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We’re listening to a sermon from Pastor Colin Smith of Open the Bible.

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To contact us, call us at 1-877-OPEN-365 or visit our website, OpenTheBible.org.

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Let’s get to the message.

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Here is Pastor Colin.

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We’re going to look at a range of different scriptures today across the Bible.

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But begin in Mark and chapter 8 where Jesus speaks to us about the soul, the words of

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Jesus, Mark 8 35.

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whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and

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for the gospel’s will save it, for what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and

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then forfeit or lose his soul?

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So Jesus is confronting us with four great awesome profound realities that are really

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at the centre of this short series.

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Number 1, your soul is of great value.

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Jesus says what can a person give in exchange for their soul?

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Your soul is of great value.

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We’re going to see why your soul is of great value today.

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Second, your soul which is of great value, can be lost.

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Jesus says what does it profit a man if he loses his soul even if he has gained the world?

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It is possible for a person’s soul to be lost.

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We’re going to see today how a soul can be lost.

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Then, Jesus speaks about a soul being saved.

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Whoever loses his life, for me and for the gospel, that person will save it.

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They’ll keep it for everlasting life.

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We’re going to look next week, Mother’s Day God’s willing at how a soul can be saved.

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Then, fourthly, your soul should be cared for, it being of such supreme value.

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Since it can be saved or lost, your soul should be cared for, it should be shepherded, it

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should be guarded, it should be protected and nourished.

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God willing, in a couple of weeks we’ll look at that together.

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So, that’s really the framework of our series.

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Just to remind you, last week we touched on this whole question that’s obviously central

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to this series.

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What exactly is your soul?

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I mentioned that the way that we try to speak about that with our children, whether they

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were very young.

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Lots of children in the service today.

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Always rejoice in that.

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Here’s what your soul is.

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We used to say with our two boys, I have a soul.

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It’s inside me.

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I cannot see it.

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It lasts forever.

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I have a soul.

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It’s inside me.

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I cannot see it.

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It lasts forever.

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Let’s try that together, shall we?

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I have a soul.

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It’s inside me.

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Cannot see it.

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Lasts forever.

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You’ll remember that.

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Dr. Jim Packard, of course, makes it more profound, and is very helpful.

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He says the soul’s really your own identity.

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He says, it is the I that knows itself as me.

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Your soul is the identity that makes you who you are.

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It is, in other words, the seat of your memory, of your feelings, your imagination, your convictions,

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your desires, and your affections.

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Now, your soul matters.

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That’s where we’re going to spend most of our time today.

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John Bunyan, who wrote Pilgrim’s Progress, also wrote a little book called The Greatness

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of the Soul.

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And in that book he gives 11 reasons why your soul is of great value.

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You’ve got to remember he was in prison for a very long time, so he had plenty of time

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to think up all of these reasons.

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I’m not going to give you 11, I’m going to give you a condensed version here this morning,

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and let me give to you just five, five reasons why your soul matters.

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Number one, your soul matters because it was breathed into you by almighty God.

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And I’m looking here at Genesis chapter two and verse seven.

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And grasping this, friends, is of huge importance in terms of knowing who you are and knowing

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what your life is worth.

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Understand this from the Bible, Genesis chapter two and verse seven, the verses in front of

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you there, that Adam was created in two stages.

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There were two steps in the process if you like, by which God gave him life.

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The first was, notice, that God formed the man from the dust of the ground.

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Formed the man from the dust of the ground.

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In other words, God formed a body of chemical elements that you could analyze.

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it was made from the dust of the ground.

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Now in this way and this is very significant, the man and the woman were similar to the animals.

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Because if you look in chapter two and verse 19 of Genesis, it says there,

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the Lord God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the heavens.

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So we share, as human beings, this in common with the beasts of the field and the birds of the air,

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that like them God made us from the dust of the ground.

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And that is why God says later in Genesis chapter three and verse 19 to Adam,

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That’s why we say at a funeral,

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‘…and ashes to ashes and dust to dust.’

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This is what happens with regards to the body.

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But I want you to notice that as a human being you are more than the body and the Bible makes this very clear.

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There’s a second stage in the creation of Adam, look at what it says.

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And here’s the important bit, here’s the soul.

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Breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and the man became a living creature.

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So God breathes life, his own breath, into Adam.

