good morning church happy New Year Church[Applause]anybody ready for this[Music]same book new chapter[Music]we turn the page whether you like it or not we turn the page and we have a brand new season a brandnew year of your life my life our life as a church in front of us right nowand can I just tell you God is not finished yetI said God’s not finished yet your prayer hasn’t been answered guesswhat God’s not finished yet that project isn’t over God’s not finished yet that reconciliation hasn’t happened yetGod’s not finished yet[Applause]we were hanging out with a couple over uh over the holiday there’s actually a couple that we don’t uh we don’t spend alot of time with and but they’re part of our church and have been for a few years and we got to be with them a little bit and they were sharing with with us thatone of the things that they wrote on the wall back at Legacy offering had to do with the salvation of a friend that they hadknown for over 20 years and when I saw them it was two days after their friend had given his life tothe Lord I said it’s not over yet come on it’snot over yet don’t be weary and doing well that’s my message for you before I get into my message today don’t be weary in doingwell for in due season and this year there’s going to be prayers that are going to be answered God’s gonna show updoors are going to open up for you don’t give up don’t sit down let’s keep going come on I’m excited about anybody else excited about 2023.and I know that this year there are some of you before you’re seated I just want to give you some pastoral Direction here whether you’re new to the Lord new toour church been around a while in fact you may want to get something your phone or something take a quick note take a picture of the screen because as webegan this new year I know that there are some of you who have been like I want to grow I want to move forward I want whatever’s next I don’t want tostay where I am I want God’s will in my life and so I want to take a moment to recommend a couple of practical things that will help your soul to prosper andyou can again you can take a picture or write it down but the first thing I want to recommend for you is the Bible appyouversion.com and this has Bible readings it has audiolistening plans it has Bible studies there’s been over 100 million downloadsof the Bible app some people use it like in church today there will be people who will use it just to follow along as weteach it has that those tools that ability the second thing I want to mention to you is a prayer and fasting guidemany of us take time in January just to do a spiritual reset with prayerand fasting and our friend Pastor Jensen Franklin has uh he has a there’s a websitethat’s ideal for this and he’s been doing this for many years and so it’s always good to take some extra time inJanuary just to seek God focus on him recalibrate your your relationship with him and this is a good tool resource youcan use and then thirdly I want to just encourage everyone get connected or updated reconnected to the life ofour church if this is where God brought you if this is your church don’t stay at a distancecome close get connected and you do that by attending foursessions of church Essentials this is a fresh new uh course that we have or or doorway I should say into the life ofour church we have to keep updating what we do for for new members uh because our church is always evolving and our churchis constantly how many of you are glad about that we’re not staying like we were we’re evolving we’re learning we’re growing we’rewe’re making changes so even if you’re already a member of the church I recommended all of our locations today session one starts at all our locationsthere’s going to be friendly faces that will be there who would love to greet you meet you help you acclimate in the life of our church the Bible says those who get planted in the house of the Lordwill flourish in the courts of God but you’re like a tree guys you’re like a tree you’ve got to get planted a treethat isn’t planted is not going to grow so if you have that visual in your mind you’ll understand why we encouragepeople please take the time know the church get connected to the church learn aboutthe church be part of the church find a place to serve and as you do your life will flourish your relationshipswill grow and good things will happen in your life because we all are created tobe part of God’s Great Church so anyway that’s that’s three it’ll be on our website if you didn’t catch it those three things will be there on ourwebsite you can look it up this week but I want to just give you the Practical direction that I think some of you wouldwant and desire as we get that you you in your heart you’re like I got to do something I want to do something I want to stay where I am well this is a goodplace to start with those three things amen you ready for the word today[Music]I want to Welcome All of You Yakima East Side welcome Bellevue today welcome to DuPont todayWelcome to our online location so glad you’re a part of our service and right here in Tacoma we welcome you and we’reglad you’re here[Music]and I’m going to ask you if you would just to raise a hand or two in the air and say my heart’s open my mind’s readymake me better God by Your Word today this yearI receive it I believe it and I won’t be the same againin Jesus name amen you may be seated todaywe’re going to begin a series called leading and feeding your soul leading and feedingyour soul we’re going