IBC Bremen Sermons

Song of Solomon 1:1-2:7
Connection
What Makes a Great Partnership Part 2

Have you ever been so enraptured (full of desire) with someone that you want to just leave everything you have and go away with this person for the rest of your life?

This is the emotion that opens the romantic story of the Song of Solomon. This is the first book of the Bible that opens with a woman's voice.

As the Song illustrates, when two lovers meet, they first notice and speak to each other what attracts/connects them.

Notice what the woman says about Solomon:

HOW THE WOMAN COMPLIMENTS THE MAN

She compliments:

1. His romantic gestures - Your kisses taste better than wine. (1:2)

Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth-
for your love is more delightful than wine.
(Song of Solomon 1:2 NIV)

2. His manners - You smell nice (1:3)

Pleasing is the fragrance of your perfumes;
your name is like perfume poured out.
No wonder the maidens love you!
(Song of Solomon 1:3 NIV)

3. His abilities to love her - You are more than good enough to me (1:12-14)

While the king was at his table,
my perfume spread its fragrance. My lover is to me a sachet of myrrh
resting between my breasts. My lover is to me a cluster of henna blossoms
from the vineyards of En Gedi.
(Song of Solomon 1:12-14 NIV)

4. His physical features - You are handsome (1:16)

How handsome you are, my lover!
Oh, how charming!
And our bed is verdant.
(Song of Solomon 1:16 NIV)

5. His provision - Your place is secure (1:17)

The beams of our houses are cedar,
And our rafters of fir.
(Song of Solomon 1:17 NKJV)

Complimenting someone is the way to build the skill of connection. This skill should not end when a couple gets married. It is a skill that needs to be developed, honed, and improved. One of the ways to develop your connection is to compliment the woman on her attraction.

While the woman is often willing to complement the man, she is more often asking for the compliment herself. Many time for women, they need to hear from the man that she is special. Women will many times ask their husbands for clues to see from their husband that they are special. There is a fundamental reason for this.

Women define thier attractiveness on the words of other men. This is a very important lesson for men to learn. Women will define thier attractiveness based on the words of other men.

This is the reason why the woman in the Song talks about herself in a way that seems negative. She asks for others not to look down upon her because of her dark skin in (1:6). She says this because someone told her she was not attractive because she was dark. Women hear these statements all the time. They receive hurting words because they are always being compared to other women and put alongside a standard of beauty that the society defines.

For example, how many times have you seen a picture of a tall, thin, nearly-naked woman? You see it here in Germany all over the place. What does this communicate to women? Look like this and you will be attractive. You see this standard when companies see make-up, cosmetics, or some new technique to make a woman look beautiful. The society says you need to go to a tanning salon so that you can look dark. A company sells its product and says it will eliminate wrinkles. A store displays a piece of clothing and says you should buy it so that you will look attractive.

So women have this enourmous pressure placed upon themselves by society - and every man to be exact - to look attractive. Now the problem is that most men don't know this. But women do. You see it illustrated by the woman here. Look with me at the way that this woman describes herself:

HOW WOMEN VIEW THIER ATTRACTIVENESS

1. She knows she is lovely even though she looks differently (1:5)

I am dark, but lovely,
O daughters of Jerusalem,
Like the tents of Kedar,
Like the curtains of Solomon.
(Song of Solomon 1:5 NKJV)

2. She wishes that others would still say she is attractive even when she looks different (1:6)

Do not look upon me, because I am dark,
Because the sun has tanned me.
My mother's sons were angry with me;
They made me the keeper of the vineyards,
But my own vineyard I have not kept.
(Song of Solomon 1:6 NKJV)

3. She defends her complexion. (1:7)

Tell me, O you whom I love,
Where you feed your flock,
Where you make it rest at noon.
For why should I be as one who veils herself
By the flocks of your companions?
(Song of Solomon 1:7 NKJV)


So the struggle to keep up with the standards of attraction in society are there for the woman. The woman is always being asked or told by other women about thier attractiveness. Women are always being compared by other women.