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And this is what makes Adam different from the animals.

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He is more than a body, he has a living soul.

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And this soul is capable of knowing God, it is capable of enjoying God…

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For that matter it is also capable of sinning against God.

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None of these things would of course be true of the Animal Kingdom.

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And so Adam has this life breathed into him by God which distinguishes him from all the

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other creation, from all the beasts of the field.

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He has a soul, and you have a soul, and that distinguishes you from everything else that

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God has made.

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Your soul gives you the capacity to know God.

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Your soul gives you the capacity to relate to God in a way that animals never could.

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You are made in the image of God, and this is a large part of what that means.

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God has breathed life into you, and that life will never end.

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That’s why your soul matters, being breathed into you by God.

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That’s number one.

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Number two, your soul matters because it is the source of all your achievement in life.

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Everything good that comes from your life, everything good that has ever happened in

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history of the world has arisen from the capacities of a human soul.

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Now you think about music.

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You think about a symphony.

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Where did a symphony come from?

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The answer is it was conceived in the soul of a composer.

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He felt it.

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He heard it in his mind and his heart before it was ever placed on paper.

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It arose from the soul.

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If you heard it in live performance through the fingers of an orchestra playing, their

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very playing came from the heart and the soul.

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If it had any quality in it at all.

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My father-in-law was all his life a concert violinist.

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He used to say after a performance, his phrase was virtue has gone out of me, he would say.

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After a performance of classical music.

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Because it was more than this.

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It came from the soul.

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That is what made it beautiful and glorious.

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Think about art.

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The ability to depict something of great, great beauty.

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It came through the fingers of the artist.

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But where did it come from?

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It came through her fingers.

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Through his fingers.

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But where did it come from?

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It came from the soul of the artist.

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You think about science and all its benefits to this world.

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Where has science come from?

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Why have women and men pursued the whole world of science?

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It comes from a desire in the soul.

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The desire to know.

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The desire to explore.

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The desire to discover.

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The desire to understand.

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All of that is made up in the soul.

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Makes it different from the kingdom of the animals.

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Think about business.

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Great companies of the world trace back how they have developed and you will invariably

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find this.

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That there was some vision that animated the growth and development of what became a huge

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international company.

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Where did that vision come from?

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It came from the soul.

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What about the world of sport?

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You say that now definitely the world of sport is the body.

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Really?

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Remember, James says, and this is our scripture here, the body without the spirit is dead.

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Every great sporting achievement has come through relentless commitment, desire and

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determination to win.

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Where do these things come from?

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They come from the soul.

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We’re living in days when many people are moving out of churches and they’re moving

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into gymnasiums, and they are giving themselves increasingly to the development in one way

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or another of their bodies.

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Some people are wanting to try and bulk up.

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Other people are going to try and make themselves lean.

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Whenever I see someone who is super fit and has really given themselves to this, what

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I want to say is that they’re thinking all the time about the body.

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You know what you’ve done and what you’ve achieved?

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All of it has come from your soul.

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All this work that you have done to re-sculpt your body, it has come from a desire that

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is in your soul.

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And without that animating desire in your soul, you know what?

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You would just be a couch potato.

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You would!

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You really would!

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It comes from your soul.

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Because your soul gives direction to your body.

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And all that you achieve in life arises from the life of your soul.

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That’s why your soul matters.

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That’s why it’s life is so important and the direction in which it moves is so important

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because your whole life will follow the direction of your soul.

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That leads me to reason number three.

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Why does your soul matter?

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The soul is inside me.

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I can’t see it.

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It lasts forever.

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Here’s why it matters.

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Reason number three.

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Your soul is the cause of all your sin.

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Now some of you might think, I used to think that was my body that was the cause of all

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my sin.

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No, at root, it is your soul that is the cause of all your sin.

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And you find this in James in chapter 14, one in verse 14.

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A hugely important verse for understanding how sin works in the life of a person.

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Why do we sin?

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What causes it?

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Where does it come from?

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How does it come about?

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James says this.

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Each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by what?

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By his own desire.

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By his own desire.

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By his own desire.

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Now we know where a temptation comes from.

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Temptation comes from the world.

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Temptation comes from the flesh.

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Temptation comes from the devil.

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The problem is and the reason that it becomes powerful and effective in us is that wherever

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it comes from, world, flesh, or devil, it attaches itself to the soul.

