"34 Summoning the crowd along with His disciples, He said to them, “If anyone wants to be My follower, he must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow Me. 35 For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life because of Me and the gospel will save it. 36 For what does it benefit a man to gain the whole world yet lose his life? 37 What can a man give in exchange for his life? 38 For whoever is ashamed of Me and of My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will also be ashamed of him when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels."
Mark 8:34-38
Good Morning Beloved,
Thank you all for joining us.
Today, I want to talk to you about your most valuable possession. Your soul. It is what makes you, you. It is the essence of what you are. Your soul will go on living forever, long after everything else is buried and has long turned to dust.
Heavenly Father,
Thank You for the truths in Your Word for us today. We know that we are able come to the Truth, who is none other than Your Son, Jesus Christ. We know, Lord, that this message today will be a savor of death unto death for some who will hear it, because they reject. It’ll push them deeper into the abyss of being lost and darkness, making them more accountable and responsible to God. For others, it will be a savor of life unto life, because they already live in Jesus Christ. Therefore, it will make their life richer. Father, we pray that Your Spirit would do a work in all the hearts gathered here today. For those of us who have life, may it be life even more abundantly. May we commit ourselves to even greater service and obedience. And for those who know only death, may today be the day they choose to enter into life. Lord, we pray that Your will be done in and through us all Lord, have Your way.
In Jesus' name we pray
Amen
When the sun, moon, and stars have burned themselves out, your soul will still go on.
Because it is endless, measureless, and timeless.
"Made in the image of God," is not just a phrase. It is worth more than all the houses, property, stocks, bonds, diamonds, rubies, silver and gold, in fact, more than everything in your stock portfolio. It is more valuable than the entire planet earth. Your soul is what goes on forever into eternity. Your body may die, it may be killed. But your soul, will go on throughout eternity.
Unless Jesus returns before you die, your body will return to dust. But your soul will never ever cease to exist. From the very beginning when God created man, He formed him out of the dust of the ground, and He breathed into the nostrils of man the breath of human life: man became a living soul.
You don't just possess a soul, you are your soul.
There is one thing that God said when he made you that He did not say about all the other things He created. It is what makes you different. It is what makes you unique. God said He made you in His own image.
You have a soul. And that soul lives in a body. And you are created in the image of God.
The problem with many of us is this, we pamper the body and most of us, totally neglect the soul.
Our body can send us even the smallest of signals and man, we will almost immediately respond to its every need. Am I right?
For example: The body says, I am hungry, then your stomach growls, and almost immediately
or a soon as we possibly, we move heaven and earth to find something to eat! The body says, I am too hot or too cold. We will get ourselves up off our comfy sofa and almost immediately adjust the temperature. The body says, I have a hurt or a pain, and we run to the doctor. Or if our body has some other need, we pamper the body, we feed the body, we rest the body, we exercise the body. We spend a ton of money clothing our body in the nicest threads we can afford, shoot, we'll even go into credit card debt for 'em. We'll even buy spa packages and pay masseuses and masseurs to relax our bodies! But the soul, how often do we really pamper that? The truth is its often neglected for days, weeks or even month without proper attention and care. And some people, never attend to their soul!
"What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul?"
Mark 8:36
Did you know, the word "soul" appears some 458 times throughout the bible.
If you start at the beginning and work your way through the bible all the way through the ending
you can actually see a very interesting pattern of understanding develop over the course of the several thousand years from Genesis to Revelations. Did you know that?
In the early beginning, they understood the soul was alive
The soul can be cut off from God
The soul clings to a loved one, son or daughter or spouse
The soul departs this world
Then we get into the book of Leviticus and the law
And we discover the soul can sin. Leviticus 4:2
Deuteronomy 2:29 we read that the soul can find God when we seek God with our heart and all our soul. The soul can become bitter The soul can thirst. The soul can be blessed.The soul can be satisfied.
Then we come to a revelation that some seek to destroy the soul.
Beloved, Satan has a huge interest in your soul.
Jesus said the devil is the prince of this world.
And he is greatly at work in our world, and he is after your soul.
God never intended there to be suffering, war and death.
Then along came Satan. But he started out as a mighty angel, possibly the greatest of all of God's created beings, and he rebelled against God.
When God created the earth, He put humans in charge of the earth. God wanted someone in the universe whom He could love and who would return love to Him.
So He gave man freedom of choice. God said to man, "I put one tree in this garden—you are not to eat its fruit. If you eat it, you will suffer and die" Genesis 3:3.
