2 Timothy 1, verse 7 is where we'll begin here tonight. So we continue our soul and spirit series. Tonight I want to look at the idea of a sound mind. I want to remind you that the soul has different aspects to it. Our mind, emotions, our will. And tonight I want for us to take a look at the thought of a sound mind. If we have time, we'll I guess, discuss briefly the will here tonight. Notice just by way of beginning here, verse 7 says, For God hath not given us the spirit of fear, but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. So I want you to notice here that God is not the one who gives a spirit of fear. And of course, fear is a sign of bondage in our spirit or whatever. But notice, but of power, of love, and of a sound mind. I want you to notice some examples. Hold your place or we'll come back. But I want you to notice some examples here where Paul emphasizes that he was not afraid, even with some of the things that he experienced. Acts chapter 20, verse 20 through 24. Of course, this is when he was meeting with the elders from Ephesus, and I want you to notice what he emphasizes here as far as not having fear, even as he was moving or heading towards Jerusalem. That was his goal, even in verse 16, he's mentioning that, trying to get there by the day of Pentecost. Notice it says in verse 22, And now behold, I go bound in the spirit. Notice he's bound in the spirit unto Jerusalem, not knowing the things that shall befall me there. Say that the Holy Ghost witnesseth in every city, saying that bonds and afflictions abide me. Pause there just a moment. I've taught this before, of course, especially in our Acts series, but I believe that the Holy Spirit was trying to warn Paul not to go to Jerusalem. He went anyway, and I really believe that's what ended his church planning ministry that he had had. Of course, God used that, but here's what I want you to understand, though. As far as the circumstance, he did not have fear. None of those things moved me. He's not moved by any of those things that he's been told, that bonds and afflictions are abiding him or awaiting him in Jerusalem, but none of those things moved me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God." So again, we see an example of this, that circumstances did not move him. He was not in fear because of circumstances. Also, chapter 21, verse 8, Acts 21 verse 8 it says, In the next day we that were of Paul's company departed and came unto Caesarea, and we entered into the house of Philip the evangelist, which was one of the seven, and abode with him. So obviously the evangelist Philip of course from Acts chapter 6 was opening up the home to Paul and anyone else that would be traveling through. The same man had four daughters, virgins, which did prophesy. And as we tarried there many days, there came down from Judea a certain prophet named Agabus." Now, we see Agabus earlier in the book of Acts. Now, I want you to notice, he's up there in Judea, probably ministering the area around Jerusalem and various places. Well, he hears that the apostle Paul is moving that way, traveling that way, and so he actually makes a trip to Philip's house here. And when he was come unto us, he took Paul's girdle, basically his band that they would wear around their waist, and bound his own hands and feet and said, thus saith the Holy Ghost. This is where I say that the Holy Ghost, I believe, was warning Paul not to go to Jerusalem, even as we see in his testimony a little bit later. So shall the Jews at Jerusalem bind the man that owneth this girdle and shall deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles. And when we heard these things, both we and they of that place besought him not to go up to Jerusalem. Then Paul answered, What mean ye to weep and to break mine heart? For I am ready not to be bound only, but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus. And when he would not be persuaded, we ceased saying, The will of the Lord be done." So again we see very clearly that Paul did not have a spirit of fear as he was carrying out the ministry that the Lord had given to him. Romans 8.15 says, For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear, but ye have received the spirit of adoption whereby we cry, Abba, Father. So when we think about the relationship, the loving relationship that we can have with God the Father, we are not supposed to be in bondage to fear because God the Holy Spirit has delivered us from that. Notice also Hebrews chapter 2. Hebrews chapter 2. Hebrews chapter 2 verses 14 and 15. In fact, let's look at a little of the context to show again this relationship that we have with the Lord. Verse 11, for both he that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one, for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren, saying, I will declare my name unto my brethren in the midst of the church will I sing praise unto thee. And again, I will put my trust in him. And again, all these quotes from the Old Testament here, and again, Behold, I and the children which God hath given me, forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same, that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is the devil. Now pay attention to verse 15, we see our element of fear here. And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. We're not supposed to have a fear of death. 