{"id":19150,"date":"2017-02-26T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2017-02-26T06:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sugar-land-bible-church.local\/sermon\/soteriology-class-spiritual-anatomy-part-3-session-5\/"},"modified":"2017-02-26T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2017-02-26T06:00:00","slug":"soteriology-class-spiritual-anatomy-part-3-session-5","status":"publish","type":"sermon","link":"https:\/\/slbc.org\/es\/sermon\/soteriology-class-spiritual-anatomy-part-3-session-5\/","title":{"rendered":"Soteriology Class- Spiritual Anatomy – Part 3 Session 5"},"content":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","book":[97],"series_event":[485],"sermon_service_type":[473],"speaker":[152],"class_list":["post-19150","sermon","type-sermon","status-publish","hentry","book-1-thessalonians","series_event-soteriology-sp-anatomy","sermon_service_type-sunday-school","speaker-dr-jim-mcgowan","no-post-thumbnail"],"acf":{"sermon_title":"Soteriology Class- Spiritual Anatomy - Part 3 Session 5","sermon_date":"20170226","sermon_month":"2","sermon_year":"2017","sermon_notes":4414,"sermon_slides":4415,"sermon_mp3":4418,"sermon_id":"226171022393","series_or_event":485,"service_type":[473],"speaker":152,"books_of_the_bible":97,"chapter_and_verse":"5:23","sermon_transcript":"Dr. Jim McGowan\n\nSoteriology Class, Spiritual Anatomy \u2013 Part 3\n\n2-26-17\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a01 Thessalonians 5:23\n\nLet\u2019s open up with a word or prayer.\u00a0 Heavenly Father, thank You so much for today.\u00a0 Thank\u00a0 You for Your many blessings in our life.\u00a0 Thank You, Father, especially for the truth of Your Word which conforms us and transforms us more into the image of Your Son and help us to have our minds renewed this morning we pray.\u00a0 Thank\u00a0 You Father God for all the ministries of our church today and all those wonderful volunteers and workers that we have who are so faithful and diligent to serve You, Father.\u00a0 Thank\u00a0 You for each one and for Your blessing upon them.\u00a0 And we just ask You, Lord, to help us this morning, help me especially as I endeavor to share this information.\u00a0 May Your name be glorified and may You be uplifted, in Christ\u2019s name, Amen.\n\nWhat I\u2019m doing this morning is continuing with the study that we\u2019ve been doing the last couple of times; this is Part 3 but it\u2019s actually session 5 and I want to encourage you if you\u2019re coming in and you have not been a part of this you can go out to our website and for those that may not be aware, I don\u2019t know if you can read that or not but you can go out to our website and just go to the main page and\u00a0 you select Media and then Sermon Archives and in the second screen what it shows you, you can put in anyone\u2019s name, you can put the topic, whatever it is you\u2019re looking for that\u2019s been done previously and it\u2019ll pull it right for you. It\u2019s real snazzy, it\u2019s kind of nice being in the 21st<\/sup> century, isn\u2019t it.\u00a0 So if you have friends\u2026 the reason I mention this is because we continually get calls and e-mails from people saying how do I get to the videos, how do I get to it and that\u2019s how you do it, right there.\u00a0 Let me back up for a second.\n\nToday we\u2019re going to follow this outline, we\u2019re going to review for a few moments Session 4 concepts and again if that\u2019s not fresh on your mind I encourage\u00a0 you to go back and look at the previous sessions that we\u2019ve done.\u00a0 Then we\u2019re going to move into the issue of the physical realm versus the spiritual realm, a brief introduction, we\u2019re going to discuss briefly some misunderstand\u00ading of some terms and then what I believe is some more correct understanding of terms. \u00a0We\u2019ll move into the second section there which is the spiritual realm versus the physical realm and you\u2019ll see how slick I am, I just reversed that for you.\u00a0 And we\u2019re going to talk about the five senses as a biblical analogy and proper nourishment for growth and how all these things come together to help us to grow as believers in the Lord Jesus Christ.\n\nAnd again the main emphasis of the Sunday School right now is soteriology so everything that I\u2019m doing I\u2019m trying to do it in such a way as to tie it directly into that theme because I feel like many times with the issue of soteriology we get the getting saved part down and we kind of stop there.\u00a0 So we want to push onward beyond that because there\u2019s so much\u00a0 more than that.\u00a0 And that\u2019s the exciting thing about being saved.\n\nSo let\u2019s start our review.\u00a0 You\u2019ll recall that last time we talked about the fact that there are some terms that we use, we talked about identification truth.\u00a0 Here are some synonyms that you\u2019ll find and I would encourage you when you\u2019re reading the Scriptures, especially the New Testament, look for these words; these are key words oftentimes found in combination with \u201cin Christ,\u201d \u201cwith Christ\u201d for example, and when you see those I want you to begin thinking in terms of the fact that this is referring to identification truth; it\u2019s talking about who you are \u201cin Christ.\u201d\u00a0 And I think if\u00a0 you\u2019ll do that you\u2019ll get much more out of your reading and your study time.\u00a0 So here are some synonyms.\u00a0 Again we\u2019ve gone over these before but \u201cin\u201d has the idea of being placed entirely into something so as to actually share the identity of that person or thing.\u00a0 \u201cWith\u201d means to intimately be joined in action and consequence.\u00a0 And then we\u2019ll see \u201ctogether with\u201d or \u201cunited with\u201d especially in Romans 6, and taken together with the word above \u201cwith\u201d there has the same idea, underscoring the same identity and action, united meaning a oneness like a spiritual oneness when it\u2019s communicated.\n\nAnd then we have this term \u201cbaptized into\u201d and more often than not the moment we hear the word \u201cbaptized\u201d we think about getting wet and that\u2019s not necessarily what the Scripture is talking about.\u00a0 Baptism, especially in Romans 6 and in Colossians it has a completely different meaning.\u00a0 It means to be immersed, not in water but into the Spirit, into Christ.\u00a0 It means to be entirely placed into and this is something that\u2019s a permanent change that never changes.\u00a0 You can never reverse it.\n\nWe also talked about this issue of death meaning\u2026 in the Bible when we see \u201cdeath,\u201d unlike some teach, does not mean annihilation; it does not mean a ceasing of existence; it means a separation.\u00a0 So God has used this term or used this death is separation as a gracious and beneficial benefit for us.\u00a0 And this all happened when we were identified with Christ in His death and also with His burial and His resurrection.