The woman wants to know from the man how attractive she is. This is the reason why the woman turns to the man in this drama and asks him in (1:7).

So the woman will ask the man - Do you think I am attractive?

FISHING FOR A COMPLIMENT

Let me illustrate how women will go looking for compliments from their husbands. My wife is going fishing. Now, she is not going to go to a physical lake and fish for food. She is going to come to me and fish for a compliment. You see men, our wives are sometimes going to go fishing for compliments, and the first fish they will try to catch is from you. So, here comes my wife with her fishing gear and she is going to ask me some questions. These questions are the hooks on the line that she will use to fish for a compliment. Now these questions are very important and they need to answered correctly.

QUESTION: How do I look in this dress?

You two are getting ready to go somewhere special and your wife asks you this question. What is your answer?

You look nice. You look wonderful. That dress compliments you well. These are some good answers.

What is she really asking you? Do you love me and do I look attractive to you?

Yes you do love her and she looks attractive to you. You need to express this in your answer.

QUESTION: Do I look fat?

Now the answer to this question is ALWAYS No. It doesn't matter if she is the biggest person in the room. If you are her husband, your answer is:

No, of course not honey.

What is she really asking you? Do you love me and do I look attractive to you?

Your answer to these questions is yes I love you and yes you look attractive and no you are not fat.

Now, there may be a time to discuss health issues with one another. It is not healthy to stay fat. Every doctor will tell you this. But when your wife is asking about a piece of clothing and wanting to know if you still love her even though she is overweight, that is not the time to go into dieting plans. This only tells her that you wish she was someone different.

QUESTION: Did you notice my new hairstyle?

Remember, she is looking to you for her cue about her attractiveness. While there is a time and place to deal with improving attractiveness, men don't want to cause unnecessary problems in their marriage by discussing her flaws. Because eventually the woman will go look for someone else to find her value. She will listen to another man who says she looks attractive when her husbands stops fishing.

The woman in the Song knows that the king loves her and finds her attractive. He takes the bait and tells others that she is beautiful.

Look at the compliments that he shares with her in this section:

Your face is beautiful (1:10)

Your cheeks are lovely with ornaments,
Your neck with chains of gold.
(Song of Solomon 1:10 NKJV)

Women know that one of the ways a man will complement them is in the face.

Your complexion is nice (1:15)

Behold, you are fair, my love!
Behold, you are fair!
You have dove's eyes.
(Song of Solomon 1:15 NKJV)

He even doesn't even mention that she has dark skin. He compliments her without referring to the insecurities that the woman has about herself.

Now look at what the king says about his friend near the end.

Like a lily among thorns,
So is my love among the daughters.
(Song of Solomon 2:2 NKJV)

What is that for a romantic statement. This guy puts Romeo to shame.

What do these complements do for the woman? She starts talking about her lover to everyone. Look at what she tells her friends.

Like an apple tree among the trees of the woods,
So is my beloved among the sons.
I sat down in his shade with great delight,
And his fruit was sweet to my taste.
He brought me to the banqueting house,
And his banner over me was love. Sustain me with cakes of raisins,
Refresh me with apples,
For I am lovesick. His left hand is under my head,
And his right hand embraces me.
(Song of Solomon 2:3-6 NKJV)

Men, you know what will happen when you spend time giving compliments and encouraging your wife? She will start to talk better about you with other people.

Now we can spend time talking about the fact that women shouldn't talk evil about thier husbands. But the fact is that most women will speak about thier husbands anyway. So if you want more harmony in your home, and if you desire that your family have a better reputation among the neighbors, men you can start by complimenting your wife. Wives, you can start by speaking well of your husbands.

I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem,
By the gazelles or by the does of the field,
Do not stir up nor awaken love
Until it pleases.
(Song of Solomon 2:7 NKJV)

I have been speaking to couples mostly in this sermon. But these lessons are for singles as well. What stands out most in this section is the wisdom that the woman shares with her friends. She says: You know, it is nice that I am attractive to some man. But I want you to know that this skill of attraction is not all that romantic love is about. It takes more than romance to connect with someone.