1 John 4, 18 says, There is no fear in love, but perfect love casteth out fear, because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love. We are to not constantly live in fear of everything, because again, fear is an evidence of bondage. And I want you to, as we go back to 2 Timothy 1, I want you to notice here, instead of the spirit of fear, what God has given to us. First of all, he emphasizes here, God has not given us a spirit of fear. But first of all, notice power. God has given us a spirit of power. Let me just mention a few verses here in relation to this. Micah 3.8 says, truly I am full of power by the spirit of the Lord. Notice it's the spirit of God that gives us this power. And that's also mentioned in Zechariah 4.6, the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel, the governor, Not by might, nor by power. Now, wait a minute. What are we talking about as far as power there? I want you to notice might and power, we're talking about physical and fleshly strength. physical, fleshly power, doing it in my strength. But notice it's by my spirit, saith the Lord of hosts. It's not our power, it's not our might, it's God's power, God's might. Luke 24, verse 49, Jesus said that the disciples, those that, in fact, there's all 120 eventually, but they would be endued with power from on high. Acts chapter 1 and verse 8 very clearly talks about the promise that was repeated, and ye shall receive power when? When the Holy Ghost comes upon them, right? Well, in Acts 2 verse 4, we see the fulfillment of that. Now, there's a lot of people who emphasize the baptism of the Holy Spirit of God in Acts chapter 2. When you look at verse 4, it's actually talking about they were all filled with the Holy Ghost. I want you to consider the emphasis was not on the baptism, the emphasis was on the filling of the Holy Spirit of God. And Acts chapter 6 and verse 8, Stephen says, was full of faith and power. Notice we have 1 Corinthians chapter 2. I want you to see the context of this. I want to emphasize verse 4, though. 1 Corinthians chapter 2, again, another statement about God giving us the spirit of power, not of fear. 1 Corinthians 2, notice verse 1 and following. And I, brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God. For I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. And I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much tremor. Oh, wait a minute. I thought we were supposed to have the spirit of fear. I want you to consider that he had just come from a time of persecution, and so physically, that had affected him. It says, I was with you in weakness, physically, and in fear, and in much trembling. It says, my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the spirit and of power. Notice the contrast there. Literally, what God was able to do in his heart was to take that weakness, that fear and much trembling, and turn this into his speech that was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but notice the demonstration of the spirit and of power. This is something I constantly pray for preachers, and of course myself also, that the demonstration would not be with great oratory skill. There are preachers who are known for being great speakers. But I wonder sometimes how much the Holy Spirit actually is involved with that, as they work to polish their speeches, that your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. So notice again, this spirit of power that is given. Also, I want you to consider here, the next thing that God has given to us is the spirit of love. Romans 5.5 says that the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost, which is given unto us. And of course, Galatians 5.22 emphasizes the fruit of the Spirit is love. I want to remind you that love is not an emotion. We have the emphasis of that as we're seeing now Valentine's Day stuff all over in the stores now. It is not an emotion. If God can command us to love, it's not an emotion. It's an act of our will. But I want you to consider that the Holy Spirit of God is the one who's going to give us love. I'm trying to remember, 1 Peter, I'm trying to draw a blank on the reference here, but talking about loving the brethren with unfeigned love. So the spirit of love and also the spirit of a sound mind. That's what I'll focus on here tonight. The spirit of a sound mind. Now, when we think about the word sound, it speaks of being perfect, not broken or defective. So if we have sound health, for example, we are not living with broken health or things like that. Also, another aspect of the word sound is not wild or wandering. I thought that was very interesting. So many times, well, in fact, you think about the hymn, prone to wander, Lord, I feel it, prone to leave the God I love. We are to be sound, we're to be established, we're to be firmly set. But also, this word was given as far as the word sound, not deranged. That's why I was looking at this in relation to our study here tonight. Notice we have Luke chapter eight, Luke chapter eight. I want you to think about this statement as we move in into these passages here. True biblical Christianity does not produce mental instability. All right. So God is the one who gives us a sound mind. So I want you to, you need to need to think about some of what I just said though. I said true biblical Christianity does not produce mental instability. A false Christianity can, and we'll talk about that here tonight, but I want you to consider here as far as God wanting to give us a sound mind. Again, this is all an aspect of our study as far as the soul. Notice Luke 8, verses 26 and following. They arrived at the country of the Gadarenes. Of course, this is commonly called the Maniac of Gadara. So the country of the Gadarenes, this is on the east side of the Jordan River, which is over against Galilee. And when he went forth to land, there met him out of the city, a certain man which had devil's long time, wear no clothes, neither abode in any house, but in the tombs. So he's living in the cemetery. And literally, this is why they