\n\nAnd I have listed some verses here, Romans 6:1-11 talks about the fact that we\u2019re dead to sin. So if \u201cdead\u201d in the Scripture means separated from what is this saying?\u00a0 It\u2019s saying that we\u2019re dead to the sin nature as believers but we\u2019re also alive to Christ.\u00a0 Romans 7, death has released us from marriage, he uses the analogy of our relationship to the Law and he talks about marriage and he says under the Mosaic Law that if your spouse dies you are free to be remarried.\u00a0 Then he brings that into, he ties that into our relationship to the Law now.\u00a0 See, we have been married to another.\u00a0 Who are we married to now?\u00a0 We\u2019re married to Christ; this is the analogy he uses.\u00a0 So we died to the Law and we\u2019re now joined to Christ, so we\u2019re no longer under the Law.\n\nIn 2 Corinthians He says that we\u2019re dead to ourselves, and this has to do with the fact that when we were joined to Christ, when we were baptized into Christ where there\u2019s an expectation now upon us that we\u2019re going to choose to walk dead to ourselves.\u00a0 Another way to say \u201courselves\u201d is the dictates of the sin nature.\u00a0 Even as believers we still have a sin nature and we\u2019ve gone to quite some length to explain that previously.\u00a0 And so that sin nature is hanging around and what\u2019s it continually trying to do?\u00a0 It\u2019s trying to draw us back out of our position in the sense it wants to get us not thinking about our position in Christ but our position in Adam that no longer exists.\u00a0 It wants to draw us back and get us thinking with the Adamic mentality, if you will.\u00a0 Galatians 2:19-20 says again that we have \u201cdied to the Law\u201d and because we\u2019re dead to the Law we now \u201clive to God.\u201d [Galatians 2:19-20, \u201cFor through the Law I died to the Law, so that I might live to God.\u00a0 [20] I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.\u201d]\n\nColossians 2:20 says that we died with Christ to the elementary principles of the world and what that\u2019s referring to in context is when Paul was talking to the Colossians he was talking about the ordinances, the additional ordinances of Judaism and Gnosticism. [Colossians 2:20, \u201cIf you have died with Christ to the elementary principles of the world, why, as if you were living in the world, do you submit yourself to decrees,\u201d]\u00a0 So at that point in time in Colossae you had teachers going around that were claiming to have special knowledge, special wisdom and if you joined their little group you could be a part, you could be initiated into the special knowledge.\u00a0 And Paul says that\u2019s all bogus, he said when we died to the Law we died to all of that and we died to the elementary principles of the world at the same time.\n\nColossians 3:5 and verse 20 says that we died to sin, again the sin nature, and we died with Christ to the world.\u00a0 [Colossians 3:5, \u201cTherefore consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which amounts to idolatry.\u201d\u00a0 Colossians 2:20, \u201cIf you have died with Christ to the elementary principles of the world, why, as if you were living in the world, do you submit yourself to decrees, such as\u2026..\u201d ]\u00a0 Isn\u2019t that interesting, we died to the world, we\u2019re not a part of the world any more, are we; we\u2019re in the world but we\u2019re not what? of the world, and that\u2019s all because of our identification with Christ.\n\nWhen we talk about death being a separation one of the things we need to understand is that\u2026 we\u2019ve all heard this expression that nature abhors a vacuum.\u00a0 Right?\u00a0 Nature abhors a vacuum.\u00a0 Well, that\u2019s also true in the spiritual realm.\u00a0 When we die to something we also are drawing to something else automatically.\u00a0 So separation from one thing means that we\u2019re joined to another thing.\u00a0 And that\u2019s what we\u2019re saying here.\u00a0 Identification always joins us, so in our identification with Christ we\u2019ve been joined to Christ.\u00a0 Our death with Christ, in our identification with us, has separated us from our former life.\u00a0 So our identification with death, through death, Christ\u2019s death, our joining to that death with Christ, joins us to His death and that death, Christ\u2019s death, our identification with that death separates us from everything that was Adamic.\n\nSo here I have it summarized, it might be a little bit easier to understand it if you look at this chart.\u00a0 When we were \u201cin Adam\u201d notice, we said\u00a0 you\u2019re joined to one thing, you\u2019re separated from something else.\u00a0 So \u201cin Adam\u201d we were joined to what?\u00a0 The Old Man, the Sin Nature, Adam\u2019s entire History, and the trio of enemies, the World, the Flesh and the Devil, and we were under Satan\u2019s authority, as unbelievers.\u00a0 Notice that when we were \u201cin Adam,\u201d when we were going to Adam we were separated from Christ, right?\u00a0 That\u2019s the very definition of what it means to be an unbeliever.\u00a0 But now let\u2019s come to the other side, once we put our faith and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, now we are joined to Christ and what does that mean?\u00a0 It means we now have a new man, or we are a new man, we have a new nature, we share Christ\u2019s spiritual history, His righteousness and His life.\n\nAnd guess what, we have a different future.\u00a0 In the short term, right now, it can be good or bad, can\u2019t it?\u00a0 Anybody having a little good and bad going on in your life?\u00a0 Yeah, sinus infection, that\u2019s not so much fun, right, a little bad there.\u00a0 But guess what, long term it\u2019s really bright, no more sinus infections, right?\u00a0 But notice what also, when we were joined to Christ what are we now separated from?\u00a0 We\u2019re separated from the Old Man, Adam\u2019s History, we are separated from the World and the Devil, notice what\u2019s not there, what word is missing?\u00a0 Flesh, we\u2019ll talk about that in a minute.\u00a0 So we separated from the World and the Devil, it says the Sin Nature no longer has the claim over us that it had.\u00a0 What\u2019s the difference now?\u00a0 As a believer I still have a sin nature but what\u2019s the big difference?\u00a0 I now have the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit which enables me and empowers me to be able to choose righteousness.\u00a0 The unbeliever doesn\u2019t have that; they\u2019re left to their own devices and they come up with all kinds of devices, don\u2019t they?\u00a0 Sadly!\n\nAll right, this is a very, very important slide here.\u00a0 We might ask the question, well why is all this information important in the first place?\u00a0 And we\u2019re saying here that there are at least two areas of application that touch directly upon what God is doing in the life of the believer.\u00a0 The first one is the primary manner of dealing with the Sin Nature comes about because we were identified with Christ.\n\nSo what do we mean by that?