Better Together: The Needs of the Spirit

good morning it is good to be back with you praise the Lord now I was here laughs in July how many of you were here July 15th matter of fact yes if you played hooky from church okay great that's all Santa as we go to the Lord in prayer Heavenly Father thank you for this community of faith the spiritual family call Abundant Life Christian Center thank you for the leadership Pastor John and Lisa and all of the supportive leadership that you have invested in this church thank you for all that has happened over the last thirty years of ministry and we're really excited about the future the next 3040 years thank you for the part that we were able to play in this incredible work of God we gather in fellowship worship prayer celebration and now turn our hearts and minds to the wisdom and instruction of your word touch our eyes to see our ears to hear and our hearts to understand we ask and thank you in Jesus precious name amen amen before you seated hug three people just bless them right now come on bless them right now thank you for your obedience praise the Lord okay come back come back take away for a little fellowship people get lost out here bring your greetings from my wife Karen she almost made it this time almost made it but she's been taking care of me I had a celebrated a birthday two weeks ago and I was in the gym working out in my mind in my mind I was 25 my body vehemently reminded me that I am NOT praise the Lord so I'm recovering nicely from doing too many squats with too much weight praise Lord I don't recommend that also when you get up around my season of life stay away from deadlifts those of you who know what that is praise the Lord amen we've got to be wise write wisdom and I want to share some wisdom with you today according to the scriptures wisdom is the highest good that any human being can possess and it is essentially possession of moral truth moral excellence knowledge of the difference between good and evil but not only the knowledge and the ability to discern good from evil but also the courage to choose because you can discern and not have the courage to choose so we want to talk about wisdom as it applies to human needs and how we're wired and how we are designed and I pray that out of this you'll be encouraged to avail yourself the Institute that is filled there's all kinds of things for your spiritual growth and development Amen praise the Lord our text is 1st Thessalonians chapter 5 verse 23 to be exact and the Apostle Paul uses language that we embrace in our Christian context but secular society questions as to whether we are a tripod or a by part being body and soul but the scripture clearly introduces that we are spirit soul and body and it's consistent with what Jesus said about God that God is spirit and that means immaterial and we being made in the image and likeness of God carry certain communicable attributes of God those are attributes of his own nature that he could share with us to establish what we call a human being or the human person so spirit soul and body is an integrated system it all works together you can't say well spirit over here body over there soul over there know it they work together even as you pursue your own spiritual growth and development how many of you ever fell asleep while praying some of you don't want to confess your body and your spirit work together amen you know your spirit could be willing to pray and excited about prayer but if your body is worn and has not had the proper rest it can't function in agreement with that desire to pray how many very while you were fasting yeah the same thing holds true amen so we are biopsychosocial spiritual beings it's an integrated system of spirit soul and body coming together and I will tell you just like our body is healthy when all of its parts are functioning the way they were designed to function there's harmony there is health and so it is true that when that integrated system of spirit soul and body are in harmony working together we are healthy in our totality of being a wholeness as a person so I want to share some wisdom with you about that wisdom is a key to human blessedness and I want to look back at the Old Testament in Genesis where God makes a statement he says in Genesis chapter 2 it is not good for a man to be alone how many got up to that part of the Bible but you're working your way I know I got you it's not good for man to be alone and the word man there in the Greek anthropos but and the Hebrew allows the flexibility of understanding an application specifically to the context speaking about the male species Adam right and he says God says that it's not good for man to be alone the response as the creation of Eve woman so God says it's not good for a man the male species to be alone I will make for him a help meet help mate and God created Eve and gave Eve in relationship to Adam one observation is that if God determined that it was not good for man to be alone and gave him a help mate then men need I'll let that marinate is that a fair ladies is that a fair observation you were a little weak on that ladies I need more backup ladies was that a fair observation mainly help and God gave us the woman to help us especially when we don't want to be helped but it's a woman's orientation in nature to be helpful to be supportive to be concerned about the complementary relationship ontologically men and women are equal we are equal in dignity but in function we are different psychologically emotionally there are definite differences so the word man there can be applied to the individual person Adam but Adama also applies to humanity at large so it means that it's not good for the human species to be alone which simply means that God created us as social beings we are social beings we need connection we need love we need interaction we are designed that way I know we get upset with people and say I don't need anybody oh I like the double negative I don't need nobody we get upset right but the reality is that we do need people we need each other and that is by divine design the interesting thing is that we live in a tension because we're also