SoulShift: The Measure of A Life Transformed Introduction
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SoulShift is written by: Steve DeNeff and David Drury
I want to begin this morning with a few questions:
Should Christians be different?
Why should Christians be different?
How do Christians become different?
Over the next several weeks, we are going to be looking at some of the things that make Christians different.
We are going to be talking about our soul and shifts that should happen in our souls when we become Christians.
Let’s start with defining soul:
Our souls are our “inner life”
The greek word is “psyche” which means “life” or “soul” this is the place inside of us that gives us life.
Our soul is that part of us that is eternal.
Our thoughts are temporary.
Our emotions are temporary.
Our mind is temporary.
Our bodies are temporary.
But, our soul is eternal.
This is the most important part of who we are.
And if this is the case, then begs the question:
How is your soul?
As we dive into the first shift next week, I want you to examine your soul.
Think about that inner part of who you are.
Ask yourself how your soul is doing.
I invite you to be real and honest with yourself as you examine your soul.
If you find that you are struggling, I remind you of:
29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
and
3 he refreshes my soul. He guides me along the right paths for his name’s sake.
If you are struggling, I encourage you to think about what you are doing for soul care. And remind you that Jesus is there to lean on.
We aren’t going to dive too much into soul care this morning, but we will hit on some of that as we continue through this series.
This morning, I want us to consider the idea that some things shift in our souls when we become Christians.
Let’s start with:
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.
What is this renewing of our mind that Paul is talking about?
He implies here that we can be conformed to the world or that we can be transformed…and, we will be able to test and approve what God’s will is.
That, in my mind, is the goal of our Christians journey. To have our minds transformed so that we can know God, and what His will is.
In today’s scripture reading, we read about Peter. Who had the right response to Jesus’ question about who He is.
But, then Peter didn’t like what Jesus had to say when he foretold His death.
As you remember, Jesus tells him
33 But when Jesus turned and looked at his disciples, he rebuked Peter. “Get behind me, Satan!” he said. “You do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.”
There are a few things implied here:
There are times that we are deceived. Peter had been with Jesus every day for a little over 2 years at this point, yet he was still missing some key principles.
That it is possible to have our minds set on the things of God.
1 - even Jesus disciples could still be deceived. They would continue to make mistakes and get things wrong even after Jesus’ death, resurrection, and ascension.
If they can do that, so can we.
We have our own souls, minds, experiences, and relationships.
We can simply miss what God has for us if we simply lose focus and get caught up in our own minds.
3 For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you.
2. Even though we have our own souls, minds, experiences and relationships, it is still possible for us to set our minds on the things of God.
To be minded like God means to think about the things that God thinks about. To think in the way that God does.
Now, we are not God, and we may feel that we could never be close to thinking in the same way that God does.
But, there is some biblical precedence for us being able to grow closer to thinking like God.
5 In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:
So, in our relationships, it is possible to think like Christ Jesus.
1 Corinthians 2:9–16 (NIV)
9 However, as it is written: “What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived”— the things God has prepared for those who love him— 10 these are the things God has revealed to us by his Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. 11 For who knows a person’s thoughts except their own spirit within them? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. 12 What we have received is not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may understand what God has freely given us. 13 This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual realities with Spirit-taught words. 14 The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit. 15 The person with the Spirit makes judgments about all things, but such a person is not subject to merely human judgments, 16 for, “Who has known the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ.
So, without the Spirit of God, it is impossible to know the things of God.
However, as believers, we have the Spirit of God in us. We have the mind of Christ!
So, it is possible for us to think like Christ.
And for this to happen, there are shifts that take place in our soul.
As followers of Christ, our souls may be saved, but they are not immediately like that of Christ.
And so, we are transformed, into the likeness of Christ.
By the conviction and work of the Holy Spirit.
So, in the next several weeks, we are going to look at some of these things that the Spirit wants to change in our souls to make us more like Christ.
Worship Team
For the next few weeks, I encourage you to pray these psalms:
1 You have searched me, Lord, and you know me.
23 Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts.
And remember:
13 for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.
8 Yet you, Lord, are our Father. We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand.
As we go this week, I encourage you to remember:
God knows your soul
God wants to shift your soul to be more like Him
Pray for God to reveal some things in your soul that need adjusting.
Pray that God will speak to you through this series.
Benediction
20 Now may the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, 21 equip you with everything good for doing his will, and may he work in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.