God gave man the freedom of self will.
But Satan told man, "Hey look, God doesn't really mean what he says. You're not going to die. If you eat of the fruit of that tree, you will be as great as God!" in Genesis 3:4-6
So, we all know that Eve ate the fruit first and then Adam, ate from it too. And that, beloved, was the first rebellion by people against God.
God being a God of integrity, He had to keep His word or let's face it, He would not be a fair and just God. He had said, "If you eat the fruit of that tree you will suffer and die."
Man ate of the tree, and man has been suffering and dying every day since!
But God had a plan. God said, "In spite of their rebellion, I am going to save the humanity. I am going to send my Son to this earth, to become the ultimate sacrifice for their sin."
And every step of the way, Satan has attempted to kill God's Son, even when Jesus was a baby still in Bethlehem. Joseph and Mary had to take baby Jesus and escape to Egypt because Herod was searching to kill him. Then, finally, when God's Son was nailed upon the cross, it looked as if the Satan had won a great victory, but instead, the devil lost his greatest battle. However, when Jesus died, Satan suffered the ultimate defeat, because on that third day, when Jesus Christ rose from the dead.Scripture says Jesus has "the keys of Hades and of Death"
Revelation 1:18
Beloved, Jesus Christ is alive, and He is coming back to this earth again!
He is coming back again and this time he wants to take "Your Soul" with Him.
God has built His Kingdom, but Satan is still trying to build his. A fruitless endeavor, I might add.
But even still, though Satan is a defeated enemy, he is still hard at work on this earth trying to do just that. He is currently working to deceive every man, woman and child he can. He is working to lead as many souls straight to hell as he can. How's he doing? Now I know that you're sitting here, so you must not be too bad of a person, right? But which team are you really on? Are your ways more like Jesus? Or are they more like Satan? Tough question, I know. Nevertheless, it one we all need to ask ourselves!
But, according to the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus said, "When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, then the wicked one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart" Matthew 13:19
Let me try another way to explain the value of your soul, is by God's concern for saving your soul.
God is "not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance" II Peter 3:9
"God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us" Romans 5:8
Beloved, God sees your soul as the most valuable thing in the entire world, in fact, its so valuable that He sent His only Son to the cross to suffer a untold agony, put up with horrible cruelty and die so that your soul may be saved, your soul could be redeemed. And if you had you had been the only person in the entire universe, Jesus Christ still would have died for you. That's how much He loves YOU!
Look, I know it's a terrible thing when a person loses their health, their money, or their friends.
But what does it cost when a person loses their soul?
Just about every day anymore, its becoming more and more common, sadly, there is someone reported missing. We have all seen the news. The word goes out, so and so is missing. People come from all over, in order to help the police and local authorities search for them. They show up with specially trained dogs to aid in the search.
The local T.V. and radio stations broadcast the news to get the word out. They send out amber alerts to your phone. Flyers and posters, with a picture of the missing person are made and get put up everywhere in the area. Search parties come from all over and are organized into search and rescue teams. People share the news story on social media, I mean, we do everything that was humanly possible was done to find that person. And we should! We should, because it's important!
But when a person's soul becomes lost? What happens then? Does anybody say anything? Does that get reported by the news. It sure doesn't cause much stir or excitement, down here on earth does it?
But it sure does in heaven! Your soul is worth far more than all the world and every material thing in it! There is absolutely, positively no substitute for your soul. There is no replacement for your soul. Just suppose you had all the wealth in the world, I mean everything you could ever dream of owning is now yours, but you lost your soul in the process, then what?
Jesus would tell you that's a pretty poor bargain. Because that'd be just foolish. Look, nobody ever gains the whole world anyway. But what it is amazing to me, is all the people who sell out Jesus so cheaply.
I mean Judas sold Jesus for thirty pieces of silver. thirty stinking pieces of silver! If we were to put that in contrast to today's monetary value, it would be somewhere around $325.00-$400.00. Now you might say, that's horrible! That's awful! But I am thoroughly convinced that there are people sell Jesus out for less than that today. Yep, that's right!
People are so motivated by money.
Let me tell God owns this whole world.
God doesn't need your money.
He already owns everything.
But He wants you.
When I invite people to church I have some tell me they are out of work and can't afford to come.
So we prayed for them to get a job and the next week they get a job.
And they say they can't come to church because they have to work.
Let me tell you if God answers a prayer for you and you are out of work
And the next week you suddenly get employed.