unique individuals and God for a degree of autonomy so while we desire and were designed for autonomy we're also we were also designed for interdependent is and we live in a creative tension often between the need for autonomy and the need to depend on someone else how many you familiar with that attention yeah and how much of our independence do we surrender in order to depend on someone else and how much can we trust them to depend on them that's why a marriage union is a context of mutual dependence there are things that we can do on our own that don't require us to be married but when we get married and enter the context of that Union we surrender to the other person certain things that we could do for ourselves amen and that's to develop and interdependence in the relationship while maintaining a sense of autonomy at the same time in terms of our own identity your significance however is in your difference your significance is in your difference it is your difference that really makes you special have you ever heard of a reindeer by the name of Rudolph you've heard a story right don't ask me if it's true but you heard the story you've heard the song right but notice his uniqueness his significance and his value was in his difference not in his sameness who else in the group had a red shiny nose he did and what is true about a simple Christmas song like that is true about our individual lives but we live in attention creative tension in those realities so God designed us with certain needs so that we could indeed experience community and family he designed us with certain ease and all relationships are based on needs some need is what attracts us in relationship so I mean talk a little bit about human needs let me give you a definition of needs if we can get it up on the screen I believe a need is a spiritual psychological and physiological requirement for wholeness and one's well-being did you hear the word requirement it's a requirement now often we confuse our wants preferences and desires with knees just because you prefer something doesn't mean you need it just because you want something doesn't mean you need it just because you desire something doesn't mean you need it a need is something that's required for wholeness for well-being and God designed us with certain needs as human beings he created us for community that's why we don't grow in isolation we only grow in community you've got to be plugged in and community his first experience in the context of family and we are socialized in the context of family in preparation for our relationship with society at large if these needs are not met through a depth of knowledge critical thinking moral maturity then those needs will be met illogically unreasonably irrationally impulsively and irresponsibly the needs of their but how we meet those needs will determine whether we're hold whether we're healthy and I will tell you life is filled with people trying to satisfy god-given needs in a way that is inconsistent with how we word is designed and how we were meant to function and it creates a lot of problems in society amen yeah we see it all around us all the social issues so in as much as we are spirit soul and body there are the needs of the Spirit there are the needs of the soul and there are the needs of the body the needs of the Spirit are critical because those needs are transcendent those needs develop the interior life the internal person because who you really are is who you are on the inside and that's what keeps coming out to the outside so it's important and we develop our interior life so we're gonna go over some of these knees beginning with the needs of the body but that's quick that's obvious and these are the body our physical needs food water shelter clothing rests physical safety security if you probably familiar with Maslow's hierarchy of needs the pyramid of human needs so the needs of the body are pretty clear let's take a look at the needs of the soul the soul the mind the will the emotions personality let's look at those needs first and then we'll move to what I want to emphasize today and that is the need of the spirit the needs of the soul are number one and therefore connection and love connection and love we need to be connected we were created and designed to love and be loved and yet we struggle with those two things we struggle to love we struggle to be loved and there's a definite need that we have we all have a need to connect and to have meaningful relationships because wholeness and wellness comes out of meaningful relationships we've got a lot of relationships but they all don't mean something special they're not all meaningful how many of you ever been involved in a relationship that was not meaningful yeah instead of giving life it takes life from you it takes energy from you it takes all of the hope and ambition and dreams that you have that you pour into the future and your own growth and development it can suck the life out of you if you're not careful that's why there are four stewardship responsibilities that were given by God stewardship over our time talent treasure II and our relationships and sometimes it's easier to manage your time talent and treasure II than it is to manage your relationships because relationships can make a demand on us and we have to develop with and how to have successful relationships you know that's true if you ever had a bad one did you ever have a bad relationship no don't point just raise your hand up excellent sometimes they're in church so the needs of the soul is connection and notice how God designed it not only did he design us with knees he also gave each of us skills talents and abilities to meet the needs of others your talents your aptitudes your abilities and your skill are not just for you they are for other people amen whether it's in the family whether it's in the community of the church your neighborhood whether it's in the marketplace where you where you translate those needs into value in the marketplace all right but God designed you in a unique way that someone needs you and guess what we need to be needed come on ladies you know that very well we need to be