\u00a0 If we look at Romans 1-14 Paul does a masterful job of outlining for us what that means.\u00a0 But if we focus just on verse 11 here, this is from the King James Version, notice that\u2026 you can view this verse as a bridge.\n\nNow generally when I show this slide I have that bridge separated so the two pieces are apart but if you look on the left hand side you see the first part of the verse, and it says what?\u00a0 \u201cEven so reckon ye also yourselves to be dead unto sin\u2026\u201d\u00a0 Why can we reckon ourselves dead to sin and let me say here this means the sin nature. \u00a0Why can we do that?\u00a0 Well, again because we are identified with Christ, we are positionally \u201cin Christ.\u201d\u00a0 So now we consider, we count it to be a fact that we\u2019re dead to, or separated from the sin nature in the sense that it no longer controls us.\u00a0 But most of us stop right here, and this is where we have our spiritual checklist, right?\u00a0 Okay, if I do this and don\u2019t do that and don\u2019t do that and do this\u2026 whew, okay!\u00a0 And then what we find ourselves doing at this point, if that\u2019s all we\u2019re doing, is we bring a bondage upon ourselves.\u00a0 We put ourselves under our own sense, if you will, of a law; my law is don\u2019t do these three things, do these five things; that\u2019s my personal law.\n\nBut you\u2019ll notice in that verse that there\u2019s not a period after \u201cunto sin,\u201d that\u2019s only the first half of the verse; the second half of the verse says what?\u00a0 We\u2019re to do what, we\u2019re to reckon two things, we reckon ourselves dead to sin but we\u2019re also to reckon, to count, to consider that we are \u201calive unto God in Christ Jesus.\u201d\u00a0 Now let me ask you a question; do you think it makes a difference where you place your focus in that verse?\u00a0 If I\u2019m\u00a0 placing my focus on reckoning myself dead to sin and that\u2019s all I\u2019m doing I\u2019m going to find myself trying to do things in my own strength.\u00a0 Would it not be more beneficial for me to look at the second half of the verse and choose to put my focus there?\u00a0 So now if I\u2019m focusing, if I\u2019m reckoning, if I\u2019m considering myself \u201calive unto God in Christ\u201d am I going to be thinking about sinful things?\u00a0 Am I going to be wanting to involve myself in sinful things?\u00a0 And the answer is no.\n\nNow, I\u2019ve got news for you, you still have a sin nature, don\u2019t you? And the sin nature, which part of that verse does He want you to focus on? He wants to bring you back over to the left hand side and make you forget about the right hand side of that picture.\u00a0 So what do we have to do?\u00a0 We have to choose to \u201creckon ourselves alive unto God.\u201d\u00a0 It\u2019s a moment by moment choice.\n\nLet me back up, we said why is this important?\u00a0 We said there\u2019s two areas of application.\u00a0 The first area of application is dealing with the sin nature.\u00a0 Now what\u2019s the second area?\u00a0 Again, in previous sessions we talked about this thing that we\u2019re calling the continuity of person and we don\u2019t have a lot of time to go into that right now but basically what we\u2019re saying, and if you remember looking at the chart on the left you see that what happens is in our spiritual transformation from being \u201cin Adam\u201d to being \u201cin Christ\u201d there are still some things that come across with us.\u00a0 Right?\u00a0 Positionally we\u2019re in Christ, right?\u00a0 But as I\u2019ve said before, when I become a believer do I suddenly \u2026 if I liked chocolate ice cream before I was a believer do I suddenly not like chocolate ice cream because it\u2019s not godly?\n\nNo, everybody knows chocolate ice cream is godly so of course I\u2019m going to like that.\u00a0 Somebody laugh, come on, lighten it up out here.\n\nNo, there are some things that come with me into my transformation of being a believer.\u00a0 I sure wish that I had gotten my new body when that happened, it didn\u2019t as you can tell, but there are certain things here, characteristics.\u00a0 Remember Peter, when he got saved did his personality change?\u00a0 Did he not continue to be Peter?\u00a0 Yeah, he did, and his Peter-ness had to be brought under control.\u00a0 Right?\u00a0 Just your Peter-ness has to be brought under control.\u00a0\u00a0 That\u2019s what we\u2019re talking about here.\n\nSo what we\u2019re saying is this\u2026 let me back up here, that there is actual spiritual change that\u2019s taking place in the continuity of person and those are the things I said that remained the same through the radical spiritual transformation of the new birth.\u00a0 And again we mentioned that includes your human body, your personality, your identity, your earthly relationships, your personal characteristics, your likes, your dislikes, your earthly skills and knowledge, all of these things are things that come through the spiritual transformation and have not been renewed, per se.\n\nThe thing we want to understand is that this process now of God dealing with our continuing person is always in the direction of Christ.\u00a0 As He works on us He\u2019s making us more like the Lord Jesus Christ.\u00a0 So this should be an encouraging thing to you because it isn\u2019t something vague.\u00a0 You know, a lot of times well gee, I wonder what God wants to do with my life?\u00a0 What\u2019s He doing?\u00a0 I just can\u2019t understand what God\u2019s doing.\u00a0 Well, yeah, you can understand what God\u2019s doing; He\u2019s making you more into the image of His Son.\u00a0 So it\u2019s not a vague notion, it\u2019s not a vague direction, you know, God didn\u2019t just save you and then kind of tap you on the hiney and say good luck.\u00a0 No, He\u2019s walking with you, He has actual processes in place.\n\nHere\u2019s some news for you, it might shock you.\u00a0 Guess what?\u00a0 We\u2019re not trying to be a good person and Christ-like!\u00a0 Do you realize\u2026 I think some people really have a problem with this; they wake up in the morning, oh, I just want to be Christ-like today.\u00a0 Well, guess what?\u00a0\u00a0 You already are Christ-like.\u00a0 Are you not already Christ-like positionally?\u00a0 So now what has to happen is you have to reckon that to be true in\u00a0 your life.\u00a0 You have to allow the Holy Spirit to make that a reality as you walk it out.\u00a0 But here\u2019s something exciting; God Himself is carrying out all of the processes in your life that are Christ like.\u00a0 He\u2019s doing it, He\u2019s not just trying to vaguely change your character.\u00a0 He wants us to be like Christ and that is where everything that is happening in your life is taking you.\u00a0 And that\u2019s why we need to understand and know that everything that happens to us, EVERYTHING, happens to us, whatever happens in us, around us, it\u2019s all part of God\u2019s process to accomplish us being conformed to the image of His Son.\u00a0 And that\u2019s exciting when you stop and really think about that.