Keith Battle - Stay Connected - Part 1

If you have your Bible, turn to First Thessalonians, chapter 5. If you have an app or something similar, you can look at First Thessalonians, chapter 5. I want to focus on one verse there, and then I would like to examine a verse in First Corinthians, chapter 13. I don’t want to take up too much of your time, but I want to share something that has been helpful to me in my personal life. This tool that I am going to share with you has been instrumental in helping me to act right, amen, and helped me to live right when I don’t want to do right and tend to do wrong. Amen, this is a real source, so I encourage you to take notes in a way that will be useful for you to apply this, as this is not going to be normal; this is a little deeper than the surface. All right, let’s pray. Father, please speak to us through Your Word. Please make preaching helpful, life-giving, and transforming. Bring back to my remembrance the things You want me to say, and please let me share what You want to communicate in this service, to this broadcast, to this audience, that those who are tuned in at this time will receive it. I’m available to You; speak through me and empower us, I pray in Jesus' name, Amen.

First Thessalonians, chapter 5, verse 23 says, «Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely.» Everybody say «completely.» «And may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.» May the God of peace sanctify you completely—yes, completely—and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. My subject today is «Stay Connected.» Say that for me: «Stay Connected.» One more time. Y’all still haven’t said it? That’s okay; there’s something you’re saying. That’s all right. Praise the Lord; we’re going to work through this. Stay connected. May God completely preserve not just my spirit and not just my soul and let my body fade away, but may He congruently preserve all of me.

«Stay connected.» Usually, when you hear the term «stay connected,» it refers to interpersonal relationships and the importance of staying connected with one another. It highlights the importance of relationships with people of like mind and faith. The Bible describes Christianity as a «one another» religion, as we should love one another, pray for one another, encourage one another, rejoice with one another, and weep with one another. Hebrews chapter 10 says, «Do not neglect the assembling of yourselves together.» We need to actively pursue community and ensure that we’re inspiring and holding each other accountable through relationships; it is interpersonal connectivity, and I believe it is crucial to stay connected with interpersonal relationships.

However, what I really want to talk about today is not just interpersonal relationships, but rather, the inner-personal relationship. How do you stay connected with yourself? How do you keep yourself together? It is interesting that as human beings, we are multi-dimensional; we are not just what you see. In fact, look at somebody and say, «There is more to me than what you see.» Yes, I am NOT just my hair; remember, there is more to me. As human beings, at the very least, we are tripartite, just as our God is. Our God is one in essence, but He has revealed Himself as God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. God is triune—tripartite. We, as human beings, are, minimally, tripartite: we have a body, a soul, and a spirit. Some people may say we are a spirit, but we know that we have more parts than meet the eye.

I was talking to a friend one time, and this was back in the day when cellphones were not widely used. By the way, I am grateful for cellular communication; I think it’s an advancement we should appreciate because I remember when we didn’t have cell phones. Does anyone remember that? If you had to make a call from your car, you had to pull over and find a phone. I know some of you may not even know what a payphone is: you had to put money into the machine! When your people went off, you learned about it. I also remember the barbershop where people would ask, «Where you been, man? Where you got a beeper?» That was as cellular as we got. So, I appreciate technology. I was talking to this guy a few years back while I was on my phone in my house. I don’t even know why we have phones in the house anymore; we just use our cell phones. Anyway, I was on the phone at home, but parts of my house were dead zones for my cell signal. While conversing, I kept losing the connection, and he asked me, «Are you at home?» I replied, «Yes.» Then he said something very important that blew me away—it’s a powerful statement I’m using today, and I don’t think he even realized how deep it was. He said, «Keith, in order for this connection to stay strong, one of us needs to be grounded.» That’s good right there! You should take that to your significant other: «In order for this relationship to stay strong, one of us needs to…»