I don't care if you have to work on Sunday.
I would be afraid not to start a Monday night bible study. Or a Thursday morning prayer group.
Let me tell you we need to have a little more respect and fear for God.
People will sell out their soul so cheaply.
"What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul?"
Now watch this.
What can anyone give in exchange for their soul?
Suppose someone comes to you and says, "I have an offer."
I have a transaction I would like to make.
This person has the authority and the ability to do this.
You know that he does.
He says, I will give you anything and everything you want.
You want money…, you can have it.
You want pleasure…, you can have it.
You want popularity and power you can have it.
But there is something I want from you.
I want your little finger.
I am going to amputate your little finger that is what it will cost you to have anything and everything.
Most of you wouldn't but there are some people, there are many people in the world who would say yes to that deal.
What if the exchange were a little different?
What if instead of your little finger
He wanted your arm?
But still, you can have anything and everything this world has to offer.
You can have all the wealth, all the pleasure, all the influence in all the world.
There would be some, lots of people, who would still say yes to that bargain.
Let's go farther, what if it were your hearing? Or your eyesight?
You would say, wait a minute, that wouldn't be a good exchange if I couldn't see or hear.
The point I am making is that everything has a point where it doesn't make sense to make the exchange.
But let me tell you there are people in the world today who are paying far too much for way to little.
I mean some of you are giving your soul away. Not your eyes, your ears, your hands. Your soul.
In exchange for what? A few extra dollars here or there. Money you will not be able to take with you!
A few minutes of pleasure here or there, popularity, applause, trophies that are here today and gone tomorrow.
Have you counted the cost? If your soul should be lost?
There is a story that old time preachers use to tell, yeah, O.K., I'm old, so what! Get over it, I did.
It seems that there was a man who decided to move from Europe to America. He thought about how he would transfer all his wealth and take it with him. So finally he decided. He came up with the idea to sell everything he had of value And he purchased one large diamond. When he got to America he intended to exchange it for money and start a new life. On the way over he took the diamond out of his pocket. There were people around him that saw the diamond, and how large it was.
The next day the man took the diamond out of his pocket again and held it in his hand.
People were talking about how wealthy this man must be to have such a huge diamond.
The more the people talked, the more the man liked the notoriety and attention. He started to like all the attention.
So, the next day the man took the diamond out of his pocket and held it over the rail of the boat and the water. People started gasping as they watched him. He got even more, attention so he took it in his hand and tossed it in the air and would catch it. People would talk and guess about this man's wealth.
Even though this one diamond was all he had of value in the whole world.
Then, one day you guessed it, he took the diamond out of pocket, tossed it up into the air and he missed it! It bounced a few times, then it rolled. Right past the rail and over the side into the deep deep ocean. The man said to himself, what a fool I've been! How could I have been so careless.
In Closing...
There are people today who are taking the same chance, but with your soul. It is all that you have of real value. Yet people sit in churches unmoved, their hearts unbroken, Taking a chance with their eternal destiny. Betting on tomorrow, that they will someday surrender their life and turn it all over to Jesus.
Beloved, don't be careless with the most valuable thing you have, your soul. Even if you could get everything you want, it won't give you lasting peace. It won't be long, and you will still be searching.
Great wealth cannot make you happy. Popularity cannot make you happy. Material possessions cannot make you happy. It will always leave you wanting more than you have.
Only the peace of God coming into your heart through Jesus Christ can bring peace and joy and happiness. The eternal soul only has one of two conditions. The first is eternally separated from God.
John 14:6, "Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me."
And if that condition is not remedied during life here on earth by accepting Jesus Christ as Savior! that soul is separated from God for eternity with no remedy. The other condition is that of being a born-again soul. That person is in relationship with God through the LORD Jesus Christ during this life and will then enjoy His presence of the Lord in eternity forever.
I want to encourage you to decision today.
To make a decision to surrender your heart, body, and soul to Jesus Christ.
To accept Him as your personal Savior and Lord.
To give yourself fully, completely, to Him.
In the end, that is the only move you can make today that makes any sense.
Nothing else will matter.
What are you doing with your soul? Are you taking a chance, and gambling with it?
If you're not born again, you are.
By accepting the gift salvation Jesus offers by His death on the cross.
Is Christ first and foremost in your life?
And now may the Lord bless you and keep you;
the Lord make His face shine upon you,
And be gracious to you;
The Lord lift up His countenance upon you,
And give you peace.
Now and forever, in Jesus' name
Amen
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