“With All of My Soul”
Mark 12:28-30; Acts 2:25-28
Sunday, November 8, 2009
Introduction: Someone once said: “If you resent it, don’t do it. If you do it, don’t resent it.” (Humorous Illus., #203, p. 91) I think this quote is helpful for us this morning, as we first look to understand the soul, and then seek to know how to best love the Lord with all of our soul. As we continue in our series on “loving God with all of our heart, and soul, and mind, and strength,” we will see that the soul is an active force, and can be active in good things or bad. If you resent something, that means that you have bad feelings towards it, and you shouldn’t do it; you shouldn’t let that enter your soul, because once it does, the chances of us carrying it out into action are great. Even if it is not necessarily a bad thing, it will not become a positive force in our lives.
So this morning, let’s look first at four truths about the soul, and then look at how we can love the Lord with ALL of our soul!
I. Four Truths About our soul- (Matthew 10:28; Hebrews 4:12; Ephesians 6:6; Revelations 18:14a; Psalm 42:1, 11)
a. The soul is invisible- We read in Matthew 10:28, “Do not fear
those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather fear Him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.” It’s never popular to talk about hell, because hell is such an evil place. But the biggest reason that it is an evil place is because it is completely separated from God and God’s love. I can’t imagine a more horrible place than being eternally separated from LOVE.
Jesus said this in Matthew chapter 10 after He had told the disciples that nothing would be secret from God. Jesus knew that we all have secrets, and that we all have fears. One of our fears is people who control us or overwhelm us. Jesus is trying to say that we should not fear the punishments of others, because God is with us, but all the more, if we let this fear keep us from giving ourselves to God, the greatest punishment will await us; HELL.
The most important part of our lives is our spirit and our soul, because these are eternal in nature, whereas our body is temporary. Once this life ends here on earth, it is our soul, not our body that we continue on. While we will live for a few years here on earth, we will live for eternity after we die. The question is, do we want to live eternally in heaven, or in hell?
So while we cannot see our soul, we also cannot forget that it is there, and the importance it has for us. Even though the soul is invisible, it is what will prepare and enable us to live with God in heaven. If we live rightly, we can avoid penalties both here on this earth, and in life after this life.
b. Separate from the spirit- A second truth we learn about our soul
comes from the book of Hebrews, 4:12- “Indeed, the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing until it divides soul from spirit…” It can be difficult to understand the difference between the soul and the spirit; but they are separate. The spirit is the higher element of our invisible being; our life force. The soul is the lower element of our invisible being; that which sets our life in motion. This is why we are called to love God with our soul, because the soul is the active force. Another way to see it is that our spirit, the pneuma (in Greek) focuses on the spiritual aspect of man (our life in relation to God), whereas the soul, the psuche (in Greek) focuses on our life in relationship to ourselves (our emotions and thought). That is why the psalmist asks in Psalm 42:11- “Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why are you disturbed within me?…”
c. The seat of our will and purpose- Thirdly, we are told in
Ephesians 6:6- “Not only by being watched, and in order to please them, but as slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart.” At the end of this verse we read the phrase “the will of God from the heart.” The Greek word here that is translated as “heart” is the word “psuche”, which we have just learned is the word used for “soul.” It is in our soul that our will and purpose are set, and the soul, being the active force, is what sets our will and purpose into motion.
We see here that our lives are designed and controlled in a deeper manner than we might expect. It isn’t just our mind that controls what we think, and feel, and do, but deeper down, the soul is where it originates. As we talked about last week, we are to love God not only through our words, but by our actions. The soul is what sets us on the path of how we will act. If we are going to change how we act, meaning, seeking to love God deeply, then we have to change our will at the core level; the level of our soul!!
d. The place of our appetites- Fourthly, the soul is the place of our
appetites. Revelations 18:14a says: “The fruit for which your soul longed has gone from you…” It is our soul that longs for things. It is in the soul where our appetites for things begin. As Psalm 42:1 states, “As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul longs for you, O God…”
If we are to long for anything, it should be God. Because what we long for is what we will seek after. And what we seek after is what we will find. And what we find is what will direct our path. And so we want our soul to long for God, so that our soul can be filled with God, and directed by God, and strengthened by God. David is expressing in Psalm 42 his deep desire for God. David had longed for many things in his life, including Bathsheba, another man’s wife. David knew where his longing should be; David knew what his soul should desire! And we would do well to understand this same truth.