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And why does it attach itself to the soul?

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The answer is that the soul is sticky towards sin.

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The soul is sticky towards sin.

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If that were not the case, temptation would not be a problem.

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If your soul was pure, then when you see a house that you cannot afford, for example,

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or anything else, for that matter, that you can’t afford, if your soul was pure then you

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would see that and you would say, well you know what?

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It’s very nice, but I can’t afford it.

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I don’t need it, and you would simply move on.

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But because our souls are not pure, we see something that we want and that we have not

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got and it sticks, and then we begin to come up with some scheme, and then we move from

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one problem to another.

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Notice what causes temptation to be so powerful.

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Greed makes our souls sticky for materialism.

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If it wasn’t that greed was in our hearts, then the temptation to materialism, it would

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just wash away.

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Lust that is in our hearts makes our hearts sticky towards sexual temptation.

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If it wasn’t that that was in our hearts, then when that comes, if we just walk away,

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we just move on, it’d be fine.

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But it’s not like that.

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Why?

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Because there’s this stickiness towards sin that is in the very nature of the soul.

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Anger that resides within the soul makes the soul sticky towards all kinds of viciousness

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towards other people.

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And pride that lurks in the soul makes your soul sticky towards the greatest temptation

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of all.

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Which is to say, I’m the captain of my life and the commander of my soul, and to crown

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yourself as savior and lord of your own life.

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Now, these sins are in the soul by nature.

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And that is why Jesus said, and this is a very important reference for understanding

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the soul.

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Jesus said in Mark chapter seven in verse 21, it is from within, it is from the heart

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of man that come evil thoughts and sexual immorality and theft and murder and adultery.

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Then just to underline it, Jesus says again, all these evils come from within.

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Now, you see we like to say, oh, no, no, no.

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The evils are all outside of us.

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The real problem is that we’re living in this secularized world and this evil world with

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all these terrible temptations are outside.

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Well, if that was the case, then when temptation came, it would just be like Teflon to you.

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The problem is not simply that there is all this temptation outside.

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The problem is that there is this stickiness by nature towards sin on the inside so that

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when temptation comes, it attaches itself to you.

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It attaches itself to the soul.

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And that’s why James goes on to say that it is because of this internal desire, this stickiness

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towards sin, that the thing stays and then it begins to grow.

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And then, an idea and a thought eventually issues itself in an action and even in a pattern

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of behavior.

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So understand this and try to get this picture in your mind.

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If your soul was pure, temptation to you would be like a fried egg on the Teflon pan.

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It would just slide off.

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But here is the problem.

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Our souls are not pure, they are sticky towards sin and therefore when temptation comes, the

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soul receives it, the soul retains it, the soul welcomes it, the soul embraces it, the

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soul holds onto it.

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And so you may have said, well, you know, all my temptations is because of the body.

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You know, it’s the way I’ve wired.

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I really struggle with all these temptations in the body.

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No, the real problem is in your soul.

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Bunyan says your soul always has the deepest hand in your sins.

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So we’re talking about why your soul matters, and you can see it matters because it’s been

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breathed into you by God because it’s the source of all your good and all your great

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achievement.

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It’s actually also the source of everything that you struggle with in this life.

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It’s the source of all your sin.

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Number four, your soul matters because your soul will last forever.

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Matthew chapter 10 and verse 28, Jesus says, do not fear those who kill the body, but cannot

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kill the soul.

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Think of this, your life had a beginning but it will never end.

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Of course, one day you will die and your body will be laid in the ground and that’s death

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can happen in one of a number of ways, it might be that you’re killed, it might be through

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an accident, it might be through an illness, it might just be that you’ll live for such

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a long time that in the end your body is no longer able to sustain its function effectively

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but one day your body will be laid in the ground, someone will likely say ashes to ashes

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and dust to dust but while that which was created from the ground, Genesis 2-7, will

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return to the ground. Your soul that was breathed into you by almighty

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God will last forever. And that is why Jesus says don’t be afraid of those who kill the

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body, they cannot kill the soul. Nobody-Nothing can ever kill your soul. That life that had

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a beginning will never end. I have a soul, it’s inside me. I can’t see it but it will

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last forever.’ Now some of you are at a point in your life

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where you are trying to discern and decide, is it worth the cost of me following Jesus