refer to him as a maniac. He was crazy. But you notice again, the emphasis is that he was possessed of devils. And when he saw Jesus, he cried out and fell down before him, and with a loud voice said, what have I to do with thee, Jesus, thou son of God most high? I beseech thee, torment me not. Now, you notice here, devils, along with the devil himself, They know where they're heading. They know the suffering that they're going to experience for all of eternity. Hell was created for the devil and his angels, Jesus said. For he had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man, for oftentimes it had caught him, and he was kept bound with chains and in fetters, and he broke the bands and was driven of the devil into the wilderness. Now, I want you to consider here, there's one of the devils speaking, But as we understand in this passage, there were thousands of devils in this one man. Because you notice it says in verse 30, and Jesus asked him saying, what is thy name? And he said, Legion. He, singular, said Legion because many devils were entered into him. So obviously, his name was Legion, but he was the spokes demon for all of the other devils that were in him. And they besought him that he would not command them to go out into the deep. You notice devils want to possess something or someone. And there was there a herd of many swine feeding on the mountain. And they besought him that he would suffer them to enter into them. And he suffered them. Notice he permitted them to go there. Then went the devils out of the man and entered into the swine. And the herd ran violently down a steep place into the lake and were choked or drowned. When they that fed them saw what was done, they fled and went and told it in the city and in the country. They had never seen anything like this before. This guy was terrorizing everyone. Anyone that would pass by that way, he would be terrorizing them. Then they went out to see what was done and came to Jesus, notice, found the man out of whom the devils were departed, sitting at the feet of Jesus, notice this, clothed and in his right mind. No drugs were needed. Jesus didn't prescribe something to him. There were no drugs needed. And it says they were afraid. No counseling, no psychiatry, no psychology, none of that. He was in his right mind. God is the one who can do that. They also which saw it told them by what means that was a possessor of the devil was healed. Notice he was healed, but the emphasis is on his mind. Notice also Matthew chapter four. I truly believe that Christianity has, and pastors in particular, have taken on an unbiblical emphasis on counseling in the church house. I really believe that with all my heart. I want you to notice, it says in verses 23 through 25, I want to emphasize a word here, and I'm going to define it for you. It says in verse 23, And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel to the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people. And his fame, so the reputation, his testimony, his fame went throughout all Syria. And they brought unto him all sick people that were taken with diverse diseases and torments, and those which were possessed with devils." Notice again, this devil possession here. And those which were lunatic, and those that had the palsy, and he healed them. And there followed him great multitudes of people from Galilee and from Decapolis and from Jerusalem and from Judea and from beyond Jordan." They're coming from all over and going to Jesus there in Galilee. Notice also chapter 17, we're gonna see this word again. I wanna use this again in our look at the idea of a sound mind that the Lord is able to give someone. Chapter 17 of Matthew, verses 14 through 21. Of course, this is after the Mount of Transfiguration, it says in verse 14, And when they were come to the multitude, there came to him a certain man kneeling down to him, and saying, Lord, have mercy on my son. Here's our word again, For he is lunatic and sore-vexed. Now, the new King James translates lunatic, epileptic. There is no comparison there. So in other words, epilepsy is demonic possession. Because obviously he's talking to me here about possessed of a devil. For oft times, no, no, it's oft times, he falls into the fire and off into the water. And I brought him to thy disciples and they could not cure him. Then Jesus answered and said, O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I suffer you? How long am I going to put up with you, Jesus says. Bring him hither to me. And Jesus rebuked, notice, the devil. So in other words, again, to say that this is an epileptic seizure, it says he departed out of him, and notice the child was cured from that very hour. The words, the description that the father used was that he is lunatic and sore-vexed. And Jesus rebuked the devil and departed out of him. The child was cured from that very hour. God the Son has the power to transform a life. Then came the disciples to Jesus' part and said, why could not we cast him out? And Jesus said unto them, because of your unbelief, for verily I say unto you, if ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, remove hence to yonder place, and it shall remove, and nothing shall be impossible unto you. So does that mean we can go to the Rocky Mountains and say, I want those moved closer to Nebraska? Obviously, he's talking about something spiritual here. In the context, he's talking about something, you know, hard to deal with situation in life. We're talking about something spiritual. All we need is a grain of mustard seed as far as faith. How be it this kind goeth not out notice, here's the key, but by biblical counseling and psychology. I'm sorry, no, that's the way the