to talk about we’re going to talk about youwe’re going to talk about knowing yourself by knowing your soul and recognizing the influence that yoursoul has on your life now I realize that the title might sound odd to you especially since mostreferences to the soul have to do with preparing for eternal life so you hear the word Soul when somebody’s talking about youknow going to heaven or eternity or at a funeral if you don’t know what the soul isthat’s you know that’s very common by the way to not understand the soul the soul is mysteriousand and this may really come across odd at first but hang with me because I’m going to introduce you to Beyond theVeil of the mystery to the Practical Dynamics and elements that are known and recognized as thispart of you that is called the soul and hopefully hopefullysome of you will as you as you hear this hopefully you will grab hold of knowingwhat your soul is and knowing how your soul worked hopefully the dots really connect foryou and you’ll understand why a healthy soul is the number one keyto being a healthy person the number one key to being healthy is not working out in the gymbut a healthy Soul could potentially get you in the jumpbeing a healthy person is not necessarily going to counseling and getting counsel but a healthy soulcan get you to the counselor the word soul is in the Bible856 times somebody say wow and anything that’s mentioned in theBible that much that many times must be pretty important for us to know as much as we can about it would you agreeso I’m going to begin in third John chapter 1 verse two it reads like this this is the Apostle John writing to hisfriend named Gaius and he says this beloved I pray that you may prosper in all thingsand be in health just as your what Your soulprospers just as your soul prospersanybody here would say man I want that over my life anybody here that would say speak thatover me like yeah I want to prosper I want to be in healtheven as my soul is prospering this this you can tell there there’s anaffection here from the Apostle John that’s kind of cutting right through the chase of you know I know you gotproblems I know you’re dealing with troubles I know that life’s not always easy my prayer for youis that in spite of opposition adversity you would prosper and that you would be in healtheven as your soul is healthy and prosperingso let me just say it like this the condition of your soulis the greatest influence on your lifeif your soul is healthy and strong you can get through anything the best thing you can do to be ahealthy person is to have a healthy soul and the best thing you can do to have healthy relationships is to have a healthy soulthe best thing you can do when you’re facing adversity is to focus on havinga healthy soul so when things are not going well which they often don’t go well in life thebest thing that you can do is to pump vitamins into your soulsweat out the toxins of your soul read some Chicken Soup for the Soullearning how to lead and feed your soul will protect youand you will stay strong in the struggle of life and you’ll be able to overcome in allforms of adversity and my wedding your appetite right now like for a little more about the soul like I’m raised inthe bar way up here aren’t I I’m like and and and and hopefully it’s creating this is not just something I want to saybecause this is the newest latest Series this is bottom line Truth for youas goes your soul goes your life so let’s learn you’re ready to learn alittle bit come on you’re really ready I need you to learn I need you to lean in I need you to because I’m going to probably spill allover the place uh what I mean is this has been 20 years of you wouldn’t know it because I usually wrap it indifferent sorts of things but you’re going to know it as I go through the series oh that’s why he wrote that book oh that’s why he preaches on that so muchthe soul is has been I’ve been infatuated with the souland I know a lot of people are had that drive to know about the body or to know about the spirit my thing has been the soulsince I was in my early 20s like I this thing called The Soul 865 times in theBible I want to know what it is I want to know how it works I want to know why we are a souland so there’s three things I want you to know about the soul right out of the gate on this series the first one is is that this your soul is the center ofyourself your soul is the center of yourself weare spotty fear it and soulin fact the word heart in scripture usually is a reference to the inner selfthat I’m going to describe to you today and you’re going to go oh that that’s what the soul isokay soulhas by far by far nothing else is even closethe greatest influence on who you are and who you’re becomingmore than genetics more than what your parents were or were not your soul has the greatest influenceon who you are and who you’re becoming so number one the soul is the center ofself number two your soul is part of your Eternal selfthe soul and the spirit are the Eternal you your body’s gonna not make itdoesn’t make the cut for heaven soul in the spirit of the Eternal youand again just to emphasize that you don’t have a soul I know some of what I say will be in second person or thirdperson to to help you understand it but the bottom line is you don’t have a soul you are a soulGod created the physical body from dust and Earthbut then he breathed life into itand it’s what’s inside the body that is the person youthe Apostle Paul calls the body a tent Temporary Homehe