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Christ? I’m gonna go to college soon, I’m gonna be independent soon, I’m moving into

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a new phase of life here. Am I really gonna follow Jesus Christ? And I’m wanting to say

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to you today, you’d better calculate what’s at stake here. Because your soul will last

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forever, and your soul can be saved, and your soul can be lost. And so figure that into

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your thinking, as the world around you screams it’s not worth it. Your soul will last forever,

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that’s reason number four. Number five, your soul matters because your soul will experience

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your soul will experience either everlasting joy or everlasting misery. And we see this

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of course in the words of Jesus that were read to us earlier. Our lord tells us the

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story of two men who died, and one of them, we’re told, was carried by angels to Abraham’s

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side. Now here’s the question. What exactly was carried to Abraham’s side? Because it

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certainly wasn’t the poor man’s body, because the poor man’s body remained on the earth.

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So exactly what was carried to Abraham’s side, not his body but his soul? The soul

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was carried to Abraham’s side. Then we read in the words of Jesus that the rich man also died

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and was buried. So everybody knew where the rich man’s grave was. No doubt it would have

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been a very fancy tomb because he was a very rich man and so there his body was in this tomb and

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words that were carved – his name and perhaps dates and all the rest of it – in the rock.

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So that’s where his body was but then we read Jesus says, in Hades being in torment he lifted

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up his eyes and saw Abraham afar off. So what exactly was it that had this conscious awareness

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of itself in Hades? Not the man’s body, the rich man’s soul. Jesus is making this point as

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plainly as it possibly could be made. That death takes life from the body but it cannot take

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life from the soul. And that when you die your soul will go to one of two places. One of these

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places is a place of unimaginable joy and the other place is one of great torment and says

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understand this that there is a great gulf fixed between them and no person can cross from one to

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the other in either direction. So what Jesus is saying so plainly here to us in scripture is

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understand this that there is a heaven to pursue, there is a hell to avoid. You have a soul and

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your soul can be saved or your soul can be lost. Your body one day will be buried. It can be

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cremated or maybe lost at sea but whatever happens one day to your body that was made from the dust

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of the ground, remember you’re more than a body you have a soul and that’s been breathed into you

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by God, and that soul will either be saved or that soul will be lost. And here’s the thing … to lose

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your soul is the ultimate disaster because it is the only loss that can ever be recovered. It is

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the only loss that can never be recovered. So your soul is of such great value and it could

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be lost or it could be saved. Now we’re going to focus all of next week on the question how can a

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soul be saved? I want just in the last few minutes that we have here today to give you some headlines

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as to how a soul can be lost because friends that is the one thing in all the world that you do not

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want to happen to. And so it’s important and valuable to know how it happens and what that

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actually looks like. So let me just briefly give to you these three very simple headings that

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might frame it for you. Here’s how you can lose your soul you can lose your soul by starving your

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soul. I think that very clearly is what happened with the rich man in Jesus story lives well enjoys

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life dresses in purple. He never really thought about his soul and Jesus says man shall not live

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by bread alone but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God your bread sustains your

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body what sustains your soul the word of God. But what is this rich man want of the word of God what

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interest does he have in the things of God he’s a rich man enjoying life in this world

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and everything that’s been given to him he doesn’t care he’s not interested he has no

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appetite for the things of God he doesn’t even think about them Jesus told another story I like

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to describe this one as the man who lived the American dream do you remember the American

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dream you work hard and then you relax and enjoy everything and here’s this man he certainly did

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that he worked very very hard he even ended up having to build larger barns because of

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all that had come as a result of his work and the development of his business and then he came to a

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point where he said now I’m gonna have a long retirement and here’s what I’m going to do in

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my long retirement these are the words that he uses he says to his own soul now you’ve got enough

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laid up for you for many years so long long years and in these long years here’s what I’m gonna do

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I’m gonna relax that’s his first word I’m gonna sit back and enjoy this one because I’ve earned

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it and I’m gonna eat and I’m gonna drink and I’m gonna be very happy that is the dream isn’t it

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and God said you live that dream you’re a fool It couldn’t be stronger could it why because God

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said to that man tonight your soul will be required of you and you’ve been rich towards

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yourself sure haven’t been rich towards God you speak to those who are older worked hard you’ve