modern counselors read it. how be it this kind goeth not out, but by prayer and fasting." What I'm emphasizing here tonight is that God has the power to give us a sound mind. Now, as far as this word lunatic, I want to define what it really is. It's not epilepsy. A person affected by insanity, back in 1828, this is the understanding of this, supposed to be influenced or produced by the moon or by its position in its orbit, Then the last part of the definition, a madman. Now here's what I want you to understand here tonight. A sound mind is given by God. It is not provided by drugs, it's not provided by counseling, it's psychiatry, any of those things. Now here's what I want to emphasize again, that I emphasized before we looked at Luke 8. True biblical Christianity does not produce, and I made a list here, it does not produce insanity. It does not produce derangement. It does not produce so-called mental illness. I'll talk about that here in a moment. It does not produce depression. It does not produce ADD, ADHD, whatever the case may be. That is not produced by true Christianity. Here's what I want you to understand in our modern day. Here's what happens with this. So in the news, someone becomes unhinged mentally. And it begins shooting and all that kind of stuff. Oh, they love, they love, in the news, they love to dig into the story to see what kind of religion is involved. Islam. They often look for a religious connection. And they love it if they look like a Christian. Can I remind you that there's all kinds of an array of people who are called Christians and referred to as Christians? Even some of these cults are called Christians. Here's what I want you to understand. What is an illness? It is a sickness. That is something that our world has used to make a lot of psychologists and counselors and all that rich. And as long as somebody keeps saying, well, you've got a mental illness, or all these things, they are never going to find a cure, as the Bible even talks about, as far as this young man who is a lunatic. I want you to consider the causes of these things. And these are causes that very few doctors, from everything I've seen, very few doctors ever seek out the truth. What's the first thing they do when somebody is depressed? Here's a drug for you. That's the very first thing they do. I want you to think about this. First of all, a cause possibly could be an injury to the brain. Remember, I'm emphasizing the difference between brain and the mind. Our mind is not the same as our brain. We've been confused with those things because of indoctrination that we have received. Sometimes it's caused by an injury to the brain. Sometimes it's pressure on the brain. In fact, I just read a book not too long ago here in relation to Alzheimer's and dementia. They are so quick to issue prescriptions and drugs, keeping these people 10, 20 years All kinds, think about all the money that's coming in. And they don't ever check about pressure on the brain. They don't ever check about a vitamin deficiency or whatever the case may be. I think it's vitamin B12 can actually cause mental confusion. Sometimes it's intoxication and drugs. But sometimes it's a disease affecting the brain. But I want you to consider one thing that even Christian counselors do not ever consider. Guilt. and unresolved grief, all of those types of things. I want you to consider the effect that this has on the mind. Here, I want to emphasize again, the common treatment today is big pharma drugs. If somebody's depressed, here's a drug. Because of that, many Christians are dependent on the physicians, and they're not trusting in the Lord for mental clarity. Most doctors, psychologists, psychiatrists, and counselors do not deal with the real root cause. I want to say that again because I believe this is the real issue. They do not deal with the real root cause in most of the cases of mental illness as they call it and everything. Big Pharma makes no money on better nutrition dealing with a physical cause. They don't make money on it. So they're going to encourage these things. Now, I need to make a disclaimer on our day because if somebody immediately goes off their medications and they go crazy, then I'm going to be sued. I am not telling anybody. I am not telling anybody to quit your medicine, cold turkey, because I want you to consider once our body is dependent on those things, you need to have oversight in getting off of those things. But here's what I want you to understand with this. I remember my wife was prescribed a drug. I don't remember what it was or anything. But was it one or two? Just one. All she had to do is take one of those. I mean, it was for a physical ailment that she had going on. But all she had to do is take one of those things, and all of a sudden, her mind started going crazy as far as different things. I don't remember what all effect it had now, but it's been quite a few years ago. She took one, she dumped the rest of those things out. Our body becomes dependent on those things, but sometimes it's a prescribed drug for pain or whatever, and it causes the mental situation that people are dealing with. Now here's the insanity of false religion also. First of all, in many cases, those in false religions are victims of fear. For example, fear of leaving mother church and losing their salvation. Think about that. Fear of, or fear because of, I should say, a wrong understanding of God. The Bible describes God as Abba Father. We have a relationship with God through Jesus Christ that somebody in a false religion cannot experience. I want you to consider that in many cases, people will see God as a harsh tyrant waiting to strike somebody. He's sitting on the throne of heaven. He's waiting to strike somebody with lightning. That's not God. And I want you to consider it every once in a while, I come across statements by an atheist or an agnostic, and they'll talk about the tyrannical God of the Old Testament. I want you to consider that God expressed his love to Israel. God's judgment came upon them because they refused to yield themselves to His authority and to obey Him. So I want you to consider as far as fear, fear comes from false religion and false belief systems. Also I want you to consider the insanity of false religion. They're controlled by guilt. This was a statement I wrote down for my reading here today. Priest ridden, sin harassed, mental slave. They keep them in mental bondage. Why? Because they want them to keep coming back to their false religion. False religion is designed to keep people in bondage to that false religion. Consider also a false assurance as well. Those are things that false religions will produce. Notice with me in Matthew chapter 11. I want you to consider as Jesus was dealing, we've been seeing this in our gospel study, as Jesus was dealing with the multitudes, who were oppressed, literally, by the Pharisees and the leaders of Judaism. I want you to notice what Jesus says to the multitudes here. In fact, I want you to see here verses 25 through 27 as an introduction to this. At that time, Jesus answered and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent and hast revealed them unto babes. Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in thy sight, all things are delivered unto me of my Father, and no man knoweth the Son, but the Father. Neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him." Notice again, this speaks here of a relationship, God the Father in heaven. But I want you to notice what Jesus says here in his invitation in verse 28 through 30. Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Now, I want you to notice this is based on and received by grace. As we understand what Jesus has been emphasizing here to the, in fact, in the context, he had just condemned the cities that had rejected his teaching in verses 20 through 24. You know, it's gonna be better for Sodom than those cities because they had Jesus Christ there presenting the truth to them. I want you to consider here, there was something totally different that had been brought into the Judaistic system, the religion of the Jews. Jesus again says, come unto me all you that labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest. And I want you to notice he's gonna talk about rest for their souls. Take my yoke upon you. and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart." All right, that reminds us of the fact that he was meek and lowly as he entered into Jerusalem, seeking peace with the people of Israel. And notice he says again, at the end of verse 29, and you shall find rest unto your souls. But in the context there, notice he's talking about a yoke. He says, take my yoke upon you. So when we think about the yoke, he's talking about yoking up with Jesus Christ himself. I've taught this before, but I want you to see this again as far as the soul. As we do that, as we yoke up with the Lord, notice we find rest unto our souls. Why? Because he is helping us live the Christian life. He's helping us live our lives. And then he says in verse 30, for my yoke is easy and my burden is light. He says that in contrast to the oppressive requirements and regulations of the Jews religion was forced upon the people by hypocrites who are calling themselves Pharisees. As we title this together, I want for us to consider also just briefly the human will. I remind you again that the soul is made up of mind, emotions, and will. So, of course, our mind includes our reason, our intelligence. Our emotions speak of our affections, our appetites, our ambitions. We talked about that a little bit last week. I want you to consider also the will here. We're going to go a different direction here, Lord willing, next time. First of all, I want you to consider that our will is influenced by motives. Let's read out Matthew chapter 6. We saw this. We're close here. Let me just highlight this. We saw this, I believe, last week. But I want you to consider here that our will is influenced by our motives. So why do we do? Maybe I should ask, why do we do the things that we do? That's how to check our motives. Take heed that you do not your alms before men to be seen of them. Otherwise you have no reward of your father, which is in heaven." Notice again, first of all, he emphasizes doing good deeds so that you can be seen by others. That's their whole motive. It's not to please God. And again, I emphasize, Jesus says, at the end of verse two, they have their reward. Notice then verse 5, it says, When thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be... Notice, here's their motive, that they may be seen of men. Again, Jesus says they have their reward. And he emphasizes, you know, when you pray, enter into your closet, when you shut the door, pray to your father, which is in secret, and thy father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly. So again, what's our motive? Why are we doing this? Verse 16, when ye fast, be not as the hypocrites of a sad countenance, for they disfigure their faces. Oh, they just look like they're in agony, that they may appear unto men to fast. Jesus says they have the reward. But he says, when you fast, When thou fastest, anoint thine head, and wash thy face, that thou appear not unto men to fast, but unto thy Father which is in secret. Notice again, God the Father will reward thee openly. So what's our motives? Why are we doing the things that we are? You notice in this case, to be approved of others, to be seen by them, but also our will is influenced by our thoughts. Of course, the Bible emphasizes, as a man thinks or thinketh in his heart, so is he. That's why we need to bring our thoughts into captivity to obedience of Jesus Christ. Notice 2 Corinthians 10. We're almost finished here tonight. 