THE RIVERS OF GOD:
THE ONLINE SEMINAR

How to Have the Living Water of Peace, Hope,
and Purpose that Jesus Promised Us

Session One:  Two Secrets

Part 2


 
The Second Secret

     To be perfectly honest, what’s the true cause of all the trouble in the world?  What’s the true cause of crime?  And of alcoholism?  And of drug abuse?  Divorce?  Child abuse?  Adultery?  War?  Terrorism?  Theft?  Gang shootings?  What’s the true cause of everything bad in life?

     We already know (from the story of the 2,400 psychiatrists in Part 1 of this session) that the true cause of all the trouble in the world is loneliness, depression, fear, hate, and the other negative things the psychiatrists reported.  But now we’re looking for a deeper connection.  Now we’re looking for the true cause of the loneliness, depression, fear, hate, and all the other negative things that the psychiatrists found.  What’s causing them?

     Twenty centuries ago, when the Roman Empire ruled the world, the greatest success teachers who ever lived gave us the answer.  They explained the true cause of loneliness, depression, fear, hate, and all the other bad things in life – and their answer turned the world upside down in less than 100 years.

     Today, we call those ancient success teachers “the early Christians.”  They taught two simple principles of true success to the Roman, Greek, Hebrew, and tribal peoples of their day.  Here are those two principles:

Two Principles Of True Success

         Principle #1:  The true cause of all the crime, violence, and other trouble in the world is pride, anger, selfishness, vulgarity, slander, lust, arguing, and stubbornness in people (exactly as the 2,400 psychiatrists said in San Francisco) – and the true cause of those is unspirituality in people.

         Principle #2:  Due to this linkage between unspirituality and the world’s trouble, the solution to world trouble is for people everywhere to start being more Spiritual – because if all the people in the world were more Spiritual, all the pride, anger, selfishness, vulgarity, slander, lust, arguing, and stubbornness would gradually dry up and the world would gradually become filled with peace, hope, and purpose.

     The fact is that (if we’re deathbed honest) we’ll probably admit that every trouble in our life today is the result of unspiritual behavior by someone, somewhere:  Either by us, or by someone else, or by both; either now, or at sometime in the past.  That means every problem in our life would eventually be erased (or would no longer matter) if we, and everyone around us, started being more Spiritual.  Isn’t that true?

     So, as we’ve said, the true secret of success is Spiritual growth.  It’s not money, status, possessions, or psychiatric couches.  Of course, it’s possible to have both Spirituality and possessions, and some people do.  But the early Christians taught that being Spiritual is the most important and desirable thing on earth – whether or not we ever create a pile of possessions.

     But, what is Spirituality?  Where does it come from?  How does it work?  How do we experience it?  More importantly, can everyone (you, me, and our families and friends) experience it?  This Internet Seminar gives those answers.  However, before continuing, let’s pause to make certain the whole thing is worth the cost.

The Pearl Of Great Price

     Here’s a vitally important question:  What would our lives be like if there was no pride, anger, selfishness, vulgarity, slander, arguing, and stubbornness in the world?  Can we even imagine a life without those negative behaviors in it?

     What would our homes be like if there was no pride, anger, or selfishness in our families?  What would our jobs be like?  What would our civic clubs and schools be like?  Would we, our families, and our friends be happier, safer, and healthier?  Would removing those negative behaviors from our lives be a goal worth pursuing?

     Twenty centuries ago, the early Christians thought so.  In fact, they not only said it was possible to remove pride, loneliness, depression, and selfishness from our lives – they proved it was possible by actually doing it.

     History shows that the Christians of the First Century lived such lives of peace and happiness that their daily lifestyle was called the Kingdom of God, or the Kingdom of Heaven, on earth.  The early Christians taught that all of us can have that lifestyle of peace and happiness – and millions of people did in the first three centuries of Christian history.

     The early Christian “success” teachers even had classes, teachings, and manuals to show people how to live in the Kingdom of God on earth – and those teachings were so valuable that people walked for days in the hot sun without food and water just to hear them.

