Grace Fellowship Church Pastor/Teacher Jim Rickard Tuesday, March 15,

Doxology Praise God, from whom all blessings flow; Praise Him, all creatures here below; Praise Him above, ye heavenly host; Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.— Amen.

Memory Verse 1 Tim 1:5, “But the goal of our instruction is love from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.”

John 16:5, “But now I (Jesus) am going to Him (God the Father) who sent Me, and yet not one of you (the disciples) asks Me, ‘Where are you going?’”

John 16:6, “But because I have said (taught) to you all these things, sorrow (inward stress) has completely filled your heart (right lobe of the soul).”

Doctrine of Stress 1. There are two categories of pressure in life.

a. Overt pressure, = adversity.

a. Overt pressure, = adversity. b. Inner pressure of the soul, = stress.

2. Stress is what you do to yourself; adversity is what the circumstances of life do to you.

3. The Greek word THLIPSIS, ( tribulation, affliction: Rom 5:3; 2 Cor 1:4, 8; 1 Thes 3:3; 2 Thes 1:4; Rev 2:9-10, 22, etc.) should be translated “adversity,” because it means the outward circumstances of life.

4. Adversity may be caused by pain, weather, financial problems, loss of friendship, broken romance, marital problems, family problems, …

… business or professional problems, personality conflicts, lawsuits, economic depression, spiritual problems, etc.

a. As outside pressures of life, there are three categories of adversity.

1) Suffering from the law of volitional responsibility.

1) Suffering from the law of volitional responsibility. 2) Suffering from Divine discipline.

1) Suffering from the law of volitional responsibility. 2) Suffering from Divine discipline. 3) Suffering for Blessing which accelerates spiritual growth.

b. As inside pressure of the soul, stress includes four categories.

1) Stress from converting the outside pressures of adversity into the inside pressures of stress in the soul.

2) Stress which comes from grieving the Holy Spirit.

2) Stress which comes from grieving the Holy Spirit. 3) Stress which comes from quenching the Spirit.

2) Stress which comes from grieving the Holy Spirit. 3) Stress which comes from quenching the Spirit. 4) Stress from the three areas of divine discipline.

5. Once you have stress in the soul, there is no Suffering for Blessing until you rebound and recover. Then the adversity is turned into Suffering for Blessing.

6. Adversity is inevitable (we all have suffering); stress is optional. It depends on your own volition as to whether you will have Suffering for Blessing or Stress in your soul. Rom 8:31-37

7. Stress in the soul results in OSN control of your life and destroys your spiritual life, causes fragmentation, reversionism, and Christian degeneracy.

Stress combined with the OSN control of the soul completely destroys any capacity for life, love, and happiness.

It destroys the inner spiritual strength of the soul and results in inner tensions which causes dissociation, mental disorder, and multiple personality dysfunctions.

Unchecked and perpetuated stress in the soul produces the psycho Christian and results in self-fragmentation.

8. Stress, perpetuated in the soul, means failure to glorify God, and therefore, unchecked stress produces the loser believer, one who lives in perpetual carnality.

Grace Fellowship Church Tuesday, March 15, 2011 Tape # Doctrine of Stress on Your Soul Upper Room Discourse, Part 483 J ohn 16:6; Rom 5:1-5; 8:31-37; 2 Cor 1:3-8 James H. Rickard Bible Ministries 2011