Now that we have a little better sense of what our soul is,
and how our soul works, let us look at 4 ways to love God
with all of our soul.
II. Four Ways to Love the Lord with All of Our Soul- (Psalm 35:9; Hebrews 6:19; Psalm 41:4, 19:7; Acts 2:25-28)
a. Rejoice in God- The first way we should love God with all of our
soul is to let our soul rejoice in God. THERE IS A STORY of a little girl who saw that her grandmother was sad, and so she asked her: “Grandma, are you okay?” “I feel fine,” her grandmother responded. Then the little girl asked: “Well, if you feel fine, why don’t you tell your face?”(1001 Humorous Illus., p. 329, #873)
How often do we not show the joy we feel on our face, even though life might be good? The psalmist knew that life was good when he said in Psalm 35:9- “Then my soul shall rejoice in the Lord, exulting in His deliverance.”
Why does the psalmist rejoice? Because the Lord has delivered him from eternal death. The psalmist knows that he will spend eternity in the presence of the Lord. The psalmist remembers who God is, and all that God has done for His people, and how God is there for Him now as well. He rejoices because the Lord is in his favor. He rejoices because his ease and safety are not in his doing, but in God’s. He rejoices because he will have God’s presence and guidance here on this earth. So he gives praise to the Lord.
Now understand, that this praising of God is not just outwardly, physical praise. It is not just the praise we do in worship. It is rejoicing in God to the depth of the soul; the place of our will and appetites and purposes. When we love God with all of our soul, then we give our soul to God, so that our desires and purposes are shaped by God’s desires and purposes. His joys are our joys. The deepest part of our being is connected to God, so our worship and praise and rejoicing comes from who we are, not by what is going on in our lives. We can’t help but to rejoice be-cause God has touched our soul, the place of action, and our only action is to rejoice!
b. Let God be your anchor- A little boy was praying one night before
he went to bed, and he was overheard saying: “Dear God, please take care of my daddy, and my mommy, and my sister, and my brother, and my doggy, and me. OH, and please take care of yourself, God, because if anything happens to you, we’re gonna be in a big mess.” (1001 Humorous Illus., p. 225, #583)
The writer of Hebrews tells us in chapter 6, verse 19, “We have this hope, a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters the inner shrine behind the curtain.” We need to let our hope be in God, and let that hope be an anchor to our soul; an anchor which keeps us in place, and secure in the Lord. And we know that our hope is secure in the Lord because of His promises to us, which are founded on His eternal counsel. His promises to us, which can be safely depended upon.
When our hope is in the Lord, anchored and secure, we will have security of happiness as heirs of the promise, that in the end, all things will work for the good. When our hope is in the Lord, we will be comforted in even the strongest of trials. God is always there to console us. When our hope is in the Lord, we know that we are not in danger of being cast away, because the anchor of God’s truth is there to keep us steady; causing it to be impossible for us to be moved away from God.
In the book “The Practice of the Presence of God,” Brother Lawrence says this about our soul being anchored in God: “To succeed in giving ourselves to God as much as He desires, we must constantly guard our soul. In addition to being involved in spiritual matters, the soul is involved in the things of this world. But when we turn our backs on God, exposing our souls to the world, God will not so easily answer our call. When we are willing to accept God’s help and guard our souls according to His desires, we may commune with God whenever we like.” When we are focusing on the things of the world, and not on God, then our souls are not anchored in God!
How does this help us to love God? Because we can be sure and steadfast in our faith when our soul is anchored in God. Our faith is not tossed about like the waves of the ocean. Our souls have been taken hold of by the Lord, and we are able to love God deeply and consistently!
c. Let God renew your soul- Third, we must let God renew our souls.
There is a story of a London businessman named Lindsay Clegg who was selling a warehouse. The building had been empty for months and was in great need of repair. Vandals had damaged the doors, smashed the windows, and thrown trash all over the place. As Clegg showed a prospective buyer the property, he made sure the person knew that he would replace the broken windows, and bring in a crew to correct all the damage. The prospective buyer responded: “Forget about the repairs. When I buy this place I’m going to build something completely different. I don’t want the building, I want the site.”
God’s message to us is that He wants to make great changes in our lives. He doesn’t just want our words, He wants to come in and completely rebuild. And even after He has been working for a while on this re-building project, there are still times when He needs to come in and bring renewal. As the psalmist says in Psalm 41:4- “I said, Lord, be merciful unto me; heal my soul; for I have sinned against Thee.”
