1	REVIVE YOUR SOUL #1 Christian Ministry As Life In The Easy Yoke: Soul Rest In What We Do With Christ
2	THE INVITATION TO REST Matthew 11:28-30 Jeremiah 6:16 Psalm 37:3-8 Hebrews 4:9-11
3	WHAT IS YOUR SOUL? One of the fundamental dimensions of human personality. Its function is to integrate all essential aspects of you to form one life. The deepest part of you, and not under your direct control. It runs your life in the now. It is “spiritual” as “non-physical.”
4	"The" The Whole Person Renovation of the Heart, pg 38
5	WE DO EXPERIENCE OUR SOUL If we live reflectively, we sense the soul like a stream of life moving in us and through and around us. It is an inward stream of life. It may be conflicted, dried up, broken, non-functional, but also restored, refreshed, revived, full of vitality and direction and peace and joy.
6	ROOTED IN GOD The natural and healthy condition of the soul is to be rooted in God, resting on Him, drawing from Him His vitality and direction. The mind filled with God, the will surrendered to Him, the body and social relations abandoned to him. “Underneath are the everlasting arms.”
7	UNREST OF SOUL Is carrying your life on your own. Doing your work entirely by your own abilities: the “flesh.” Why: “Cursed is the man … who makes flesh his strength.” (Jer. 17:5) The warfare of desires. (James 4:1-3)
8	THREE THINGS TO HELP US TO REST IN LIFE AND WORK Knowing Who We Are and Our Part in What God Is Doing on Earth. Knowing What We Work With and How It Takes “The Pressure Off.” Knowing What We Can Do To “Abide in the Vine” and “Bear Much Fruit.” We will deal with these in that order:
9	WHO WE ARE AND WHERE GOD IS GOING WITH US Let’s begin with the end: “Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father.” (Matt. 13:43; cp Daniel 12:3) Really! What’s that like? What was God’s purpose in creating human beings? That they should rule in his power. (Gen. 1:26, Ps. 8:6, Heb. 2:5-8, Rev. 22:5)
10	RULING WITH “RICHES IN GLORY IN CHRIST JESUS” What is “glory”? It is effulgence of power, the radiance of power. Power present! Since it is God’s power, it is the radiance of goodness as well. It is the manifest presence of God. It becomes in scripture a name for the invisible realm of God, His kingdom. Closely associated with “light.”
11	SOME HELPFUL VERSES: Transfiguration. Seeing the kingdom. Luke 9:27-31, cp. II Peter 1:16-18. “Tongues as of fire..resting on each one. Acts 2:3 Paul’s experience of Christ. Acts 26:13 “His glorious body…” Phil. 3:21 “The might of his glory…” Col. 1:11 “An eternal weight of glory…” II Cor. 4:17
12	VERSES CONTINUED: 7. “The glory to be revealed in us…” Rom. 8:18 8. What creation is “anxiously longing” for (19)…stepping into “the freedom of the glory of the children of God.” vss 20-21 9. The redeemed people in the eternal future. Eph. 2:7 & 3:10 with Rev. 22:5 (Query: Adam/Eve’s pre-fall Clothes?)
13	YOU ARE… …A never ceasing spiritual being with an eternal destiny in God’s great universe. Spiritual in substance, yet incarnational. Never-ceasing in duration Creative Governance—”Reigning”—in destiny.
14	“THERE ARE NO ORDINARY PEOPLE” “You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilizations—these are mortal;… But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub, and exploit—immortal horrors or everlasting splendors…. Next to the blessed sacrament itself, your neighbor is the holiest object presented to your senses.” The Weight of Glory, (Eerdmans ed. P. 15)
15	“NEVER TASTE DEATH…” Jesus’ teachings about death (John 8:51-52, 11:25-26) and the New Testament teaching that he destroyed death (II Tim. 1:10) are not just about death, but about who we are: He “brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.” (1:10)
16	GOD’S INTENT… GOD’S INTENT FOR EACH OF US IS THAT WE SHOULD GROW IN CHARACTER AND ABILITY TO THE POINT WHERE HE CAN EMPOWER US TO DO WHAT WE WANT TO DO. THE WORK HERE IS ON OUR “WANTER.” WE ARE NOW TRAINING FOR REIGNING MORE AND MORE.
17	OUR LIFE IS HID-- “With Christ in God.” (Col. 3:3) A part of God’s strategy in “hiding Himself” (Isa. 45:15) He is so great He must hide from us to enable us to flee from Him. “When Christ who is our life shall appear, they you also shall appear with him, glorious.” (Col. 3:4)
18	"“Then shall the righteous..." “Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear.” (Matt. 13:43) REST YOUR SOUL ON THIS AND RECEIVE PEACE, JOY AND STRENGTH FOR LIFE AND MINISTRY!