\n\nFor the majority of my adult Christian life I\u2019ve kind of wandered around in confusion wondering God, what\u2019s it all about?\u00a0 Why are all these things happening around me, good things, bad things, you know, terrible things, what\u2019s going on?\u00a0 What are You doing?\u00a0 And as I began to understand the truth here I began to see that God was taking a personal interest in my life.\u00a0 That yes, even things like sinus infections are being used to conform me to the image of His Son.\u00a0 Now that\u2019s a crazy thing to think about but it\u2019s true.\u00a0 EVERYTHING is being used by God.\n\nOkay, so that\u2019s all review.\u00a0 Let\u2019s introduce some new material, so what we\u2019re going to talk about right now is the physical realm versus the spiritual realm.\u00a0 Now if you were in my Sunday School class when I did this I had some speakers and I actually had some music associated with each one of these pictures but I didn\u2019t think it would be entirely appropriate for me to do that this morning so you\u2019ll have to take the class with me later in the classroom, something to look forward to.\u00a0 Okay.\n\nSo we\u2019ve been examining what the Bible says about the spiritual anatomy of human beings, both believers and unbelievers.\u00a0 And thus far we\u2019ve made little\u00a0 mention of the physical body, focusing mostly on the general aspects of the church age believer.\u00a0 And again I\u2019m referencing now the previous session. So that\u2019s where our focus has been but now we\u2019re going to turn our attention to a discussion of the spiritual aspects and the physical aspects in each individual believer and unbeliever and we\u2019re going to attempt to correctly distinguish categories that are essential if we hope to have a proper understanding of this topic.\u00a0 And the whole idea is for us to have a better understanding of who we are, who we were, who we are, and who we are becoming.\u00a0 That was actually the name of the course that I was teaching at the time.\n\nSo let\u2019s first of all deal with some misunderstanding of terms and say right up here at the front there\u2019s some theological debate regarding what constitutes the physical and spiritual aspects of mankind.\u00a0 With some variation there are two positions; one is that man is a two-part being, body and then soul\/spirit being the same and that\u2019s called the dichotomy position.\u00a0 And then there\u2019s the man who has three parts, body, soul and spirit which is called the trichotomy position.\u00a0 And this is an in house debate and there are good and godly men in each camp and pretty good arguments on both sides of it.\n\nThe position from which I\u2019m going to be working is as a trichotomous, that\u2019s the position I personally take.\u00a0 So keep that in mind if your theology is a little bit different\u00a0 you might need to massage what I say a little bit but it should still work, for the most part.\n\nThe most common passage used to support the trichotomy position is 1 Thessalonians 5:23, and we probably all know this by heart.\u00a0 Paul says, \u201cNow may the God of peace Himself sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete, without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.\u201d\u00a0 The primary reason for disagreement regarding the terms spirit, soul and body is a failure to acknowledge that they are not always employed with scientific or technical precision.\u00a0 You see things change when you get into poetic contexts where soul and spirit can often be used as synonyms and I\u2019ve given you a couple of examples here.\n\nLook at Job 7:11, it says, \u201c\u2026 I will speak in the anguish of my spirit, I will complain in the bitterness of my soul.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 It makes it sound like they may be the same thing there.\u00a0 And you come over to Isaiah 26:9, \u201cAt night my soul longs for You, indeed my spirit within me seeks You diligently.\u201d\u00a0 Certain contexts make it seem that it\u2019s hard to differentiate.\n\nAnd then to add to the confusion some poetic contexts make body and soul appear as synonyms; imagine that.\u00a0 Psalm 44:25, the psalmist says, \u00a0\u201cFor our soul has sunk down into the dust;\u201d and then he follows that up immediately with \u201cOur body cleaves to the earth.\u201d\u00a0 Well, which is it, is it soul or body?\u00a0 Make up your mind here.\n\nSo the bottom line is syntactically instead of synonyms it could be that the author\u2019s intent here may be to use soul and body to represent two halve of the whole; what\u2019s possible.\u00a0 Or it could be that the word soul here is taken to mean living being.\u00a0 So you see the struggle we kind of have when we\u2019re trying to figure all this out.\u00a0 It also seems that there are times when the word \u201csoul\u201d conveys more the idea of physical function, such as possessing the breath of life in the physical sense rather than focusing on the spiritual aspects of the soul as in Genesis 2:7.\u00a0 We all know this verse, \u201cThen the LORD God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.\u201d\n\nSo we\u2019ve got some potential for misunderstanding what we\u2019re saying.\u00a0 Well let me come back in and maybe to try to clarify this a little bit, hopefully.\u00a0 If we consider that biblically the word \u201csoul\u201d and \u201cheart\u201d can vary in definition, imagine this, according to context.\u00a0 Isn\u2019t that something, how words in the Bible have slightly different meanings according to the context, isn\u2019t that interesting how that works?\u00a0 So they can vary and we can, or they can embrace both spiritual and physical aspects depending on the context.\n\nSo there is a place in some contexts for understanding a difference in meaning between the words soul and spirit, as already noted, and we mentioned 1 Thessalonians 5:23.\u00a0 But then we want to point out Hebrews 4:12 also.\u00a0 This is a great verse, isn\u2019t it?\u00a0 It says, \u201cFor the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as\u201d notice, \u201cthe division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.\u201d\u00a0 Kind of an interesting passage here; we sort of see spiritual things and physical things all right here in the same passage.\u00a0 In my opinion we can say that Hebrews 4:12 presumes the distinction between the term \u201csoul and spirit\u201d and I believe it\u2019s unmistakably that this is given the use of the figure of the following speech, which is \u201cjoints and marrow,\u201d the fact that they\u2019re combined there or used together, and \u201cheart\u201d all these draw from man\u2019s physical anatomy.\n\nSo that\u2019s very brief but that\u2019s just to kind of give you an idea of where I\u2019m coming from with regards to the makeup of man.\u00a0 Now everything I\u2019m going to talk about is going to come from this perspective, that man is three parts.\u00a0 So let\u2019s flip the terms from the spiritual realm to the physical realm here and lets go back to the beginning.