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got a will pointed an executor he thought a great deal about what will happen to all that’s yours

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when you’re gone I’m concerned for some older people who haven’t thought enough about what

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happens to them what happens to you you’re so and if you’re thinking about that then surely

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years must be years of coming more closely after Christ and after his word and after seeking to

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be all that you can for him lose your soul by starving it in the relentless agenda of relax

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and enjoy life that’s all that matters then you can lose your soul not only by starving it you

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can lose your soul by strangling it let me say a word to those in midlife Jesus speaks about how

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people who receive the Word of God so that’s us people who hear the Word of God here’s something

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can happen among us that for some the cares of the world He says and the deceitfulness of the riches

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and the desire for other things enter in and what happens is the word gets choked and it proves

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unfruitful those of you who are in midlife perhaps know this in particular ways your

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just relentless the pressures on your career are demands are higher than at any other time in your

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life your kids are involved in multiple activities the whole thing is absolutely relentless and

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something has to give and here’s what so often is the thing that gives your care for your soul

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and you look back and you see times when your heart was more tender towards the Lord where

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you wanted to be something more for him and to grow in what it means to reflect his beauty

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and his image and somehow all of that shrunk it’s all it’s been strangled life of it has

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been strangled out of you like some vine that just wraps itself around and around you and

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squeezes the spiritual life out of you and then the you can surrender your soul and we

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say this to those who are younger particularly Peter says this abstain from the passions

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of the flesh which wage war against your soul isn’t that is a striking phrase notice what

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he says there are passions of the flesh that wage war against your soul, wage war. Now

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think about that phrase wage war what happens when someone wages war that’s violent wage

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war that means the passions of the flesh are out to destroy your soul or at the very least

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to take your soul captive. And when you are tempted with some passion and you give yourself

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to it here is what you are doing you are surrendering your soul, you are raising the white flag

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you are saying to the enemy of your soul, well you win, you win. I concede I’m yours

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now. So think about this next time you are tempted. Passions of the flesh are waging

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war against your soul. Trying to take you captive Trying to destroy your own soul from

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within. And it may be that some of you will be saying you know what I can see all three

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of these things at work in my life. All three. I have too much surrendered my soul to the

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passions of the flesh I have been too much strangled by the cares of this world and now

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increasingly my soul is starved I don’t even really have the hunger for the things of god

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that I remember at one time happening. Here’s what happening you’re losing your soul. You

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are inching every week, every month, every year as your soul gets starved and strangled

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and surrendered your sort of inching your way towards a place where ultimately your

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soul is lost. Jesus said your soul is of great value. This is the one loss that can never

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be recovered. What if you gain the whole world? If you lose your soul? So what can you do?

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Bishop Riles said on one occasion, the first step towards heaven is for a person to see

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the value of their soul. The first step towards heaven. Is someone ready to take the first

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step towards heaven right now? The first step towards heaven is that you would see the value

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of your own soul. And if you should see the value of your own soul today, here is how

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you will respond to the Word of God today. You will come to Jesus Christ and you will

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say to him something like this, you will say Jesus Christ, you have called me to love God

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with all my heart and with all my soul and with all of my mind and with all my strength

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and I haven’t done it. And you have called me to a purity of soul and of heart and of

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life and I haven’t got it. And Lord Jesus Christ, without you, here is what is going

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to happen, I am going to end up starving my soul, strangling my soul, surrendering my

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soul, and my soul is going to be lost. Therefore, I need You, to be the Lord, the Captain, the

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Savior of this soul. I need you to feed this soul. I need you to guard this soul. I need

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you to shepherd this soul. I need you to save this soul. And so as best as I know how, I

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am going to turn the whole of my life, the whole of my soul, all that I am, over into

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your hands as my Lord and as my Savior. Lord, have mercy on me. And Lord, give me a new

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heart, a different heart. Take away this heart of stone that always resists you. And give

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to me a heart that loves you, a heart that desires you, a heart that submits to you.

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For what shall it profit Man, if he were to gain everything, the whole world, and lose

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his soul?’ Lord Jesus, burn into our hearts an abiding

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consciousness of the true worth of our own souls, that we may take that step towards

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heaven in faith and in repentance, embrace you as Lord and Savior and captain and follow

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you all the days of our lives. For these things we ask in Jesus name. And everyone

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who agreed together said amen.