Transcript I am a soul… - Austin Bible Chapel

I am a Soul
Robin Fuller v2.0 Sunday, March 17, 2013
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We often see the image (body) of people around us and make initial
judgments by what we see.
If we get the opportunity to get to know someone, this requires us to
dig deeper then the outward appearance and try to understand
what’s inside – their soul.
As we get older, and we have to contend with changes in our life,
this becomes more obvious because we sometimes find it hard to
recognize the image in the mirror.
We begin to realize that there is a phase shift between the outward
appearance and how we feel inside – the inner man.
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the body decays but our soul starts to recognize the reality that it will
live on eternally
So much of the value we attribute to someone is based on their
outward appearance.
As Christians, we have the unique opportunity to bring light to the
darkness. Our value to God is understanding this potential.
1Cor.4:6 For
God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,”
has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of
the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
We can let the physical part of us get us down –
the wrinkles, gray hair, the aches and pains, or
we can renew our focus on investing in the part
of us that’s eternal.
2Cor.4:16-17 So
we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner
self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for
us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison,
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We are 3 part beings. It’s like we are a container of containers that
only God can really understand, but maybe like this:
1 Thess.5:23 Now
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Heb.4:12 For
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may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your
whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus
Christ.
the word of God is living and
active, sharper than any two-edged sword,
piercing to the division of soul and of spirit,
of joints and of marrow, and discerning the
thoughts and intentions of the heart.
Matt.15:18-19 But what comes out of the mouth
proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a
person. For out of the heart come evil
thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual
immorality, theft, false witness, slander
The heart appears to be the
connection of the physical to the
spiritual part of us: the soul.
sight
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SOUL
Heart = Brain
(intellect
and emotion)
SPIRIT
BODY
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Before we get carried away with dissecting the human soul, it’s
important to note the bottom line from Jesus himself – every part of
us needs to be on the same page in our love for God as His followers.
Mark 12:30 And
you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your
soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.
The Greeks believed there were 4 parts to the total state of being:
heart, soul, mind and body.
It is interesting though that the Hebrew teaching held that the 3 parts
were the person's heart (mind/emotions), their breath (soul/life) and
the body (strength). They had power over what their heart thought
and God had power over their soul.
The Hebrews also coupled the heart with thought/intent and the
soul as the whole being – both body and thought. This also included
statements that when the body died, so did the soul.
It helps explain why the Thessalonians were concerned about the
dead missing out on the rapture.
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So part of the reason I did this study was that I didn’t have a clear
understanding of the delineation of the various parts of the human
entity and I hoped to clear it up.
I do want to give a visual on the relationship between the body, soul
and spirit as I understand it from a New Testament perspective.
sight
Why does our heart act the way it
does? Well if we peel it back…
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We note that our bodies are
influenced by it’s 5 senses.
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These act like gates into our soul.
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Our soul is a container for our
spirit, and as mentioned before,
only God can really divide the two.
1Cor.2:14
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However,
man
an the things
The naturalnatural
person does
nothas
accept
container
so their
of the empty
Spirit of spirit
God, for
they are folly
to him, and he
is not hearts
able to understand
them because
they5are
are dominated
by their
spiritually
discerned.
senses.
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SOUL
Heart = Brain
(intellect
and emotion)
SPIRIT
BODY
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you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked,
following the course of this world, … among whom we all once lived in the passions
of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature
children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of
the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses,
made us alive together with Christ
The minute we are given spiritual
life, like when God breathed into
Adam’s nostrils, the Holy Spirit
takes up residency in our spirit
container and now we can
commune with God.
2Cor.4:12 Now
we have received not the spirit
of the world, but the Spirit who is from
God, that we might understand the things
freely given us by God. And we impart this
in words not taught by human wisdom but
taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual
truths to those who are spiritual.
sight
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Eph.2:1-5 And
SOUL
Holy
SPIRIT
Spirit
BODY
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2Cor.4:7,10But
we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power
belongs to God and not to us. …10 always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so
that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies.
The old methods of judging has
passed away, we can now see our
fellow man through Christ’s eyes:
now on, therefore, we
regard no one according to the flesh. Even
though we once regarded Christ according
to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer.
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a
new creation. The old has passed away;
behold, the new has come. All this is from
God, who through Christ reconciled us to
himself…
sight
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So we have this burning fire in our souls but are we opening the
gates between that division between spirit and soul so that our body,
soul and spirit is radiating the love of Christ?
SOUL
2Cor.5:16-18 From
Holy
SPIRIT
Spirit
BODY
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I, brothers, could not address you as spiritual people, but as people of the
flesh, as infants in Christ. I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready
for it. And even now you are not yet ready, for you are still of the flesh. For while
there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not of the flesh and behaving only in
a human way? For when one says, “I follow Paul,” and another, “I follow Apollos,”
are you not being merely human?
It’s possible that believers can act
“merely human” when they
ignore or disagree with the spirit.
The body follows the soul, so
whatever priority the soul gives to
the spirit of God, the body
displays the result to the physical
world around us.
sight
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1Cor.3:1-4 But
SOUL
Holy
SPIRIT
Spirit
BODY
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…Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and
drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow
rivers of living water.’” Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed
in him were to receive…
John 7:37-39
In your spirit, you’ve got the same power that raised Jesus Christ
from the dead (Eph. 1:18-20). However, it’s possible to have this
power and never manifest it. If your soul, like a valve, stays closed to
this truth, you won’t experience it.