We have to understand that sin is a sickness of the soul, and quite often we need healing from our sinfulness. The only thing that heals it is the pardoning of our wrongdoings, and the only one who can pardon is God. So if we hope to love the Lord with all of our soul, we must continually be going to God for this healing of our soul. When we receive healing, we are then ready for renewal!
Psalm 19:7 tells us, “The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul; the decrees of the Lord are sure, making wise the simple.” In God’s law, God has set-up things in this world to follow an order. He has established a directive of right and wrong. Where we get lost is when we stray from this order; this law of God. The law of God is perfect, free from corruption, filled with good. It is wonderfully designed.
As we renew our soul, we again begin to delight in God’s law, in God’s ways, and are then led back to the right understanding of how we are to live. It is in the law of God that we know the mind of God. How have things been structured to fit together? How has life been designed to work together? How can people live together in love and harmony? These questions are answered by God’s law.
But ultimately, what the law really does, is it helps us to realize that we cannot fully follow the law, and so in God’s love for us, He sent His Son to pay the penalty for our not living up to the law. The law was ultimately replaced by the cross. So, as we follow God’s law, our soul is revived to the point where we can be taken to the cross of Christ. And the cross touches us at the depth of our soul!
d. Spending eternity with God- Finally, we cannot rely on just
thinking that we are Christians. It isn’t just about asking Jesus to be our Savior. We must ask Jesus to be our Lord each and every day! In this way we give our soul over to God so that He might watch over it and protect it.
We are told in Acts 2:27- “For you, O God, will not abandon my soul to Hades…” God gave us this life, and has given us the opportunity to spend eternity with Him. When we give our soul to Him, He will not allow it to ever be separated from Him, even when our soul is separated from the body!
Illustration- “Father at the Game, “ Illus. Unlimited, p. 171, #2. Some years ago Columbia University had a great football coach by the name of Lou Little. One day Lou had a boy try out for the team who wasn’t really that good, but he noticed that there was something unique about him; while he wasn’t good enough to make the team, he had such a great spirit and contagious enthusiasm that caused Lou to think: “This boy would be a great inspiration on the bench. He’ll never be able to play, but I’ll leave him on the team to encourage the others.” As the season went on, Lou began to develop an admiration for this boy. One of the things that really impressed Lou about him was the manner with which he cared for his father. Whenever the father would visit the campus, the boy and his father would always be seen arm in arm with each other. They would always go to the university chapel together on Sunday. It was obvious to Lou that they had a deep bond and a shared Christian faith. One day Lou got a phone call informing him that the boy’s father had died; could he be the one to tell the boy? With a heavy heart he informed the boy, who immediately left to go home for the funeral…..A few days later the boy returned, 2 days before the biggest game of the season. Lou went to him to see if he was all right, asking him: “Is there anything at all I can do for you?” Lou was surprised by the answer, as the boy said: “Let me start the game Saturday!” Lou didn’t know how to respond. The boy wasn’t good enough and in fact he might get hurt. But then he responded: “All right you can start the game.” And then he thought to himself, I can always take him out after a few plays……To everyone’s surprise the coach started the boy. But even more surprising was the way the boy played. He single-handedly made play after play. He played so well that Lou left him in the whole game. He was voted outstanding player of the game. After the game Lou came up to him and asked: “Son, what got into you today.” To which the boy replied: “You see, my father was blind. I was able to hide it from most people. But now that he is in heaven, I knew that he would be able to, for the first time, see me play!”
The boy believed his father was watching him, and so he was inspired in his play. The truth is, our heavenly Father is watching us, and this should inspire us in the way we live. Most people, when they think of eternity, think it starts when they die. But the reality is that eternity starts when we decide to let Jesus Christ be our savior and we give our lives to God. When we make a decision to spend eternity with God, it shows in the way we love God with our soul.
Conclusion: After hearing this sermon, the question I want to ask you is this: Have you given your soul to God? Not just your words, or your time on Sunday mornings, or your prayers, BUT YOUR SOUL. I want to challenge us all this morning to reflect upon our lives, upon what our desires are, and the purpose we have set for our lives. Do they show love of the soul to God?….Along with that, I want to challenge us this week to let God renew us and uplift us, and bless the love we show to Him. It will change your life. IT REALLY WILL. Come, let us love the Lord with all our soul. Amen.