needed and when we feel needed we flourish we unleash creativity there's a lot that takes place inside of us that makes us alive and hopeful and excited we need to be needed we need connection we need love and love is the desire to benefit the one love at the expense of self because love is redemptive it's sacrificial and truly authentic love is unconditional and we need that amen I'm gonna move on because we don't have we need extra time so we'll have to work within the time that we had we need certainty we need certainty there are certain things that we need and desire strongly to be sure about because certainty gives us stability comfort security we all have a need for mental and emotional certainty we want to be sure as sure as we can be Amen when someone says I love you you need to be sure about that because that will determine how the relationship grows and develops and that's why loving relationships require time to grow and develop because when there's certainty about that love it strengthens the relationship it gives security it gives stability but when there's uncertainty about that love the relationship can be rocky you ever heard of a rocky relationship or a rollercoaster relationship it's because there's a presence of uncertainty and when you have to say I'm not sure how he or she feels about me I'm not sure if they love me and that is a problem in the relationship so we need certainty and that's paradoxical because guess what we also need uncertainty we need variety as their paradox absolutely what we need excitement we need surprise we need mystery we need it because if life becomes too predictable we become bored with him I mean it excuse me how you know what I'm talking about in the truth yeah have you ever in relationship you said well you know just surprise me one for once now you can point if you want to turn your neighbor so he's talking about somebody you know but it is true we want certainty on one hand we want to be sure about this and yet at the same time we want uncertainty surprise mystery and unpredictability I know what you're gonna do I know what you're gonna say it's sickening change up my wife taught me that and it's the uncertainty in mystery that demands creativity innovation inspiration and all of the elements that make for a good long-term relationship so it's paradox we want to be sure certain at the same time we want variety and mystery and surprise lastly needs of the soul we want significance we all have a need to feel significant special unique important in some way and in some sense of achievement or accomplishment we need that guess what God designed us that way it's not wrong as long as it's satisfied in a wholesome way and not one that's going to be self-destructive we need significance we need a sense of uniqueness that's true in relationship because when you're in a loving relationship with another person guess what you want to make sure that that relationship is uniquely different from every other relationship that that person is involved with I get a half an amen a woman in a relationship with a man if she's a Christian she doesn't mind being second to God but in all other applications she must have preeminence that means being first ladies gotta back me up better than this it's true and women are making judgments as to the degree to which their spouse or boyfriend values them based upon the priority that they hold in his life this is [Applause] and if he's giving his time talent and treasure II to other things more than what he donates and gifts to her she is now wondering what place she holds in his life guess what it works the other way it can work the other way usually works the first way because she wants to have that sense of significance in his life is that fair enough that's that's real folks but guess what it's God designed God designed us that way so let's move into what we really want to focus on the needs of the Spirit because these these are transcendent and transcendence is one of the communicable attributes that God has given us at shared with us we are transcendent in the sense that with our minds we can travel to the Past relive it in living color as though it is happening right here in now and sometimes we have difficulty letting go of bad experiences in the past because we're able to go back and visit it leaving where we are and review and re experience that past and because women can to be emotionally oriented first women have this power of Total Recall see we men look at the facts surrounding the situation so we have to sort through those facts in order to recall the situation but women immediately get in touch with the emotion they experienced associated with the situation and it quickly brings back all the facts many of the facts that we forget 46 years of marriage observation study and doghouse so these are transcendent needs yet they're critical because these needs really relate deeply to who we are in turn early so let's look at the needs of the Spirit there are two let me give you the first one the need for growth we all need to grow we need to you don't have a choice we need to grow evolve in some way to experience our full potential in fact you should get frustrated with yourself whenever you see you observe that you are not growing or you haven't grown amen you're in this church because you believe that this church is facilitating your spiritual growth and development and if you weren't growing you wouldn't be here we have a need to grow to evolve to develop now all growth is not good growth so it has to be good growth wholesome amen we all have a need to evolve the scripture says that Jesus grew in wisdom and stature and gained favor with God and man we follow his footsteps the need to grow and develop we have four timeless fundamentals upon which our ministry is bill number one our core values number two our core purposes number three a relentless drive for progress number four strength beyond the presence of any one individual but that relentless drive for progress runs through our ministry which simply means that throughout the year all of our supervisors team leaders department has divisions that have to be thinking of