     Here’s an example.  Here’s what the greatest “success” teacher who ever lived said about the value of living in the Kingdom of Heaven on earth:

              “The Kingdom of Heaven on earth is so valuable that it’s like a great treasure that was
          hidden in a field.  When a stranger found the treasure by accident, he covered it up,
          went home with great joy, and sold everything he had so he could return to the field
          and buy it – and its hidden treasure – from the farmer who owned it.”

[1.  Adapted from Matthew, chapter 13, verse 44.]

              “Again, the Kingdom of Heaven on earth is so valuable that it’s like a pearl merchant
          who was searching for a fine pearl in a public market.  When he found one of great
          value, he went home very excited and sold everything he had so he could return to
          the market and buy the fine pearl from the vendor who was offering it.”[2.  Adapted from Matthew, chapter 13, verses 45 and 46.]

     Do you see what this greatest of all Spiritual teachers was saying?  He was saying that our lives would be incredibly more valuable if they didn’t have loneliness, depression, fear, anger, selfishness, and stress in them.  He was saying that if such a life was for sale, most of us would pay any price to get it.  To prove this in a personal way, let’s pause here to try an experiment.

Our Happy Time

     Here’s the experiment.  Let’s think back over our lives and try to remember a specific time when we were the most happy we can ever remember.  (It might be necessary to think all the way back to childhood for such a memory.)

     Our memory could be of summer evenings in the porch swing of a lake house.  Or fall mornings looking out the window of a mountain cabin.  Or vacations at the beach with our parents.  Or sitting beside a childhood Christmas tree.  Or Thanksgiving meals at grandmother’s house.  Or our wedding day. Or the day our first child was born.  But, whatever time we remember, it needs to be the time we were the most happy, carefree, inspired, and content.

     Were you able to remember such a time?  (I was.)  Then here’s the point of the exercise.  If you and I were Spiritual today – the way the early Christians were Spiritual – we’d feel like our “happy time” right this minute.  In fact, we’d feel like it every day.  Why?  Because that’s what the Kingdom of God on earth feels like.  And that’s the true “secret of success”:  Feeling happy and comfortable and secure and satisfied all the time, no matter what’s happening around us or to us.  But now let’s take our experiment one step further.  Next, let’s add a Spiritual test to our experiment.

How Spiritual Are We – Really?

     National surveys by pollsters such Gallup, Barna, Pew, and all other survey organizations are consistent:  About 90 percent of all people say they believe in God, and about 70 percent of all people say they believe in life after death.  That was the good news.

     The bad news is that only about 10 percent of the people surveyed say that God influences their daily behavior.  Why is that bad news?  It’s bad news because the key to Spirituality is letting God influence our daily behavior.

     So next, let’s take the Spiritual test.  Here’s our test question:  To what extent is God influencing our daily behavior (yours and mine) every day?

     To answer our test question, we need to think of a number between “1” and “10.”  Let’s let the number “1” mean that God has no influence over our daily behavior.  And let’s let the number “10” mean that God has total influence over our daily behavior.  Next, let’s choose the proper number between “1” and “10” that honestly stands for the amount of influence that God has over our daily behavior.  (Don’t continue reading until you’ve chosen a number.)

     Okay, did you choose a number?  (I did.)  Then here’s the point of the exercise.  God should be motivating the majority of our daily behavior – not the minority of it.  That means we should have chosen the number “6” or higher.  (And that’s with deathbed honesty.  No fudging.)  Were you able to choose the number “6” or higher?

     That simple test highlights the purpose of this Internet Seminar.  The purpose of this seminar is to increase the “number” of our Spirituality.  It’s to increase the “level” of our Spirituality (yours and mine) to a permanent score of “6” or higher – because that’s where we’ll experience the most peace and happiness of the Kingdom of God on earth.

     However, that last sentence raises an important question that people often think about, even if they don’t admit it.  That question is this:  Do we really need the Kingdom of God in our lives?  Can’t we get along fine without it?  Said another way, is it really worth the effort to be more Spiritual?  Part 3 of this session answers those questions, so let’s continue on to Part 3 and discuss the answers.

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HERE ARE THE ENDNOTES FOR THIS PART: