March 9, 2008
SoulTalk
Think Vision: Restoring the Soul to Treasure God
SoulTalk7.mp3
Pastor Wade Burleson
Emmanuel Baptist Church
Enid OK

Ephesians 3:8(ESV)

8. To me, though I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ.

Every emotional or spiritual maladjustment in life can be traced to promoting secondary desires to the primary passion of your life. The purpose of SoulTalk is to help us learn the kind of language that will help reignite our desire to know and enjoy God as the primary passion of our life. All other secondary desires (a restored marriage, getting a child off drugs, a reconciled relationship with a hurt friend, financial success, etc.) should be seen for what they are -- secondary. Let me remind you of the five levels of SoulTalk:

1. Think beneath. We must learn to see clearly the real battle that is being fought in someone's soul. It is the invisible battle that most folks ignore.
2. Think vision. This will require imagination as we capture a vision of what the Spirit can do in a person's life and are excited to see it happen.
3. Think passion. We will come to the place where we face the real mess that exists in our own soul as we speak to others -- with humility and courage.
4. Think story. We will learn to meet the real person with whom we are talking. There will be a transcendent curiosity that leads to safe exploration.
5. Think movement. We will follow the Spirit as He penetrates every defense until the soul is released to love God as the supreme treasure of life.

We have invested our time of the first level -- think beneath to see the central battle of being tempted to place secondary things first. Understand that the central deception is to believe secondary things are essential for the soul's health. Now we move to the second level -- think vision.

1. Without vision people perish.
   When someone opens up to you, the most natural question you ask yourself is simply: "What should I say?" But this natural question is not useful and most dangerous. Asking this question is like asking directions without knowing where you are going. When someone opens up, think, "Where there is no vision my people perish" (Proverbs 29:18). Without a God-centered, Jesus-honoring, Spirit-inspired vision, we'll speak SelfTalk. We'll want to heal wounds, bring accountability, improve communication, etc. For Satan, any vision is fine but the vision for a person to want God above all else.
2. The vision we need is a double vision.
   We must have vision for the person with whom we enter into SoulCare and ourselves.
   1. A vision for ourselves -- You won't enter SoulCare when there is a greater concern for being liked than there is for loving the soul of another (Mark 12:31).
   2. A vision for others -- seeing in them the danger of putting second things first. "You can't get second things by putting them first: you can get second things only by putting first things first," C.S. Lewsi. God, above all, must be our primary affection.
3. Good vision sees the soul treasuring God above all else.
   "Grace was given to me to proclaim . . . the unsearchable riches of Christ" (Ephesians 3:8). You and I need more grace. We need grace to have a vision of what another soul can become when they find their true delight in treasuring the riches of God in Christ.