Intro
October is stewardship month and it is a time when we are all asked how much this is really worth?
- The building, the teaching, the missions, the caring
- The life that God asks us to lead
Next week I want to talk about how we are really all connected
Oct. 18 I want to talk about why all of this is worth supporting with your time
This won't feel uncomfortable
Let's stand for our scripture reading
Mark 8 34Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 35For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it. 36What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul? 37Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?
Body and soul - Who are we really
Commons sense, human sense tells you that you are a body. Size, shape, gender, skin color, eye color...this is why we have such trouble with body image and plastic surgery. We actually think that this is it, this is us
That is why so many people are afraid to dies
Sermon 1 year ago - candle on a chair, everything else is just dressing it up
A living soul
Genesis 2:7 the LORD God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being. [Soul KJ]
Definition
The soul is not the self. The soul is not the ego
The soul is not the mind
Thinking too much is the enemy of the soul
The soul is hard to describe - the soul knows what is good
The soul is that part of you that comes alive on the beach, near a waterfall, in a quiet walk in the woods. Something happens tot he inside of us that we just cannot explain.
It is the most important thing that you have
It is actually what you are
It is the part of you have grows in relationship to God
Everybody is out looking for people and places with "soul", people can't define it, but thy know it when they see and feel it; and they respond to soul powerfully
Annual review with DS - How is your soul?
Jesus asks, What can you give in exchange for your soul
Traded guitar for a plastic tank
There are many bad trades in the world
Trade work, pride, ego ever soul
These are bad trades
What can you give in exchange for your soul? Money. youth, power
Nothing about this life is forever - Only your soul
These is nothing that is worth more, or more deserves your attention than soul
How would I live my life if I realize that I was primarily a soul, not a body?
How would i use my resources differently?
would we change our priorities?
Spend time - he that wins souls is wise - Proverbs 11:30
The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, and he who wins souls is wise
Part of the work of the soul is to invite others to be whole
The letter I got in the mail. Then stand on the corner and yell at people
How are souls won? You win souls, one soul to the next.
The mower guy
The school teacher...never going to get profit sharing, no golden parachute
How many of them I have seen whose hearts are all about the kids
the decision that you make should make sense for your soul
Would you invest money in the stock market if you knew it was going to crash
Would you buy gold if you knew that it was going to be worth less
Hyper inflation. Hungary inflation was 207% per day
1921 1$=60 marks
1923 bread 3 billion, lb meat 36 billion, a beer was 4 billion
Such is the end of earthly investments
You have never seen a hearse pulling a uhaul
2 men and a truck don't do funerals
You can't take it with you
Investments that last are the investments of the soul
How do we say something important?
By giving it our time talent, treasure
Heart always follows the money
Heart always follows your investment
Even among the many that recognize they have a soul or they are a soul,
few people take the time to feed their souls
closing - Matthew 13
44"the kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field.
Where are you trying to go in this life?
House at the lake? Expensive car?
Climb the corporate ladder
There are no rungs on the cross, only nails
God prospers you, not to raise your standard of living, but to raise your standard of giving
Time to go down the ladder of success to find the world of the soul
So what does this message mean for me
Soul care - how to do it
- Quiet time, not brain time, quiet time
- Slow down - actually do less
- Talk to God, take time to listen
- Invest in the things of the soul
Sons and daughters
God's family
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