\u00a0 It\u2019s always good to start with the beginning, isn\u2019t it?\u00a0 So we say God made man as a created physical and spiritual being on the sixth day of creation and there it is, Genesis 1:26,\u00a0 \u201cThen God said\u201d what? \u201c\u2018Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness\u2026.\u201d\u00a0 And then in chapter 2, verse 7 it says, \u201cThen the LORD God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.\u201d\n\nI like to use diagrams wherever I can, diagrams aren\u2019t perfect but they assist us sometimes in our understanding and I hoping that that will be the case here.\u00a0 So if we look at this diagram what I\u2019ve done is you\u2019ll see I\u2019ve got concentric circles, I have the physical realm side and the spiritual realm side and the spiritual realm side is what we would consider to be the eternal present where God dwells and I\u2019m using this, I\u2019m going to use this all through the presentation and I\u2019m going to add to it as we go along.\n\nSo if you look at that you see the physical realm; what\u2019s on the physical realm?\u00a0 Body and brain and on the spiritual realm we see spirit and soul.\u00a0 My argument is going to be this: that the brain is a component part of the body and it serves as the interface with the physical.\u00a0 Any computer people in here, you know how important it is to have the interface to be able to use your computer.\u00a0 What\u2019s an interface?\u00a0 Well, a keyboard is an interface, right?\u00a0 A monitor is an interface.\u00a0 A mouse is an interface.\u00a0 If you don\u2019t have those what do you have?\u00a0\u00a0 A CPU that\u2019s just sitting on your floor doing nothing.\u00a0 It may be doing something but you don\u2019t know what it\u2019s doing, you\u2019re not able to use it.\u00a0 So we\u2019re saying here the brain is the interface for us with the physical and the soul is a component part of the spirit serving as the interface with the spiritual.\n\nSo Hebrews 4:12 strongly implies that there\u2019s a difference between the two spiritual aspects, soul and spirit, of the human being and both these aspects exist in the spiritual realm.\u00a0 The brain and the soul are the mutual interfaces of the human being.\u00a0 The brain is in the physical realm (obviously) and the soul is in the spiritual realm, just as the body interfaces and interacts with the physical realm we\u2019re saying that the spirit of a person interfaces with, interacts with the spiritual realm.\u00a0 I hope that makes sense to you.\n\nI\u2019m just adding a little bit more here, the diagram here illustrates the brain on the physical realm side and the soul on the spiritual realm side.\u00a0\u00a0 And we\u2019re saying both the brain on the physical side and the soul on the spiritual side have aspects of mind, emotion and will.\u00a0 All right, don\u2019t tune me out, we\u2019re sort of getting to that metaphysical ooooooh part, you know, just stay with me, it\u2019s not that bad, it will get better here.\u00a0 So let\u2019s talk about the physical realm side of the mind.\u00a0 What do we do on that side?\u00a0 What\u2019s the physical mind doing, where we have sympathetic mental thinking, subconscious activity, reaction to stress.\u00a0 And guess what, the mind is trainable, isn\u2019t it?\n\nLet\u2019s look at the spiritual side of the mind; it\u2019s also sympathetic mental thinking, it\u2019s also subconscious, it reacts to sin.\u00a0 And guess what?\u00a0 It\u2019s also trainable.\u00a0 Now obviously we\u2019re talking about the believer here.\u00a0 Right, everybody with me; we\u2019re not talking about the unbeliever right now, we\u2019re talking about the believer.\u00a0 So what did we say?\u00a0 That was the mind, let\u2019s talk about the emotional side.\u00a0 On the physical side what is going on with the emotions?\u00a0 Well, the emotions are influenced and affected by physical forces like hunger, pain, hormones, blood sugar, levels, etc.\u00a0 When I got up this morning I was famished, that was a physical thing and it was pretty emotional.\u00a0 [Laughter]\u00a0 I had to get to the restaurant as quickly as I could to get my eggs.\n\nSo then let\u2019s come back down to the spiritual realm side; we also have an emotional aspect here, it\u2019s influenced and affected by spiritual forces.\u00a0 For example, conviction of sin, meditation and reflection upon the Word, prayer and spiritual warfare.\u00a0 So we react emotionally in those situations also.\u00a0 Let\u2019s talk will, the physical side has will, so when we make decisions, notice the wording, solely based upon what our physical senses tell us we\u2019re\u00a0 using the physical side of our will, the physical aspect of our will.\u00a0 But is that all there is to it?\u00a0 I don\u2019t think so.\u00a0 On the spiritual side when we make decisions based upon what we understand to be the truth then we will see, or what happens when we\u2019re spiritually impacted?\u00a0\u00a0 Okay.\n\nSo here\u2019s a little bit more, adding a bit more to the picture here.\u00a0 Both the brain and the soul, we\u2019re saying again, have aspects of mind, emotions and will, and as the mind, emotions and will of the brain are impacted by things in the physical realm, which includes the body, so the mind, emotions and will of the soul are impacted by things in the spiritual realm, and that includes the spirit of the person.\u00a0 So according to Hebrews 4:12 I have a question for you.\u00a0 [Hebrews 4:12, \u201cFor the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.\u201d]\u00a0 Where does God\u2019s Word actually touch us?\u00a0 You look at that diagram; where does the Word of God actually reach us?\u00a0 At the intersection, if you look at that inner concentric circle, at the intersection of what?\u00a0 The soul and the spirit.\u00a0 That\u2019s where the Word of God is impacting or where it is reaching.\n\nNow this is really exciting stuff and, you know, I\u2019m holding myself down here so I don\u2019t get too rambunctious but look at 2 Timothy 3:16.\u00a0 We all know this passage, \u201cAll Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; [17] so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 Okay, we like that one.\u00a0 We read Hebrews 4;12, \u201cFor the Word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.\u201d\n\nAll right, stop and think about this for a minute.\u00a0 This is really neat stuff.\u00a0 God\u2019s Word, where did it originate?\u00a0 It originates in the spiritual realm, right.\u00a0 But isn\u2019t it interesting that God created a document, we call the Bible, in the physical realm.\u00a0 Stop and think about that for a minute.\u00a0 Now what happens?\u00a0 When we read the Bible what happens?\u00a0 The Bible impacts us first where?\u00a0 It impacts us in the physical realm because it has to go through the what?\u00a0 Our brain, right.\u00a0 And then what happens?\u00a0 Then the Holy Spirit comes along and He takes God\u2019s Word into the depths of the spiritual realm of our person, right where it profoundly impacts our soul and spirit.