People define their relationships on looks and attractiveness alone quite often. When the looks fase, then the relationship ends. But the Song of Solomon teaches us that attraction is not only the beginning, but the basis of responsible romantic love. We shouldn't let romantic love run too fast in our relationships. This is a very important lesson for people who are not married, but are in a romantic relationship. There is much more to love than just attraction. We have to follow the process that God has given for us to grow the right kind of romantic relationship that God wants us to have. He wants us to go from singleness to married life, but only when we don't let romantic love run us over.

Posted by Jim Erwin at 4:19 PM | Permalink | Comments

Nehemiah 13:23-31 Compatibility
What Makes a Great Partnership - Part 1

When it comes to building and maintaining a great partnership, there are some skills that are necessary. Today, we want to talk about one of them. This skill is called compatibility. Without compatibility, your partnership will be strained. God said in the Bible that "two should become one." In essence, a marriage partnership should grow closer as the years go by. The first step to having two become one is being compatible. I want to share with you four different ways of building compatibility.

In order to build a great partnership, you must first be compatible before you can connect. Connection without compatibility is useless. Let me share with you a couple of real-world examples.

Example #1 - Cell phones and wires

When you look at all of these different cell phones, you have many that cannot be connected with the same wires. They have different connector points. Nokia works differently than an Erickson. If your wires are not from the same company, they don't fit with other companies and your phone won't recharge.

Example #2 - Spiritual Compatibility

If your spiritual wires are not compatibility, your relationship won't work. This is because the relationship has no power supply. Or more precisely, the power sources come from completely different places. In order for the relationship to work, you have to have a converter.

Who is the spiritual converter in the relationship? Jesus Christ. Once you convert to Him, the power of the Holy Spirit will flow out of you to help you in your relationship.

How do you build compatibility in a relationship? How do you find what is compatible so that you can make a connection?

PRINCIPLE: For compatibility to work best, learn to concentrate on what you have in common.

WHAT DO WE HAVE IN COMMON?

It is important to understand that when you build a partnership, you want to concentrate on what is in common. You can look at the differences. When two people have more of these factors that are different than in common, it will mean that you will have a problem being compatible. It will be like the woman being an Erickson and the man being a wire to a Nokia phone. It very possible that in the long run, you are going to be a difficult relationship. But it is also important to remember that God puts a man and a woman together. If God has put you two together as a husband and wife, then He will work it out.

Some may say: Well, my relationship didn't work. I had to get a divorce. My spouse was not compatible. What are you saying? I am saying that if you have gone through a separation and divorce, listen very carefully to God here about compatibility. Plug your device into the right wire system. If you are an Erickson, don't go looking for Nokia or Motorola wires to make a connection. If you are not yet married, be wise and listen to what God says in His word about compatibility.

1. Interests

In those days I also saw Jews who had married women of Ashdod, Ammon, and Moab. (Nehemiah 13:23 NKJV)

Especially when two people come from completely different backgrounds, you can learn to share common interests. What do you like to do together? What sports do you like to play? Is there any hobbies that you can share? What type of movies do you like to see? A simple way to find out what you have in common is to list the interests.

In this case in Nehemiah, one can rightly infer that these Jews were not living in Jerusalem but somewhere in a Babylonian province far from other Jews. These Jewish men had taken up the interests of the women from the foreign empire. Is that a problem? By itself, no. But it was clear that these women had no interests in what Jews did. The Jews did not eat pork, and had other dietary restrictions. These women had different eating habits. The Jews had different interests - Saturday was a holy day. For the women, Saturday was a free day - a day to go shopping.

So as partners you need to ask yourselves: "What do WE want to do?" Then do them together.

2. Values

And half of their children spoke the language of Ashdod, and could not speak the language of Judah, but spoke according to the language of one or the other people. (Nehemiah 13:24 NKJV)

Language is tied to values. Language communicates the values of a culture. Therefore, learning the language is very important. Without learning the language, you can't understand your partner. As a result, your partner will lose significance in the marriage.