Mark 12:28-30; Acts 2:25-28
Sunday, November 8, 2009
Introduction: Someone once said: “If you resent it, don’t do it. If you do it, don’t resent it.” (Humorous Illus., #203, p. 91) I think this quote is helpful for us this morning, as we first look to understand the soul, and then seek to know how to best love the Lord with all of our soul. As we continue in our series on “loving God with all of our heart, and soul, and mind, and strength,” we will see that the soul is an active force, and can be active in good things or bad. If you resent something, that means that you have bad feelings towards it, and you shouldn’t do it; you shouldn’t let that enter your soul, because once it does, the chances of us carrying it out into action are great. Even if it is not necessarily a bad thing, it will not become a positive force in our lives.
So this morning, let’s look first at four truths about the soul, and then look at how we can love the Lord with ALL of our soul!
I. Four Truths About our soul- (Matthew 10:28; Hebrews 4:12; Ephesians 6:6; Revelations 18:14a; Psalm 42:1, 11)
a. The soul is invisible- We read in Matthew 10:28, “Do not fear
those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather fear Him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.” It’s never popular to talk about hell, because hell is such an evil place. But the biggest reason that it is an evil place is because it is completely separated from God and God’s love. I can’t imagine a more horrible place than being eternally separated from LOVE.
Jesus said this in Matthew chapter 10 after He had told the disciples that nothing would be secret from God. Jesus knew that we all have secrets, and that we all have fears. One of our fears is people who control us or overwhelm us. Jesus is trying to say that we should not fear the punishments of others, because God is with us, but all the more, if we let this fear keep us from giving ourselves to God, the greatest punishment will await us; HELL.
The most important part of our lives is our spirit and our soul, because these are eternal in nature, whereas our body is temporary. Once this life ends here on earth, it is our soul, not our body that we continue on. While we will live for a few years here on earth, we will live for eternity after we die. The question is, do we want to live eternally in heaven, or in hell?
So while we cannot see our soul, we also cannot forget that it is there, and the importance it has for us. Even though the soul is invisible, it is what will prepare and enable us to live with God in heaven. If we live rightly, we can avoid penalties both here on this earth, and in life after this life.
b. Separate from the spirit- A second truth we learn about our soul
comes from the book of Hebrews, 4:12- “Indeed, the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing until it divides soul from spirit…” It can be difficult to understand the difference between the soul and the spirit; but they are separate. The spirit is the higher element of our invisible being; our life force. The soul is the lower element of our invisible being; that which sets our life in motion. This is why we are called to love God with our soul, because the soul is the active force. Another way to see it is that our spirit, the pneuma (in Greek) focuses on the spiritual aspect of man (our life in relation to God), whereas the soul, the psuche (in Greek) focuses on our life in relationship to ourselves (our emotions and thought). That is why the psalmist asks in Psalm 42:11- “Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why are you disturbed within me?…”
c. The seat of our will and purpose- Thirdly, we are told in
Ephesians 6:6- “Not only by being watched, and in order to please them, but as slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart.” At the end of this verse we read the phrase “the will of God from the heart.” The Greek word here that is translated as “heart” is the word “psuche”, which we have just learned is the word used for “soul.” It is in our soul that our will and purpose are set, and the soul, being the active force, is what sets our will and purpose into motion.
We see here that our lives are designed and controlled in a deeper manner than we might expect. It isn’t just our mind that controls what we think, and feel, and do, but deeper down, the soul is where it originates. As we talked about last week, we are to love God not only through our words, but by our actions. The soul is what sets us on the path of how we will act. If we are going to change how we act, meaning, seeking to love God deeply, then we have to change our will at the core level; the level of our soul!!
d. The place of our appetites- Fourthly, the soul is the place of our
appetites. Revelations 18:14a says: “The fruit for which your soul longed has gone from you…” It is our soul that longs for things. It is in the soul where our appetites for things begin. As Psalm 42:1 states, “As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul longs for you, O God…”
If we are to long for anything, it should be God. Because what we long for is what we will seek after. And what we seek after is what we will find. And what we find is what will direct our path. And so we want our soul to long for God, so that our soul can be filled with God, and directed by God, and strengthened by God. David is expressing in Psalm 42 his deep desire for God. David had longed for many things in his life, including Bathsheba, another man’s wife. David knew where his longing should be; David knew what his soul should desire! And we would do well to understand this same truth.