calls it a tent and you know there’s all there’s all kinds of temps there’s there’s little tentsbig tents pup tents we went to the the the men’s uh men’sCamp man camp we called it in September I saw some of the most elaborate tents I’ve ever seen in my life like those guys could literally live intheir tents like just like and then and then others were like little bitty one man temps you know there’s all kinds oftents and your body is is a temp it’s temporal but your soul and your spiritare eternal number three your soul and here’s where it gets really interesting and what we’re goingto learn your soul is three parts it’s your mind it’s your willand it’s your emotions and honestlyI know you would agree that’s a pretty big part of Who We Areif you’re like me like the this whole topic is intriguing because it’s complexand I certainly don’t have all answers and understanding but thethe complexity of Body Soul and Spirit it can be confusing and I’m asking you just to kind of push throughand and stay with me through this series and make friends with your soulbecause there is nothing that represents you more or identifies you in a greater waythan the soul I mean your body is what people see but it’s the soul is who you areso this is our this is our illustration and our help that will stay with us I’ll use thisperiodically and come back to it the glass container is represents our bodyokay we haven’t met that hasthree blocks in the net so it comes packagedtogether okay and the netis our soul the water around it is our spiritand the Bible says that the spirit of man is deadbut made alive in Christ sowhat happens and this just kind of helps you get a foundation of questions about how it all works okaywhat happens is that when you are born again and you come to God and you receive Christ and thegift that he has for you and you receive the Holy Spiritthe Holy Spirit comes in to your spiritit is not a it is a different Spirit but it doesn’t separate from your spiritit literally brings life the life of God because we are deadyou follow me dead spiritually spiritually we are dead until the HolySpirit comes and brings the life of God have you have you experienced foryourself or known people or before Christ came into your life have you experienced that deadness that you wouldgo yeah okay wow that makes sense anybody today you like like you were functioning you had a body you you knowyou were moving around but there was something inside that that you kept saying there’s got to be more likelike this is not complete yet oh we got a nice little blue going onhere now I like my illustration let’s have more of the Holy Spirit coming into our life amenI need a little help and sometimes you know you might you might that water might get back to beingtoo clear and you need the Holy Spirit you need a drink from a new wellyou need the spirit of God to come in again right you need a fresh new dose anybody with me todaywow SheilaI know you bought me this jacket for Christmas but I’ll try to keep it brown how’s thatI didn’t count on this I don’t know what to do like preaching is funwhat do I do help me what do I do did you have a suggestion Holy Spirit got on me yeah[Laughter]amen so we all like well I was hoping that would happen to my pastor likenow now just before I wrap that element up for now let me let me just say whenyou die you’re poured out and waiting for a new containerdoes that make sense so like this it’s like this at death it’s like pours out and this is just ashell then it goes back to dust but this is youand you are eternalokay our holiday series was based on the proclamation of Mary the mother of Jesus who said my soul does magnify the Lordso does magnify the Lord so let’s let’s uh let’s look at this let me let me see ifI can hold it up without getting it everywhere see how it separatessee how it comes out what I want you to do is understand that it doesn’t break apart it’s not it’s not your mind hereyour will here your emotions here you may feel that way but literally they are connectedand that’s the complexity of it that’s why we have such a difficult I thought that was emotions I thought thatthat was no no I thought that was my mind I thought what well what’s your soul because I thought that was spirit I thought you know there’s a complexityall right so let’s let’s start with one of the blocks the mind the mind is the part of your soul where you form and hold your beliefsyou might think of it as a mindset and the Bible says as he thinks in his heart so is heit sets the direction so notice that I said that it’ll all go as he thinks in his heart what that means is the Inner Manlike God knows scripture knows like the the pumping physical heart doesn’t think it he’s just referring to the Inner Manreferring to the mind Sheila and I were headed to a restaurant on New Year’s Eve and the GPS whichwe you know we assume was giving us the best directions routed us where to go we had a general idea where we were going to the restaurant but we had the GPS onand it was showing me where to go and I looked at Sheila and I’m like Sheila I don’t think that’s rightlike unless there’s an accident or something like and by the way I’m I’m known for questioningespecially GPS like so anyway she’s okay okay well maybe it’s not I should check it out just check it out I want to know andsure enough it was not giving us the best option for us that it wanted us you know it it itwanted us to take the route it wanted us to take and there’s various reasons why GPS does