new ways to do better what they are responsible to do and accomplish and at the end of the year there should be something new something fresh something innovative otherwise they're not growing they're not progressing amen I tell husbands I said don't get upset with your wife it's hard to follow a parked car do you need a minute if he doesn't have vision for the family if he's not creative and looking out into the future if he's not leadership is about moving people in a definite direction it's about teaching them how to adapt quickly to change it's about identifying their gift talents and abilities and bringing out the best in them so it can flourish it's about being secure in that leadership because insecure leadership is easily intimidated by competent subordinates but strong leadership always surrounds themselves with the best and when a man is called to be a leader in his home it's not to be oppressive or dictatorial it's so identify the best and his family and bring it out so they can flourish and if they're not flourishing then you don't blame them you need to step back and take a look at yourself in terms of your leadership the capacities there if you develop it but the willingness must be there and the acceptance of your responsibility towards it hey men and that requires maturity and maturity doesn't come with age it begins with the acceptance of responsibility with for your words thoughts motives actions and attitudes and that's when the man is really growing up in my book four things women want from a man your destiny for me to say what women want and men challenge me they said just four hey come keep up with me here folks I said yeah when you synthesize it all down and we interviewed all of these women for the book yeah it was just four things and I kept hearing an echo I just wish he would grow up and I had to understand well what does she mean by that simply that she wants him to take responsibility for what he says what he does his attitudes his motives his actions and she also wants decorum which is part of maturity she wants them to know and understand how to conduct himself in any given situation or circumstance because man when challenged with a circumstance of situation that they feel in equipped to address they tend to revert into childhood into adolescence forcing his wife to become his mother and then getting mad at her for mothering him [Applause] I'm just saying we need to grow those hard cold facts gentlemen that we can't get around but we must be willing to face embrace take head on in our manhood amen praise the Lord but you can get the book I don't praise the Lord available with all outlets we need to grow it's not optional we need to grow society's arranged that way that's why they make those chairs so small in kindergarten they don't expect you to be there too growth is essential growth is critical it's true of a society a corporation all right an essential built into growth is this one word change it is the only constant in life and it is the essence of maturation you'll never mature in life unless you're willing to change I'm gonna try that one more time you'll never mature in life unless you're willing to change that's why a stubborn man will always be an ignorant man because he refuses to be taught and part of being taught is the willingness to what change Jesus said they have eyes but they don't see they have ears but they don't hear they have heart but they don't understand what was he saying it was simply saying that they see they hear but they're not internalizing it and as a result it's not having any impact on their life I can stand up here and teach you the most brilliant principles in the world but until you internalize them they won't become values and its values that drive us what we consider to be most importantly we stand for what we're willing to pay the price for what we're willing to die for and until principles become values they will not be the driving force in our lot and that's what Jesus was saying so God wants us to grow and we have the responsibility to avail ourselves of all the things that he has made possible for our growth and development let me share some very profound statements and yet simple statements with you Einstein said out of complexity fine simplicity and I always try to distill it into simple form without losing its profundity its depth is a statement ready okay just checking see if he's still here in his love in his what in his love God gave us the capacity for intellectual knowledge and freedom of choice I could spend a few weeks on that in his what love he gave us the capacity to know to learn to grow and it's amazing did you ever think about the fact that no matter where a baby is born it can learn the language of that culture it can learn the norms of that culture we don't panic because we had a Spanish baby born in french-speaking country we don't even think that way do we can you imagine if you were Spanish you had to be born in a Spanish culture all right how do we know before we're born but the reality is that we have potentiality which means we can learn and adapt to any context that we are placed in that is god-given that is Wow come on the truth imagine the chaos if it was different imagine a baby born and that babies born you know already designed to speak French and and she's born in a Spanish home he imagine a chaos in that hole the parents are trying to teach her in Spanish and she keeps responding in French it sounds absurd but the reality is that we have that capacity we have the potentiality that whatever context were in we can grow we can learn in that context that is god-given so in his love God gave us the capacity for intellectual knowledge and freedom of choice and please get that your freedom of choice my freedom of choice came from God's love did you hear that and love requires choice because in any loving relationship we want to know do did you choose to love me is it volitional or were you forced to was it your choice because in order for love to be pure and complete it has to have the what choice you don't want someone loving you because they were programmed to can you imagine do you love me yeah I was