Paul says it another way to the church in Corinth. The church in Corinth was a multi-racial, multi-ethnic church. However, many of the members were married to people who were not spiritually compatible.

Don't become partners with those who reject God. How can you make a partnership out of right and wrong? That's not partnership; that's war. Is light best friends with dark? Does Christ go strolling with the Devil? Do trust and mistrust hold hands? (2 Corinthians 6:14-15 MSG)

As this translation says, when your partner has a different spiritual value system than you, your partnership is in trouble.

Not all values are spiritually based. Some values are, but not every single value. As a result, you can learn from the values, customs, and traditions of your partner. So to make your partnership better, you have to understand your partner better. The best way to improve your partnership is to learn from your partner.

For example, you can learn why someone does something a certain way by experiencing and learning their values first-hand. Let me share with you a personal example. When I first came to Germany, we lived in an apartment in Kirchheim. We had nice neighbors. But they insisted that I participated in a custom they called "Kehrwoche." Roughly translated, it means "sweep week." The idea is that each person in the apartment complex sweeps the steps and the front driveway. But they also showed me that I had to go to the curb with a dust pan and brush, and sweep the curb. It had to be so clean that you could eat your meal from the curb. To be clean and have a clean place, is a Swabian value. Once I know this, it helps me to understand my wife. Why does she spend every other week so intensely cleaning the house? Because her culture believes strongly in cleanliness and order.

There are many other good values that you can learn from your partner.

Ask yourselves, what can I learn from my partner? Then be open to learn and enjoy learning something new.

3. Dreams

So I contended with them and cursed them, struck some of them and pulled out their hair, and made them swear by God, saying, "You shall not give your daughters as wives to their sons, nor take their daughters for your sons or yourselves. (Nehemiah 13:25 NKJV)

Nehemiah made his people swear that what God wanted for them was what was right? Why? Because all of the dreams of God's people are tied to His covenant. The dreams of God's people were tied to the values of God's people. God had given His people the nation of Israel a long-standing dream. He said to Abraham that out of his family would come a great nation, and that every nation would be blessed. He even promised His people a place where they could worship God and live for Him. The only warning that God have His people was to "not be like the other nations around them." Why? Because God knew that people who have no allegiance to God will not want to follow the plans of God. God's dreams for you were not the nation's dreams for you.

God has given you as a couple dreams and visions. These dreams come in danger when you don't submit to God's desire for your life.

Ask yourselves, what are my dreams? Ask your partner, what are your dreams? Share your dreams with one another. Then go after your dreams together.

4. Faith

Did not Solomon king of Israel sin by these things? Yet among many nations there was no king like him, who was beloved of his God; and God made him king over all Israel. Nevertheless pagan women caused even him to sin. Should we then hear of your doing all this great evil, transgressing against our God by marrying pagan women?" (Nehemiah 13:26-27 NKJV)

Ultimately, the interests, values, and dreams of each partner is tied to the faith of each partner.

Should we follow your example, commit such a serious crime against our God, and be unfaithful to him by marrying non-Israelite women?" (Nehemiah 13:27 GW)

To God, it would criminal to consider someone else other than a Christian as your marriage partner. In these verses, the problem is not that the partner is from a foreign land. Instead, she committed herself to a foreign religion. You cannot grow a partnership when you are doing things separately. The same is true even when it comes to your faith in Jesus Christ in your marriage. When two people come together - and one is not a Christian - all of the interests, the dreams, the values, will be different. Because the faith is different, there will be the high risk of a separation. If not a legal separation like divorce, there certainly will come the chance of a relational separation. Your spiritual compatibility will affect your spiritual connection. If you are spiritually wired differently, you will not be able to connect with your partner.

So what do you do?