Now that we have a little better sense of what our soul is,
and how our soul works, let us look at 4 ways to love God
with all of our soul.
II. Four Ways to Love the Lord with All of Our Soul- (Psalm 35:9; Hebrews 6:19; Psalm 41:4, 19:7; Acts 2:25-28)
a. Rejoice in God- The first way we should love God with all of our
soul is to let our soul rejoice in God. THERE IS A STORY of a little girl who saw that her grandmother was sad, and so she asked her: “Grandma, are you okay?” “I feel fine,” her grandmother responded. Then the little girl asked: “Well, if you feel fine, why don’t you tell your face?”(1001 Humorous Illus., p. 329, #873)
How often do we not show the joy we feel on our face, even though life might be good? The psalmist knew that life was good when he said in Psalm 35:9- “Then my soul shall rejoice in the Lord, exulting in His deliverance.”
Why does the psalmist rejoice? Because the Lord has delivered him from eternal death. The psalmist knows that he will spend eternity in the presence of the Lord. The psalmist remembers who God is, and all that God has done for His people, and how God is there for Him now as well. He rejoices because the Lord is in his favor. He rejoices because his ease and safety are not in his doing, but in God’s. He rejoices because he will have God’s presence and guidance here on this earth. So he gives praise to the Lord.
Now understand, that this praising of God is not just outwardly, physical praise. It is not just the praise we do in worship. It is rejoicing in God to the depth of the soul; the place of our will and appetites and purposes. When we love God with all of our soul, then we give our soul to God, so that our desires and purposes are shaped by God’s desires and purposes. His joys are our joys. The deepest part of our being is connected to God, so our worship and praise and rejoicing comes from who we are, not by what is going on in our lives. We can’t help but to rejoice be-cause God has touched our soul, the place of action, and our only action is to rejoice!
b. Let God be your anchor- A little boy was praying one night before
he went to bed, and he was overheard saying: “Dear God, please take care of my daddy, and my mommy, and my sister, and my brother, and my doggy, and me. OH, and please take care of yourself, God, because if anything happens to you, we’re gonna be in a big mess.” (1001 Humorous Illus., p. 225, #583)
The writer of Hebrews tells us in chapter 6, verse 19, “We have this hope, a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters the inner shrine behind the curtain.” We need to let our hope be in God, and let that hope be an anchor to our soul; an anchor which keeps us in place, and secure in the Lord. And we know that our hope is secure in the Lord because of His promises to us, which are founded on His eternal counsel. His promises to us, which can be safely depended upon.
When our hope is in the Lord, anchored and secure, we will have security of happiness as heirs of the promise, that in the end, all things will work for the good. When our hope is in the Lord, we will be comforted in even the strongest of trials. God is always there to console us. When our hope is in the Lord, we know that we are not in danger of being cast away, because the anchor of God’s truth is there to keep us steady; causing it to be impossible for us to be moved away from God.
In the book “The Practice of the Presence of God,” Brother Lawrence says this about our soul being anchored in God: “To succeed in giving ourselves to God as much as He desires, we must constantly guard our soul. In addition to being involved in spiritual matters, the soul is involved in the things of this world. But when we turn our backs on God, exposing our souls to the world, God will not so easily answer our call. When we are willing to accept God’s help and guard our souls according to His desires, we may commune with God whenever we like.” When we are focusing on the things of the world, and not on God, then our souls are not anchored in God!
How does this help us to love God? Because we can be sure and steadfast in our faith when our soul is anchored in God. Our faith is not tossed about like the waves of the ocean. Our souls have been taken hold of by the Lord, and we are able to love God deeply and consistently!
c. Let God renew your soul- Third, we must let God renew our souls.
There is a story of a London businessman named Lindsay Clegg who was selling a warehouse. The building had been empty for months and was in great need of repair. Vandals had damaged the doors, smashed the windows, and thrown trash all over the place. As Clegg showed a prospective buyer the property, he made sure the person knew that he would replace the broken windows, and bring in a crew to correct all the damage. The prospective buyer responded: “Forget about the repairs. When I buy this place I’m going to build something completely different. I don’t want the building, I want the site.”
God’s message to us is that He wants to make great changes in our lives. He doesn’t just want our words, He wants to come in and completely rebuild. And even after He has been working for a while on this re-building project, there are still times when He needs to come in and bring renewal. As the psalmist says in Psalm 41:4- “I said, Lord, be merciful unto me; heal my soul; for I have sinned against Thee.”