thatit just takes over the traffic you ask it to be a GPS it becomes yourtraffic coordinator deciding what is best for you and it doesn’t it doesn’t like consideractually uh you and this was a perfect example of it’s why I’m using it today it did not have my interest in mind I actuallyignored it and I took my route and I got there four minutes soonercase closed point is that’s what exactly what theenemy does to us he tries to get us to go his way in our mindsand he routes us where he wants us to go and if you’re going to live in truthyou’re going to have to stop believing what the media says as being the truthI’m a I’m not I’m not a I’ve never been like a uha doubter or skeptical uh conspiracy theories I’ve never been into any of that you can think whateveryou want I’m just telling you they lie they lie all the time and the government has been lying I have I personally Ihaven’t told anybody this my I think my wife knows I personally have a list of Lies over the last since 2020that’s like that’s a lie I bet that’s a lie my list is getting checked off as it’s proven to be a lieand folks it’s a long list it’s a long list[Applause]and there are people in your life they’re saying what they think but it’s not trueand and what I want you to understand is that’s your soul that’s a soul level there’s been an invasion there is aninvasion that a constant invasion of deception and lives misinformation disinformation it’s become a popular termright now and it like actually it means two different things they’re real close but one’s intentional and the otherone’s not but it’s really bizarre and deceptive in the world right now when people that you’re supposed to be youknow they’re supposed to be serving your interest have their own agenda for telling you what they want you toknow and doing everything to stop you from hearing the truth now I know some of you like you’re youget defensive right now and I’m going to tell you why you get defensive is because of the condition of your soulyou’re you’re protecting and you’re defensive against the option of Truthand there’s a lot of people like that right now they they deliberation is a healthy thingthe Bible says there’s wisdom that there’s a wisdom in the counsel of many ormultitude in the multitude of counsel there’s wisdom that’s that’s scripturelike so when I doubt the GPS I could have found out okay it’s rightthat’s the best option and that would have been no harm done but the GPS was wrongand there’s a lot of things right now that are getting in and have been getting in to people’s Soul all theirlife that are routing them in a Direction that is different than the direction andthe plan that God has for their life God is a god of TruthI said God is the god of Truth your soul is weakened by believing liesand I said individually I talked about but really it you know what’s wrong with our nation well our nation is corruptedthe soul of our nation is corrupted by lies and it’s think of it as a big computer what goes in is what comes outso let me let me um let me at least go through from a high view let me go through the three okaybecause I’m I’m I don’t we’re going to continue next week but the I just told you what the mind islet me tell you what let me tell you what the will is so mind will emotions are the threethings that make up what is your soul okay the will is the part of the Soul that determines your capacityto make decisions in alignment with what you want most think about what I’m saying there’s someof you that want this year to be differentbut you’re doubtful that it can be becausebeen defeated in this area of your life for so longand you disappointed in yourself so many timesthis morning I was putting on this bracelet it’s not a cool looking bracelet forget the blue hand isn’t that a coollooking bracelet my sister gave me this probably 15 years agoas a birthday gift or something and I love it but this morning I went and grabbed it because I have brown on I’m like I don’t want to wear that and it was it wassitting there and I all right the part of me was like no Sheila’s gone already and I can’t get this on by myselfI’ve tried can’t it’s just like the clasp I could I wouldhave been buying I would have never bought it because I don’t like a bracelet I can’t put onand I got to go ask for help I’ve even brought this bracelet when I did wear it like to church and ask youknow my assistant would you put my bracelet on for me it’s a weird feeling like you know I can’t put my bracelet onso the story is I stood alone in the bathroom at my house this morningand I kept trying and I kept trying and Isaid some bad things and I kept tryingand it took me way longer foreign and I’m sure some of you could have doneit probably a lot quicker but my my hands and my fingers and my thumbs and the little clasp andand then finally it just kept turning it over I keptlooking at a different way I kept letting it hang different in the in the little Loop and grab itfinally I got my bracelet onyour again I’m just opening the package today next week I’m going to keep talking about your willyour will is your soul part of you that has given up in the pastis only because your soul is not strong in that area of your life you’re well capableyou have the ability God gave you the potentialbut your soul is weak in that areaand so you’ve given up on something that God wants you to reclaimyou’ve stopped in an area that God wants you to be encouraged and not give up foreign[Applause]until like never give up until you get that