If you are single, you look for the right spiritual wiring in the other person that will let you know that you can connect with them. Even though the plug-in is the same, the wires may still be a little different. A person who comes from a Catholic background, will be different than someone from a Charismatic background. You both have to find a church where you can be connected together. For many here, that is the IBC Bremen.

If you are married, and your spouse is of another faith, what do you do?

You live a life that shares Jesus with them. You depend on God to bring your spouse to your faith.

If you are a Christian woman and you have a non-Christian spouse, then you ought to listen to the example of Peter:

In the same way, you wives must accept the authority of your husbands, even those who refuse to accept the Good News. Your godly lives will speak to them better than any words. They will be won over by watching your pure, godly behavior. Don't be concerned about the outward beauty that depends on fancy hairstyles, expensive jewelry, or beautiful clothes. You should be known for the beauty that comes from within, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is so precious to God. (1 Peter 3:1-4 NLT)

If you are a Christian man and you have a non-Christian spouse, then you ought to listen to the example of Nehemiah:

I rebuked them, cursed them, beat some of their men, and pulled out their hair. I forced them to take an oath before God and said: "You must not give your daughters in marriage to their sons or take their daughters as wives for your sons or yourselves! (Nehemiah 13:25 HCSB)


Now are we supposed to follow the example of Nehemiah and get angry and pull out everyone's hair who violates God's instruction? No, but we must take the principle behind the action very seriously.

Fathers, this means that you teach your children the importance of your faith. As long as your children are under your home and care, they learn just as Joshua led his children to "serve the Lord." You don't allow your daughters or sons to come home and date Muslims, or Buddhists, or people from other faiths. You teach them to look to God's choice for their marriage.

Mothers, you teach your children why it is important to follow a Christian husband. You set the example, because women can obviously influence men to follow God or deny God.

Nehemiah shows in verse 25 that it was not just that you don't give your children to people who do not share the same faith. Nehemiah was concerned about the next generation. He was also concerned about people of the present generation who would set the example. That is why in verse 25, he stresses that the men themselves should not take wives for themselves from another faith. The point here is that you don't wait until later to discuss the importance of compatibility. You make an effort now to work on your partnership (or your future partnership) so that you are compatible.

Posted by Jim Erwin at 4:30 PM | Permalink | Comments

2 Kings 3:1-27 Regaining Your Spiritual Orientation

This sermon comes originally from 2 Kings 3:1-27 Losing Your Spiritual Orientation from my blog.

Now Jehoram the son of Ahab became king over Israel at Samaria in the eighteenth year of Jehoshaphat king of Judah, and reigned twelve years.
(2 Kings 3:1 NKJV)

A new time has come in the life of Israel. A new king reigns. His name is Jehoram, and people expect him to lead. But he is the son of Ahab, one of the worst kings in the life of Israel. Ahab tried to kill the prophets of God. Ahab lost his spiritual orientation. He was led astray by his wife to go away from God. This loss of spiritual orientation is what Jehoram learned from Ahab. The question comes: Will Jehoram stay lost? Or will he find his way and lead the people in the right direction?

And he did evil in the sight of the LORD, but not like his father and mother; for he put away the sacred pillar of Baal that his father had made. Nevertheless he persisted in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who had made Israel sin; he did not depart from them.
(2 Kings 3:2-3 NKJV)

We see here that Jehoram (also known as Joram) thinks he knows the way better than anyone else. He thinks he knows the direction for his people better than his own parents. He tried to change his direction by putting away things that his dad did wrong. His dad worshiped idols, and so Jehoram destroyed them. He is trying to change. But he can't change everything.

The phrase: "persisted in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat who made Israel sin", is an important phrase. You see this phrase all over the books of 1 and 2 Kings, and 1 and 2 Chronicles. It is a phrase that points to a problem. The problem is this: No matter how much the people want to change, they still think they know which way is best. They persist in following other gods. Jehoram had the problem. He thought that he could orient his nation in the right direction. He thought that putting away a few physical reminders would clear out the heart. He was wrong. He needs more help.

Before we go further in this chapter, there is something about orientation you need to know.