programmed to you want to know it's of their own volition so it is God's love that gave us the freedom to choose with respect to human dignity our independent personage as a human being Wow that's deep that's profound in his love he gave you the freedom of choice got that this is another statement is tied to it in his justice he allows you to experience the consequences of your choices in his justice he allows you to experience the consequences of your choices his justice is his fairness his moral excellence in terms of what he allows and what he doesn't allow so God is just and because he's just he allows you to experience the consequences here on your actions your choices and it's amazing because people will blame God for conditions that they created yeah blame God for things that he's not responsible for insurance companies do that lightning it's your house Bullock's rolled an act of God we don't cover that in his justice he allows humans to experience the consequence of their choices moral evil is in this world because of human choices not because of God Amen it gets into institutions government system structures it gets all in there but essentially it comes from a human choice and because God is just he allows us to experience the consequences of our choices in his mercy he understands our weaknesses and the limits of our knowledge and through his grace he allows us to experience good even out of wrong choices I'm try that one more time in his mercy remember his love allowed gives us a freedom of choice right his justice allows us experience the consequences of those choices but his mercy his grace comes in because he's aware and understands our weaknesses and our limited knowledge even though we think we know everything and he will work good he doesn't convert evil to good he gets good out of evil because there in life the greater glory did you hear that folks that's the only way you could appreciate and embrace Romans 8:28 and we know that all things work together for good to those who love God Nicole according to his purpose are there any people like that in here today hallelujah so his love gives you freedom of choice his justice allows you to experience the consequences of those choices but his mercy and His grace unmerited favor undeserved favor unearned favor kicks in to bring ultimate good out of even wrong choices isn't that like a parent a loving parent and that's how Jesus said we should relate to God when you pray pray like this our Father right and as parents what do we do we try to teach our children right from wrong giving them a moral compass right but we then have to allow them to make their choices and if we love them we free them to make those choices hoping that what we've taught them guide them but knowing their limit of knowledge and experience and that they're ultimately going to make wrong choices amen and we have to out of justice allow them to make those wrong choices and experience the consequences of those wrong choices otherwise they'll never appreciate and embrace wisdom but even in the midst of those wrong choices we're there in some way to experience and and and to implement and apply grace and mercy in some way we say we didn't know anybody any better I did you just young your honor come on turn your neighbors and he's talking about somebody you know come on [Applause] three elements for growth relationships truth and time relationships truth and time loving meaningful relationships help you grow we need we need people who will tell us the truth and not enable us by providing the support and the mean for us to continue and to persist in self-destructive behavior that is not love we need someone to tell us the truth truth liberates us truth frees us even though we don't want to hear it because all truth is confrontational and it's confrontational because it requires that you take responsibility for your words thoughts actions voters and attitudes but we will not change until we're willing to be confronted with the truth about how we're thinking what we're doing how we're conducting ourselves we won't change until that a men relationships truth and time so I gave you the first need of the Spirit and we're out of time so I can't give you the second need so I guess I have to come back so we can finish this conversation did you get anything out of this conversation today hallelujah there's a wonderful passage in the Old Testament prophet where it says if let no man glory in his wealth and achievement and accomplishment but let them glory in this that they know me and boy that should be the greatest glory in your life to know God this is how we get to know him amen come on let's all stand well I want you to slap high-five with three people and tell them I got that word today it's funny I'm looking around and some people saying can we do that in church Jesus was cool you can't get any cooler than Jesus you know and he wasn't cool because Kanye said so he was cool long before that and he wants to pour into us grow us and develop us and we just have to learn to get out of our own way but it's what we learn what we take in about God that allows us to have a better relationship he said my yoke is easy my burden is light and too often Christians look like they're carrying this hard yoke and this heavy burden and you have to ask is that what Jesus said the answer's no so you really need to reevaluate your spiritual life amen praise Allah come on skip got a good hand clap offering for work can I pray over you can I pray a blessing upon you as is my priestly function calling father I pray your blessing upon your people to manifest in a new way let them get to know you in a way that they've never known or experienced you in a way that draws them in a deeper loving relationship with you with themselves and with others let this word be indelibly marked in their hearts and let it become a well of water that will again and again water them in times of crisis and times of need I thank you for it father and bless this house in the name of Jesus we pray you

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Id: Qwq34rJMykU

Length: 51min 24sec (3084 seconds)

Published: Mon Sep 17 2018