gonna do that well God verse 26 the one who hears my word and does not do them he's gonna build on sand so the man who built on sand is a man who reads the Bible he's a man who goes to the chair it goes to church regularly because he hears God's Word he's a man who understands it he's a man who's excited about it the only thing is he doesn't do it now let's go to Matthew 7 verse 21 Matthew 7 verse 21 Matthew 7 verse 21 says it's a very important verse not everyone who says to me Lord Lord will enter the kingdom of heaven Matthew 7 verse 21 but he who does again do the will now look at this verse carefully what does this man say Lord that means he's got his mind right Lord Lord that means he's excited about it he's got his emotions okay he doesn't exercise his will he'll never enter the kingdom of heaven do you believe that now I want you to go on to Luke's chapter 6 verse 40 where did this man it's that one of the next slide there where did this man dig and build I used to think that the man who built on the rotten manual down the sand found two different locations to build their houses it's not true it says in Luke chapter 6 and verse 48 the wise man dug deep that means he went through the sand and laid his foundation on a rock so they were both building next to each other go to the next slide there and you see there a picture of sand and wrong you know what the sand is you may believe in Jesus but if you live in your mind and your emotions and you don't yield your will you're still building on sand and that's why we're shaky that's when when some little trial comes we lose our faith and we get depressed and we complain and murmur and everything we're built on sand we're just understand the world we're excited about it but we don't yield our will we spend years just being excited just studying the Bible but never doing never doing doing doing what the Bible says never yielding our will we're like a stubborn child will never obey the parents the end result is was shaking so we go to the next slide where we see the house that this foolish man built when the storm came his house was built on his mind in his emotions his knowledge of Scripture he's getting excited over Scripture excited when he praised the Lord on Sundays but he never yielded his will he never denied his will every day when he was tempted the end result is when a trial comes the house collapses do you understand the story now and we go to the next slide the man who built on the rock same area but he took the trouble and the effort and the money to dig deep and blast the rock go right down and lay his foundation on the rock that means he denied his will and I tell you it's easier to live in our mind and emotions it's easier to just superficially just dig up the sand and build there it takes an effort to blast the rock it's costly it means discipleship I'm not an evangelist that's not my calling in the body of Christ I thank God for the thousands of evangelists who do a wonderful job bringing people to Christ but God's called me to make disciples out of the people who were converted by the evangelists and I find in the passage on discipleship that Jesus said he talked about counting the cost before you build a house he said before you build a house sit down and count the cost it's cheaper to build on sand it's costly to go down and deny your will every day and build on the rock that's why the Evangelist says come forward and accept Christ and I thank God for people right from the time of Charles Finney down to Billy Graham who invited people forward and many people have come to Christ wonderful I praise God for all those who give invitations but my calling as a disciple maker I don't invite people forward I tell them sit down and count the cost and tell me after a few days do you want to follow the Lord or not don't get all excited and say yeah I want to do it I'm not against evangelism but I say the folks who come forward accept Christ praise the Lord for that they have entered the outer court they need to go on to be filled to the spirit and they must be then taught to be disciples to enter through the veil follow Jesus following Jesus means discipleship then their lives will be stable and I believe this is the tragedy in so much of Christendom there's so many people here are such good preaching why is it you hear of preachers who fall into adultery or who fall into homosexuality or swindle poor people of that types in order to buy expensive cars and aeroplanes how is that are these people following Jesus how is it so many dumb Christians sit and give their money to these people it's because those Christians themselves are soulish they're not even they're not spiritual and so they can't discern whether this preacher is spiritual or soulish he's soulish he's got eloquence he's got ability he can convince people he moves people like politicians can move people with their eloquence but he's not spiritual and he can't lead you to spirituality because he never followed the way of self-denial himself and he gets people to worship him instead of leading you to worship God we read in almost the last book of the Bible Revelation chapter or the Bible revelation 22 or towards the end of the Bible anyway we're in John falls down to worship an angel and the word for angel by the way in the Greek just means messenger so let's read it like that he falls down to worship a messenger and the messenger picks him up and says don't worship Me worship God that's a true preacher who will never allow you to worship Him who will never allow you to be attached to him but will point you to Christ now you may make the mistake of admiring him and worshiping him but if he's a man of God he'll push you away I've had to do that with so many people who try to get attached to me I said sorry I even tell them I don't want to see you till you learn to lean upon Jesus because if you lean upon me you're not gonna be stable you'll be like the man on the sand I mean turn you to this last slide now the way of the Cross this is what I really wanted to come