\u00a0 It starts in the spirit, it comes into us through the physical, it\u2019s picked up by the Holy Spirit, it impacts us in our soul and spirit and then it becomes a spiritual thing.\u00a0 It\u2019s just amazing how that works\u2026 just amazing!\n\nNow have you ever known anybody that says, you know, I don\u2019t need to read the Bible, you know, I know what it\u2019s about.\u00a0 What does this suggest to you?\u00a0 Maybe something quite different, right?\u00a0 That man, we have to have the Word of God moving in our lives so that we will be impacted appropriately.\u00a0 All I can say is like Paul, when I read this kind of stuff is \u201cOh, the depths of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways!\u201d\u00a0 [Romans 11:33]\u00a0 Well, to me I would just say well, God, You could have made this so much easier, you know, the moment that I put my faith and trust in Christ, of course You could have just made that happen, I mean, we could have bypassed all this faith stuff, just make it happen, you know, just make me spiritual, right.\u00a0 Just give me my new body right now.\n\nBut God has something else in store; He has a completely different plan in place and it\u2019s really amazing when you stop and you reflect upon how God\u2019s wisdom has impacted our world and continues to impact our world.\u00a0 How does this impact, this information, how does it impact unbelievers?\u00a0 Again, we\u2019re thinking about how that happens, it starts in the spiritual realm, it comes through the brain, on the physical realm the Holy Spirit takes it and applies it to the heart.\u00a0 And what happens?\u00a0 God uses this process right here to bring conviction to the heart of the unbeliever so that they can be saved.\u00a0 Isn\u2019t that marvelous?\u00a0 Wow, that\u2019s exciting stuff!\n\nBut what about for believers?\u00a0 God uses the very same process but now what He does, he uses this process to conform us, to transform us, to bring about growth and maturity and sanctification, all of these processes, in our lives.\u00a0 Interestingly when you back up, is this a one-time process for the unbeliever or a continual process for the unbeliever?\u00a0 One time, isn\u2019t it; one time, bam, it happens.\u00a0 But what about for us?\u00a0 This is ongoing.\u00a0 How long is it going to go?\u00a0 Until the rapture, right, until we\u2019re with Him in His presence, right?\u00a0 Basically.\u00a0 Yeah.\u00a0 Well, it\u2019s kind of important to know this.\n\nYou know sometimes when somebody gets up and starts giving you all this information you\u2019re sitting there and you\u2019re going that\u2019s really good Jim, you know\u2026 well again, it\u2019s online and if you\u2019re not getting it all it\u2019s okay, you can download the video, look at again, I\u2019m sorry you have to listen to me but that\u2019s the way it goes.\n\nAnyway, guess what?\u00a0 God\u2019s working in you; hang in there.\u00a0 We don\u2019t have too much more.\u00a0 Have you ever considered that when physicians prescribe medications that impact people on the physical side but they can\u2019t do anything to impact you on the spiritual side.\u00a0 Isn\u2019t that something.\u00a0 But isn\u2019t it also interesting that God\u2019s Word affects the spiritual realm because that\u2019s the only thing that reaches to that depth.\u00a0 I don\u2019t want to get carried away here and make anybody mad but you know there are certain areas of science and medicine that try to deal with the mind as if they get the mind okay then everything will be fine.\u00a0 But you see, all you\u2019re doing is dealing with the mind; where\u2019s the real problem?\u00a0 The real problem is the spiritual level, isn\u2019t it?\n\nSo if you\u2019re never dealing with the spiritual level of if\u00a0 you don\u2019t have the tools whereby you can deal with the spiritual level you\u2019re just dealing with symptoms.\u00a0 You know, sometimes dealing with symptoms looks like it works, right?\u00a0 You know, you put a little cream on your acne and you think it goes away, until it pops up again next week.\u00a0 Better move on\u2026.\n\nLet\u2019s talk for a second about the five senses and this is a biblical analogy, the next two points are biblical analogies, and let me give you a definition of what an analogy is so you won\u2019t think I\u2019m heretical here. An analogy explains an idea or a thing by comparing it to something that is familiar, a comparison between two things typically for the purpose of explanation or clarification.\u00a0 So that\u2019s the point here.\n\nHere\u2019s an interesting picture, I hope you can see that, we all talk about our five senses, right, I mean, when you\u2019re in elementary school they teach you all about your five senses and you\u2019ve probably had a test, you know, list the five senses and how do you access those senses, that kind of thing.\u00a0 Right?\u00a0 So here we are, five senses: sight, how do we access sight? We have eyeballs.\u00a0 Hearing, you know, oh, we have ears thankfully.\u00a0 Touch a couple of different ways, we have hands, feet and even our skin.\u00a0 Smell, we have a nose and some of us have more nose than other people, like myself which is a real curse.\u00a0 Taste, it comes by generally your mouth and tongue. So there\u2019s your five senses.\n\nDid you know that the Scripture also gives an analogy of five senses with reference to the spiritual realm.\u00a0 I think this is kind of fascinating stuff here; five senses on the physical side, five senses on the spiritual side.\u00a0 Are you familiar with any of these verses?\u00a0 Genesis 32, it says \u201c\u2026[God] touched the socket of [Jacob\u2019s] thigh\u2026 there\u2019s touch. [Genesis 32:24-25, \u201cThen Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him until daybreak. [25] When he saw that he had not prevailed against him, he touched the socket of his thigh; so the socket of Jacob\u2019s thigh was dislocated while he wrestled with him.\u201d]\n\nPsalm 34:8, \u201cO taste and SEE that the LORD is good\u2026.\u201d\u00a0 You know, what do you get?\u00a0 A Jesus lollypop?\u00a0 NO, that\u2019s not what that means.\n\nSmell, Amos 5:21, God says, \u201cAnd I will not smell in your solemn assemblies.\u201d\n\n2 Corinthians Paul\u2019s talking and he says that Satan \u201chas blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see\u2026.\u201d\u00a0 Isn\u2019t that interesting.\u00a0 And hearing, Romans 11:8, \u201cGOD GVE THEM A SPIRIT OF STUPOR, EYES TO SEE NTO AND EARS TO HEAR NOT,\u201d \u00a0\u00a0there\u2019s five senses right there.\u00a0 I think that\u2019s kind of interesting.\u00a0 In all those passages it clearly indicates that there is an equivalent correlation between the five senses in the spiritual realm and the five senses in the physical realm.\u00a0 Contextually Scripture often uses physical body parts to refer to the deepest part of man\u2019s being.\u00a0 We see terms like bowels and kidneys and joints and marrow and heart; a lot of it depends on what translation you\u2019re using.