breakthrough that prayergets answered are you hearing me there’s some of youthat you’re like when I talk you’re like yeah but you don’t know my story I don’t need to know your story I need to helpyou have a stronger soul I need you to understand that’s just your soul it’s not it’s not anything bad about you it’snot your history it’s not just an experience and God the God who cares about you put you where he put youhas a plan for your life and your future he will strengthen you and you will havethe ability to overcome[Applause][Music]foreign come on anybody feeling strength today you feeling encouraged today[Music]now I’m so excited for you I’m excited for us I’m believing that this year is going to be aphenomenal year of opportunity I’m just my only hope is you seize it like that I can you know I’m trying topersuade you you’re trying to motivate me I am I am because you’re worth too much there’s too much at stake there’sthere’s too many people depending on you you cannot quit you cannot give up you cannot be weak God’s Got A Plan God’sgot a purpose God has a future in mind you have a legacy[Applause][Music]so come on my soul don’t you get shy on me remember that songyou got a lion inside of those lungs get up and pray let’s sing that part again or let’s sayit again so come on my soul don’t you get your child on me[Music]get up and praise the Lord one more time one more time one more time so come on[Music][Music]it’s gonna be a great year inside of those lines[Music][Music][Music]started[Music][Applause]you know the key to beginning this process is to empty outthe stuff I talked about fasting in prayer I just want to encourage someof you that that would be so helpful to you to empty yourself out from guiltand shame what you’re bearing you’re not meant to Bear your soul is not meant to bear that anymorethe grief what happened to you with that relationship what happened to you with that church years ago eventhe rejection you’ve experienced in your your Soul’s not met your soul is meant to be healedand well that all begins with a will a willingness to just begin to empty Ilike I call it take out the trash got to take out the trash you got to take that stuff outso maybe for you just even this week or in the few weeks ahead maybe that’s theword for you is to focus on take out the trash that the world is put there itexperiences have put there and just know that God loves you andwants you healthy and well in your mind your willand your emotion what’s your soul well[Music]Jesus said this he said what does a prophet a man if he gains the whole world and loseshis soul and what that means is that the soulgets corrupted and and you just lose you lose it that’s not what he planned for youforeign just say to you don’t lose your souldon’t lose your soul to grief don’t lose your soul to unforgiveness it’s not worth itwell they did me wrong you don’t know don’t lose your soul to that don’t lose your soul to that well I’mmad I’m angry don’t lose your soul you can win an argument and lose your soul[Music]don’t lose your soul to an offense holding on to something an injusticedon’t lose your soul to Pride don’t lose your soul to anxiety[Music]it wasn’t what God planned for you when you were when you were in your mother’s womblike God saw you there and all your days were ordained thereSatan wants your soul you know why this stuff is happening[Music]the people the the tragedy that’s going on in our world it’s allpart of a big war for the soul soul of humanitySatan wants your soul the way you rise upstart emptying out it’s called repentancecalled saying God I’m sorry God I’m going to let go of thisI’m gonna let go of this I read this week about a womanher son years ago another young man in a streaks of a bigcity pulled a gun and shot him killed him was her only sonstory talk tells about the grief pain in the anger and hostilitysomehow 10 years later the grace and help of almighty Godshe made a phone call to the prison said can I can I meet with himfirst he said no she kept saying I don’t want to meet with the young man whomurdered my son she met with him[Music]he got eventually out of prison he didn’t have nowhere to go she invited him into her homeand he’s now her son powerful what can happen[Music]you understand what I’m saying don’t lose your soul you lose your soul let go empty out take out the trash and watchwhat God will do in your life I want to lead you in a prayer today and I know for many of you at all of ourlocations this is going to be a new beginning and you’re wanting this and I pray that nothing will hold you back right now I pray to God this would be aday of new beginnings and salvation for for people all across our locations and I’m going to pray this prayer but todayis really special and I know there’s a lot of you that this is your moment and this is your time and I’m going to invite you to just say this out loud andsay it with me say Lord Jesus welcome to my world I asked you todayforgive me of all my sin are released todayall of those things that are not of you so that you can comeso that you can fill my life my mind my willmy emotion[Music]with all of those things that are good and pure and holytoday I receive you as my leadermy deliverer[Music]my freedom and I’ll never be the same again I’m a Child of Godand I serve you in Jesus name and I want to welcome every one of you that prayed that today I want to welcomeyou welcome welcome come on it’s going to be an amazing amazing year for you let’s celebrate NewBeginnings in the house today