Orientation is the idea of getting your direction straight. It is very important for travel, and for leadership. Let me use an example of travel to help you understand orientation.

When I was in Boy Scouts, they taught us how to learn to get my direction straight. They taught us how to keep from getting lost, and how to get back to the right place when you do get lost. They showed us two tools to help us get our direction straight. One was a compass and the other was a map.

COMPASS

The compass is very important. It has parts that when you know its function, it helps guide your direction. When you know how to use a compass, you won't need a GPS satellite. You can go anywhere.

True North - now true north means exactly that - going to the North pole. True Norther is geographic north. It is aligned with the north pole. And true north is the standard that helps you know which direction to go. When you know where north is, then you can go south, west, east, or whatever direction you need.

But you also have to know about Magnetic North. Magnetic north is different from True North. Magnetic north exists because our earth is round. Our poles are magnetic and that changes some information. Magnetic compasses point to magnetic north. The exact location of magnetic north is lower than true north, and it is constantly changing position. Basically when you don't account for magnetic north, you drift in a different direction. When you look at a compass, there is a needle that point to magnetic north. Depending on where you are on the earth, it will be different from true north. If you are on the north pole, it will be exact. But the further you go from that pole, the further the magnetic north drifts from the true north. That would be hard if it there was not another tool to help you.

This tool is declination. You can adjust your direction to true north by calculating for this difference. This difference is called declination. Where we were in Texas, it was 7 degrees west. Which meant that you pointed your compass to the direction you needed and then turned it 7 degrees west. Now when you go from Point A to Point B and this distance is about a kilometer, declination won't make much difference - perhaps a millimeter or two. But if you go 50 kilometers and you don't account for declination, you will end up in the wrong place.

Now, you can find your direction with a compass. You can get anywhere in the world with a map and a compass. The only thing you have to be careful about is to stay away from magnets. This messes up your compass.

Now why did I go into this discussion about the compass. Because many people in this world go about their life without any spiritual orientation. This king went about his life without any spiritual orientation. We see that tested in the next couple of verses.

King Mesha of Moab was a sheep breeder. He used to pay the king of Israel 100,000 lambs and the wool of 100,000 rams, but when Ahab died, the king of Moab rebelled against the king of Israel. So King Joram marched out from Samaria at that time and mobilized all Israel. Then he sent a message to King Jehoshaphat of Judah: "The king of Moab has rebelled against me. Will you go with me to fight against Moab?" Jehoshaphat said, "I will go. I am as you are, my people as your people, my horses as your horses." Then he asked, "Which route should we take?" Joram replied, "The route of the wilderness of Edom." So the king of Israel, the king of Judah, and the king of Edom set out. After they had traveled their indirect route for seven days, they had no water for the army or their animals. Then the king of Israel said, "Oh no, the LORD has summoned us three kings, only to hand us over to Moab."
(2 Kings 3:4-10 HCSB)


You learn how true your spiritual orientation is when difficulties come. As you read these verses, you find that God tested the spiritual orientation of the king. The king of Moab had a good relationship with Israel, but when the new king came to power in Israel, the king of Moab attacked. So Joram gets all of his resources together, all of his plans together, all of his friends together, everything he can muster to fight against this foe. He thinks he knows how to deal with this situation. He thinks he has the right orientation to solve this problem. But as time passes, he and his friends lose focus and direction. Notice that they go through the desert. As they march for seven days, they started to have problems. No water for the army or the animals. The king thought he knew his way. But he didn't. He got his people lost.