2 Corinthians 10, verses 3 through 5. So our thoughts will influence our will. How we think is how we are going to act and respond to things. 2 Corinthians 10 verses 3-5. Though we walk in the flesh, so we live in a physical body, we do not war after the flesh. It's a spiritual warfare, not a physical, carnal war. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal or fleshly, governed by nature, by our flesh. but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds, casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ. Also, our will can be influenced by our affections." Notice Colossians 3. It says here in verses one and following of Colossians 3, if you then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection. Notice that's in the form of a command. So your feelings, your affections, however you want to describe this, They're not, this is something that we can obey. Set your affection on things above, not on things of the earth. Again, I want to emphasize based on verse two, we see that our affections can affect our will. So our focus, our affections need to be on heaven, not on things of this earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory. Mortify, therefore, your members which are upon earth, fornication and uncleanness, and so on and so forth. Mortify means to put it to death. We're not just saying no. We're supposed to put it to death, put these things to death. So it's influenced by our, our will is influenced by our affections. Also, I'm just gonna throw this out here, it's influenced by instinct. I want you to consider that God puts instincts into our hearts. For example, Romans chapter one says that we know by nature, God created it in us, that there is a God. In fact, you have to educate it out of children. A child is easy to lead to a belief and understanding of God. Why? Because God has put it in us. Those are things that God has put within. Immortality. People know that there's a God and that there's a life after death. Think about the pharaohs. Pharaohs had false gods, and yet they knew that they were gonna prepare for the afterlife. Indian tribes. We just listened to a book on Kit Carson. And he dealt a lot with the Indians, especially out in Utah and out that part of the country. Yeah, I want you to consider, even those pagan tribes, they would speak of the great spirit or think about John Payton, went to the cannibals of the Pacific Islands. And that even those people understood that there was some kind of God out there that they needed to appease. God put that within us. Babies, they cry when they're hungry. Whoever taught a child to do that, a baby to do that? That's something that God puts within a child. As we close, notice Psalm 104. I want you to consider here that God has given us all kinds of information in his word. We don't need psychologists to tell us about our own nature. It says, Psalm 104, notice verses 20 and following. He says, thou makest darkness and it is night, wherein all the beasts of the forest do creep forth. Okay, so who taught these animals to do that? God put the instinct into them. The young lions roar after their prey and seek their meat from God. The sun ariseth, they gather themselves together and lay them down in their dens. Notice verse 23. Man goeth forth unto his work and to his labor until the evening. As I've said, third shift is not God's idea. I've tried it a few times over the years. I don't last very long with that. Notice, man goeth forth unto his work and to his labor until the evening. Man is designed by God to wake up in the morning, to go to work until the evening. That's what God says right here. Oh Lord, how manifold are thy works. In wisdom hast thou made them all. The earth is full of thy riches. So is this great and wide sea wherein are things creeping innumerable. both small and great beasts. There go the ships. There is that Leviathan, whom thou hast made to play therein. The Leviathan is playing out in the ocean. These wait, notice, they wait all upon thee, that thou mayest give them their meat in due season. That thou givest them, they gather. Thou openest thine hand, and they are filled with good. Thou hidest thy face, they are troubled. Thou takest away their breath, they die and return to their dust. Thou sendest forth thy spirit, they are created. Thou renewest the face of the earth, and so on. That's God's creative act. But here's what I want you to understand as we tie this together. The soul of man, that is our personality, as I've said. That is our mind, our emotions, and will. But what I want for us to consider tonight is, are we directing our soul in the way that God would have us according to his word? Or are we listening to the lies, the science, falsely so-called, of our day? You see, we need to go back to what God said about our soul and spirit. Lord, I pray that you should help us to sort through all the lies that we have heard so much in our culture. And Lord, so many, Christian counselors have bought into the psychology, the philosophies of this world. Lord, I pray that our souls be right before Thee. Lord, I pray that everyone here tonight truly is saved, as we even refer to in Scripture, the saving of the soul. Lord, I pray that You'd help us to, again, think according to Scripture, and Lord, to act in such a way that Thou wouldest have us act. I pray in Jesus' name, amen.