\n\nBut these are all sometimes used for the spiritual side which includes the soul and the spirit and sometimes for the physical side which includes the brain\u2019s activity in thinking and emotion and will.\u00a0 So when we think about sense we can also take into consideration the fact that people can be diminished or distorted or maybe even have nonfunctional parts that relate to their physical senses, can\u2019t they?\u00a0 As you see, I have an older brother who was born blind.\u00a0 Well Scripture, surprisingly\u2026 isn\u2019t it interesting, Scripture reveals that the believer\u2019s spiritual senses can likewise be diminished, distorted or non-functional in the spiritual realm.\u00a0 Right?\u00a0 Have you ever thought about that?\u00a0 That\u2019s kind of like the question I ask whenever I\u2019m teaching about the weaker and the stronger brother and I always say, you know, anybody a weaker brother, and no hands ever go up, you know.\u00a0 Thank you sister, I see that hand\u2026 you know, it\u2019s always, everybody thinks they\u2019re the stronger brother or sister.\u00a0 I always think that\u2019s kind of interesting.\u00a0 Nobody ever wants to say well, you know, I could be one of those people that maybe I have diminished capacity in one of my spiritual senses, maybe [can't understand word], you know, because I mean to say that is to admit you\u2019re not perfect or something, right?\n\nI\u2019m sure I\u2019m probably diminished in a number of categories this morning but thankfully what is God\u2019s perfect plan?\u00a0 It\u2019s that we as believers operate in the full capacity of our spiritual senses.\u00a0 Does that make sense?\u00a0 I had to throw this in here, forgive me.\u00a0 Deuteronomy 18 says \u201cThere shall not be found among you \u2026one who uses divination, one who practices witchcraft, or one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer, or one who casts a spell, or a medium, or a spiritist, or one who calls up the dead.\u00a0\u00a0 [12] For whoever does these things is detestable to the LORD\u2026\u00a0 [Deuteronomy 18:10-12]\n\nWhen you think about this category of activity what do you normally think about?\u00a0 You know, people are trying to go outside of their normal five senses, are they not?\u00a0 And they\u2019re trying to access something that they can\u2019t access with their normal five senses.\u00a0 You may recall this, a movie a few\u00a0 years ago, he saw dead people.\u00a0 Well, there is no sixth sense.\u00a0 There\u2019s a Holy Spirit, and there\u2019s a Satanic world but there\u2019s not a sixth sense.\n\nAll right, let\u2019s talk about another analogy, another aspect of this.\u00a0 Another aspect of the correlation between the spiritual and the physical realm relates to proper nourishment for growth.\u00a0 Would you agree that nourishment is important in the physical realm?\u00a0 I know some of you believe that because I can see your waistline, it\u2019s just like mine, right; got to have that nourishment.\u00a0 Well, just as there\u2019s appropriate physical food based upon our varying levels of physical maturity there is similarly an appropriate spiritual food, which is Scripture by the way, based upon the believer\u2019s varying levels of spiritual maturity.\u00a0 This is another fun question I always ask is where are you on the spiritual maturity measurement.\u00a0 And you know, everybody says oh, I\u2019m over here, you know, the line goes this far and I\u2019m over here.\u00a0 I\u2019ve never had anybody say well, you know, I\u2019m way back over here.\u00a0 We kind of think more highly of ourselves than we ought sometimes I think.\n\nHere\u2019s what it looks like.\u00a0 In the Scriptures we have a couple of different Greek words here that are used for various kinds of food, for various maturity levels.\u00a0 So we have the word brephos<\/em>, which means newborn, in 1 Peter 2:2.\u00a0 [1 Peter 2:2, \u201clike newborn babies, long for the pure milk of the word, so that by it you may grow in respect to salvation.\u201d]\u00a0 Now what\u2019s appropriate for a newborn?\u00a0 Milk, right?\u00a0 Then we have nepios,<\/em> which is an infant and a number of Scriptures there, and we notice also infants are primarily feasting on milk.\u00a0 [1 Corinthians 3:1, \u201cAnd I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual men, but as to men of flesh, as to infants in Christ.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 Ephesians 4:14, \u201cAs a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming;\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 Hebrews 5:13, \u201cFor everyone who partakes only of milk is not accustomed to the word of righteousness, for he is an infant.\u201d]\n\nWe come to paidion<\/em>, which is youth and now we\u2019re moving away from the milk and we\u2019re getting into the meat, right, more solid food.\u00a0 And then once we begin to be mature teleios,<\/em> then we\u2019re supposed to be on solid food.\u00a0 Right?\u00a0 Would everybody agree that that\u2019s the normal, natural progression in the physical world?\u00a0 Well why is it that we have this going on in our churches?\u00a0 You know sometimes we\u2019re hard on the congregation, well, that congregation out there is just growing in Christ the way they ought to\u2026 well, maybe we\u2019re trying to give them a steak when they need milk.\n\nOr maybe they\u2019re on Captain Crunch and we\u2019re trying to give them meat.\u00a0 Or maybe, God forbid, the other side of the coin is they never developed a taste for anything other than milk and here they are fifty year old\u2026 believers for fifty years and they\u2019re still sucking their thumb and drinking a bottle.\u00a0\u00a0 Would you say that that\u2019s a dysfunctional way of growing in a church.\u00a0 I would.\n\nSo it\u2019s incumbent on us as teachers, obviously, to do our best to try to ascertain where the congregation is and do our best to try to meet the congregation where they are, whether it be in the Sunday School class or here or whatever, we want to make sure that what we\u2019re giving out is appropriate for where the people are.\u00a0 I laugh sometimes because a couple of years ago I was in the presence of our pastor and another individual and in the conversation the comment was made that well, Andy, you\u2019re really good, you know, you\u2019re at the elementary level.\u00a0 And I was sitting at the table when I that was said, I literally almost fell backwards out of my chair, are you kidding me?\u00a0 If this is the elementary level man, I\u2019m in diapers.\u00a0 [Laughter]\u00a0 I mean, come on\u2026 I don\u2019t know about you but I think what we get every week from our pastor is absolutely amazing.\u00a0 Here I am, you know I have a degree in theology and there\u2019s not a time, there\u2019s not a meeting that I sit out here and I don\u2019t get something that I hadn\u2019t gotten before, you know, that\u2019s from our elementary teacher.\u00a0\u00a0 [Laughter] So be it!\u00a0 Right, if that\u2019s what it is I\u2019ll take it.