You know how it feels to follow someone who thinks he knows where he is going, but he gets you lost. It is frustrating. I said earlier that I learned these orientation skills, and we learned them every year for a refresher. But one time, we went to a camp. We planned to hike 5 miles and come back to camp. We pulled out our map and our compass and we planned the way. So we start on our journey. 2 hours later, we lose our orientation. It is a new place and we have never been there before. All of us did not know the territory. But there was one guy who insisted he knew how to get back to camp. His name was Clay. Clay got lost before. But this time, he insisted that he knew how to get to back to camp. But he had not compass and no map. We had the compass. But we trusted him. (Which was a very stupid idea.) Because we got lost. It took us 5 more hours to get back to camp. When we retraced our steps later, we realized we were only 20 minutes away. But we followed someone who did not know where he was going. He said he knew, but he had no idea. He acted like he thought he knew, and we screwed up by following him. Now fortunately for us, we were not far from food and water. But unfortunately for this group in 2 Kings 3, they were in a desperate situation.

When you lose your spiritual orientation, you are going to get yourself in desperate situations.

Of course, they did not know how to get out of this problem, so they finally called Elisha - a person with good spiritual orientation. He showed them what they should do.

But Jehoshaphat said, "Is there no prophet of the LORD here, that we may inquire of the LORD by him?"
So one of the servants of the king of Israel answered and said, "Elisha the son of Shaphat is here, who poured water on the hands of Elijah." And Jehoshaphat said, "The word of the LORD is with him." So the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat and the king of Edom went down to him.
(2 Kings 3:11-12 NKJV)

Now the king of Israel never asked for good directions. He thought he could lead the people all by himself. But Jehoshaphat knew better. Jehoshaphat was the king of Judah. Jehoshaphat knew who to ask. He suggested that the king of Israel - Joram - ask Elisha. Elisha had good spiritual orientation.

So Elisha gave the people instruction on how to deal with the present problem. He showed a clear direction of how to get back from defeat. He showed how to keep from getting the people lost and defeated.

The Bible does not say how Elisha knew, only that he did know. The Bible implies that Elisha had the right spiritual orientation, because he spent time with God. He listened to God.

The story illustrates the fact that when people follow you, you have to have the right spiritual orientation. You need to know where you are going. You can't get your people lost - because that can be fatal. How do you keep yourself spiritually oriented in the right direction?
HOW TO GET A CORRECT SPIRITUAL ORIENTATION
1. Use a spiritual compass

True north is Jesus Christ. The compass is like the Holy Spirit, who leads you to Jesus and leads you to follow Him.

2. Use a spiritual map

The spiritual is the Bible. The Bible points to Jesus, and everything He wants you to do and not to do. The Bible is your life road map.
3. Make sure your spirit is declined to the Holy Spirit

Your spirit is at a different location depending on your lifestyle. Some people are in the wilderness of life. Some people are in the desert of life. Some people are in the ocean. Some people are far from true north, and some are closer to true north. But they always have to decline their spirit to the Holy Spirit. That means you always have to adjust yourself to what the Holy Spirit wants you to do.

Now it is amazing because when you follow true north (Jesus Christ), and you use your compass (the Holy Spirit), along with your map (the Bible), and you make the adjustments necessary, you will always find your way. You will also always be able to get where you need to go. You can get through any problem, and situation. But there are some things you have to be aware of, as you make adjustments.

4. Stay away from spiritual magnets that pull you away from God

You are to be led by the Holy Spirit, not some other spirit. These other spirits, are like magnets, which mess with the compass. Your compass can't help you because you are in the proximity of a magnet. A magnet is a force that pulls things to it. There are many spiritual magnets out there trying to take you off your course. They mess with your compass and they try to take you away from your relationship with Jesus Christ. Of course, magnets repel other magnets. So in the same way spiritually speaking, the Holy Spirit will repel other spirits. The Devil will try his best to pull you away like another magnet. When you look at your compass and it is spinning, you know that there is another magnet. You know that there is something else there to mess with your orientation and direction. So what do you do? You get away from the magnet that is making your compass spin. Then you can get the right direction.

5. Keep aware of the position of true north.

You always have to be focusing on Jesus. You have to keep looking to your spiritual true north. Otherwise, you will get lost, or you will not be able to handle the situation that comes your way. Keep your spiritual compass pointed to Jesus - True North. When you follow His direction, you will never lose your way.

Posted by Jim Erwin at 4:33 PM | Permalink | Comments