to what did Jesus say how can we follow him it's from Luke chapter 9 verse 23 any person man or woman I believe all of you say you want to come after Jesus listen to Luke 9:23 if anyone will come after him here's what you got to do it's not enough to understand it's not enough to be excited it's not enough to praise God with our emotions you have to deny yourself say no to your own will take up the cross means die here is my will a horizontal bar here's God's will a vertical bar and where they cross is the cross on which I have to die to my will so that I do the will of God just like Jesus and gets M&E that's what it means to follow him all his life he was like that when he was a little child he had to obey Joseph and Mary who were imperfect he was perfect and they were imperfect have you ever had to work under a boss who knew only 10% of what you know or was imperfect and corrupt was that easy can you imagine Jesus as a little boy perfect in every way seeing Joseph and Mary quarreling and not disrespecting them do you believe Joseph and Mary quarreled do Christian husbands and wives pardon what about Joseph and Mary yeah its st. Joseph and Saint Mary they quarreled and Jesus Jesus saw that and he would not despise them that's spirituality why did he do that he denied his own will to do the will of the Father they spat on him he said Father forgive them they would call him builds a book and he didn't sue them for defamation he denied his own will all the time and he's given us an example if any man will come after me let him take up the cross and it says there in Luke 9:23 every day we receive Christ as our Savior once we get baptized once but that full verse is not there you go on from there you read every day you have to deny yourself if you want to follow Jesus this is true spirituality so I hope you understood now a little bit of what it means to be soulish to living in your mind and emotions or spiritual worship go beyond your mind and emotions thank God for all of that into a daily life of worship which is not always words the highest form of worship is sometimes in silence living in the most holy place my God how wonderful thou art thy majesty how bright father of Jesus loves reward what rapture will it be prostrate before thy throne to lie and gaze and gaze on thee do you understand that do you get bored living in God's presence why is that because we are living in the soul so much in His presence there is fullness of joy it says in that verse at thy right hand there are pleasures forevermore you will not want the pleasures of Internet pornography when you're living in the most holy place that's the way to overcome when you have the food in the father's table you will not want to eat what the pigs are eating like the prodigal son it's no use telling them give up the pigs food give up the food come and eat in the father's table deny yourself and live in God's presence it's one thing to be filled with the Holy Spirit right at the beginning maybe some of you are filled of the Holy Spirit but I want to tell you something I've discovered about being filled with the Holy Spirit when you walk the way of the cross this way of denying yourself every day you know when we come to Christ initially our capacities like a cup the Bible speak about the cup of salvation I say Lord fill me he fills the cup but as I walked the way of the Cross the cup expands and becomes like a bucket and he's got to fill me again and I said continue to walk the way of the Cross the bucket becomes like a big tub and he fills me again and I continued going that way of the Cross the tub becomes like a pond and he fills me again and the pond becomes a river and finally many rivers and then is fulfilled the scripture with Jesus said if any man thirsts let him come to me and drink from his innermost being not from his soul john 7:37 and 38 from his innermost being from his spirit will flow rivers of living water and that is God's will for every one of us that we should come into this life where God is able to pen reach down to our innermost being and make us a blessing to thousands of people around us I want to invite you my brothers and sisters to this higher life beyond the soul to life in the Holy Spirit now maybe you haven't understood everything I said I want to invite you I want to put up this slide here where we have a website where you can go to now I want to invite you if you want to know more about soul and spirit to read this book it's called living as Jesus lived now most people think that's impossible I want to invite you to read that book and there's the website CFC India com it's all free there many other books and messages there but I believe that there's a word that the Holy Spirit saying to those who have ears to hear here this morning my son my daughter come up higher from where you live don't live at that low level don't spend your life eating pigs food come and sit at my table will you count the cost and say yes Lord I'm willing this is the life I want to live in the few more years that are left before Jesus comes again don't miss out this is the time when God is inviting you let's bow our heads before him in a moment of silence as you stand in the president or sit in the presence of God I want to invite you to respond to him start with that one area that one small area where God spoke to you this morning and say Lord I want to yield there and then God will show you the next and the next and the next and the next and it'll be a way in which you walk and I tell you you will experience a glorious life such as you have never experienced til today the Lord is inviting you to make a crucial decision today this is a moment of crucial decision for you say Lord I've counted the cost this is the way I want to go thank you for hearing me in Jesus name Amen

Channel: alcf

Views: 62,746

Rating: 4.8649788 out of 5

Keywords: Soulish or Spiritual, Zac, Poonen, ALCF, Abundant, Life, Christian, Fellwoship, message, sermon

Id: YVKUAM06ygA

Length: 49min 10sec (2950 seconds)

Published: Wed Jun 15 2011