\n\nLet\u2019s do a quick review and we\u2019ll wrap it up.\u00a0 Here we go.\u00a0 So the main things I want you to come away with today are things I\u2019m going to go back over here.\u00a0 It\u2019s important that we understand that there\u2019s some key things, [can't understand word] what God is doing in the life of the believer.\u00a0 And I\u2019m hoping that you\u2019ll be able to go back with the presentation, maybe review the chart, and God can use that to help you understand the information.\u00a0 We said that we have a physical and spiritual realm.\u00a0 We talked about the five senses and they how they impact us, or are impacted.\n\nI would state here that all spiritual error of whatever degree is based in misunderstanding of or denial of the existence of the spiritual realm and\/or the relationship of the physical realm to the spiritual realm.\u00a0 When the Bible says that the unbeliever is spiritually dead it\u2019s not saying that the unbeliever has no spirit or soul but rather that the unbeliever\u2019s spirit and soul are separated from God.\u00a0 And again, just to re-emphasize one more time, biblically to be separated from God is spiritual death.\u00a0 Physical death takes place when the physical body stops functioning and the soul and spirit is separated from the physical body in death.\u00a0 Ultimately as believers our soul and spirit are joined to a new body like Christ\u2019s resurrection body at the rapture, Hallelujah! Come Lord Jesus.\u00a0 Anybody want Jesus to come?\u00a0 Okay.\u00a0 I saw that hand.\u00a0 The body will not have a sin nature associated with it.\u00a0 Everybody right now should have popped up out of their chairs and went thank You Jesus!\u00a0 Can you imagine what it\u2019s going to be like not to have a sin nature?\u00a0 No you can\u2019t; I can\u2019t either!\u00a0 It\u2019s going to be amazing.\n\nThe new body\u2014free from the influence of the sin nature is Paul\u2019s desire for the Thessalonians believers when he says this, this is what he\u2019s talking about when he says, \u201cMay the God of peace Himself sanctify you entirely and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.\u201d\u00a0 [1 Thessalonians 5:23] Paul is saying bring on the new body.\u00a0 Oh, I can\u2019t wait.\n\nSo the appeal to believers is to have a continuous ingesting of appropriate spiritual nourishment.\u00a0 Right?\u00a0 When we say \u201cappropriate\u201d what do we mean?\u00a0 Again, appropriate food for the appropriate maturity level.\u00a0 Because we want to be impacted spiritually so we can then be used of the Holy Spirit to impact others.\u00a0 And let me just quickly make a comment and say some of you are out there impacting others for Christ and it\u2019s so exciting when you come and you tell us about that.\u00a0 Don\u2019t stop telling us, we love to hear about how God is using you out in your own sphere of influence.\n\nThe various dietary characteristic of physical nourishment provides a type or pattern with spiritual nourishment, again appropriateness, stage of life, [can't understand word] timing, those are all important.\u00a0 We say God will use the things that take place in the physical realm to have an impact on us in the spiritual realm and if you don\u2019t believe it, James 1:2 says, \u201cConsider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials.\u201d\u00a0 Romans 8:28, we love to quote this verse, right?\u00a0 We all know that causes, \u201cAll things\u201d but only the good ones, right? \u00a0NO, God causes \u201cAll things to work together for good to those who love God\u2026.\u201d etc.\u00a0 Why?\u00a0 Because He\u2019s conforming us to the image of His Son.\n\nOur senses in the spiritual realm are intended by God to be fully functional but that\u2019s dependent upon our consistent unbroken fellowship with the Lord and our intake of and correct understanding of God\u2019s Word.\u00a0 That\u2019s why it\u2019s so important to be in the Bible every day,\u00a0 every day!\u00a0 It\u2019s possible for [can't understand word] our physical senses to be in decline or be diminishing capacity, but notice, to have our spiritual senses improving in utility and functioning at the same time.\u00a0\u00a0 You know, if you live long enough you start to diminish in capacity, right?\u00a0 Richard says yes, Amen.\u00a0 [can't understand words].\u00a0\u00a0 Yeah, yeah, you start to diminish in your physical capacity but that doesn\u2019t mean that your spiritual capacity can\u2019t continue to prosper.\u00a0 That\u2019s exciting news for those of us that are diminishing, you know.\n\nWhat God is doing in the life of the believer will indeed involve physically based processes and events but the\u00a0 ultimate intent is for a spiritual impact.\u00a0 Through careful consistent and diligent study of Scripture the Holy Spirit reveals what those physically based processes are and how they are to impact us, and ultimately all the processes that God carries out in our lives, it doesn\u2019t matter if they originate in the physical or spiritual side, they\u2019re all intended to change the continuing person of the believer. Why?\u00a0 To prepare us for life in the spiritual realm.\u00a0 Have you stopped and really thought about that?\u00a0 What God is doing in\u00a0 your life right now, even the hard things, even the difficult things, even the things you question and say God, why is this happening?\u00a0 God is using everything in your life to prepare you for life in the spiritual realm.\u00a0 And I get excited about that.\n\nSo we need to remember that although it will experience a thousand\u00a0 years of considerable release from the curse of the fall, when all things are summed up in Christ this present physical realm is ultimately terminal.\u00a0 You see, this is why you don\u2019t want to life for this world.\u00a0 This world is terminal.\u00a0 Christian promises that God will exchange this present heaven and earth for a new one and this is the reason for our spiritual preparation now.\u00a0 So that\u2019s what we covered today.\u00a0 That\u2019s a lot of material.\u00a0 I hope you\u2019ll go back and look at it and if you have any questions take them to Andy\u2026 no, just kidding, anyway, let\u2019s close in prayer.\n\nHeavenly Father, thank You so much for Your Word and thank You for the opportunity to share this morning.\u00a0 I mostly pray, Father, that this morning You will take something that was said and cause it to be meat to the heart of Your people and stir up a curiosity and a desire to know more about these truths in the hearts of Your people so that we might all find ourselves progressing and having our spiritual senses sharpened and maturing and growing.\u00a0 And thank You so much for the service to come.\u00a0 We pray that You\u2019d just be with our brother Gabe, bless, encourage and strengthen him.\u00a0 Thank You for these wonderful people and their attentiveness and we just give you the glory.\u00a0 In Christ\u2019s name, Amen.\n\n \n\n \n\n \n\n \n\n \n\n \n\n ","series_sermon_number":""},"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t