We have to understand that sin is a sickness of the soul, and quite often we need healing from our sinfulness. The only thing that heals it is the pardoning of our wrongdoings, and the only one who can pardon is God. So if we hope to love the Lord with all of our soul, we must continually be going to God for this healing of our soul. When we receive healing, we are then ready for renewal!
Psalm 19:7 tells us, “The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul; the decrees of the Lord are sure, making wise the simple.” In God’s law, God has set-up things in this world to follow an order. He has established a directive of right and wrong. Where we get lost is when we stray from this order; this law of God. The law of God is perfect, free from corruption, filled with good. It is wonderfully designed.
As we renew our soul, we again begin to delight in God’s law, in God’s ways, and are then led back to the right understanding of how we are to live. It is in the law of God that we know the mind of God. How have things been structured to fit together? How has life been designed to work together? How can people live together in love and harmony? These questions are answered by God’s law.
But ultimately, what the law really does, is it helps us to realize that we cannot fully follow the law, and so in God’s love for us, He sent His Son to pay the penalty for our not living up to the law. The law was ultimately replaced by the cross. So, as we follow God’s law, our soul is revived to the point where we can be taken to the cross of Christ. And the cross touches us at the depth of our soul!
d. Spending eternity with God- Finally, we cannot rely on just
thinking that we are Christians. It isn’t just about asking Jesus to be our Savior. We must ask Jesus to be our Lord each and every day! In this way we give our soul over to God so that He might watch over it and protect it.
We are told in Acts 2:27- “For you, O God, will not abandon my soul to Hades…” God gave us this life, and has given us the opportunity to spend eternity with Him. When we give our soul to Him, He will not allow it to ever be separated from Him, even when our soul is separated from the body!
Illustration- “Father at the Game, “ Illus. Unlimited, p. 171, #2. Some years ago Columbia University had a great football coach by the name of Lou Little. One day Lou had a boy try out for the team who wasn’t really that good, but he noticed that there was something unique about him; while he wasn’t good enough to make the team, he had such a great spirit and contagious enthusiasm that caused Lou to think: “This boy would be a great inspiration on the bench. He’ll never be able to play, but I’ll leave him on the team to encourage the others.” As the season went on, Lou began to develop an admiration for this boy. One of the things that really impressed Lou about him was the manner with which he cared for his father. Whenever the father would visit the campus, the boy and his father would always be seen arm in arm with each other. They would always go to the university chapel together on Sunday. It was obvious to Lou that they had a deep bond and a shared Christian faith. One day Lou got a phone call informing him that the boy’s father had died; could he be the one to tell the boy? With a heavy heart he informed the boy, who immediately left to go home for the funeral…..A few days later the boy returned, 2 days before the biggest game of the season. Lou went to him to see if he was all right, asking him: “Is there anything at all I can do for you?” Lou was surprised by the answer, as the boy said: “Let me start the game Saturday!” Lou didn’t know how to respond. The boy wasn’t good enough and in fact he might get hurt. But then he responded: “All right you can start the game.” And then he thought to himself, I can always take him out after a few plays……To everyone’s surprise the coach started the boy. But even more surprising was the way the boy played. He single-handedly made play after play. He played so well that Lou left him in the whole game. He was voted outstanding player of the game. After the game Lou came up to him and asked: “Son, what got into you today.” To which the boy replied: “You see, my father was blind. I was able to hide it from most people. But now that he is in heaven, I knew that he would be able to, for the first time, see me play!”
The boy believed his father was watching him, and so he was inspired in his play. The truth is, our heavenly Father is watching us, and this should inspire us in the way we live. Most people, when they think of eternity, think it starts when they die. But the reality is that eternity starts when we decide to let Jesus Christ be our savior and we give our lives to God. When we make a decision to spend eternity with God, it shows in the way we love God with our soul.
Conclusion: After hearing this sermon, the question I want to ask you is this: Have you given your soul to God? Not just your words, or your time on Sunday mornings, or your prayers, BUT YOUR SOUL. I want to challenge us all this morning to reflect upon our lives, upon what our desires are, and the purpose we have set for our lives. Do they show love of the soul to God?….Along with that, I want to challenge us this week to let God renew us and uplift us, and bless the love we show to Him. It will change your life. IT REALLY WILL. Come, let us love the Lord with all our soul. Amen.
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