THE STATE OF YOUR SOUL
A TOPICAL MESSAGE
This past week President Bush
gave his annual “State of the
Of course messages and
written documents similar to the State of the Union message are often
presented. Messages are given on the
“State of the State” in many places, or “the state of the city”. In fact, pastors, including myself, have
spoken on the “State of the Church”.
Such messages usually sum up
how things are now and what the plans are for the future. This is the type of message I usually give in
the Pastor’s report as part of our Annual Report.
Let me suggest to you that
the most important thing you have to report on is “THE STATE OF YOUR SOUL”,
Your soul, of course, is the
part of you that will live forever. It
is the real you. And the status of your
soul is of extreme importance. Mark 8:34-37
The state of your soul is so
important that Pastors like me have been assigned to watch for it, and to take
active part in helping you take care of your soul. Hebrews 13:17
So I want you to give a
report on the State of your Soul. I’m
not asking you to do it out loud. I’m
asking you to do it within, reporting to yourself, and to God. Such a report will help you to review the
state of your soul right now, and what you need to do this year by way of
making improvements.
IS MY SOUL REDEEMED?
2 Corinthians 13:5 - Examine
yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your
own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?
Most of you know the Gospel.
You know that all of us are
sinners.
You know that we are not
righteous enough to earn our ways into Heaven. Isaiah 64:6
You know that Christ redeemed
us, purchasing our souls out of condemnation. Ephesians 1:7
You know that Christ has
risen from the dead.
You know that faith in Christ
makes us righteous before God and makes us citizens in Heaven.
Ephesians 2:8-9
So examine yourself!
Have you placed your faith in
Christ as Savior?
Do you have the assurance of
Christ dwelling in you?
Can you say with the Apostle
Paul in Galatians
Paul expected them to examine
themselves and indeed find that Christ was present!
You should be able to examine
and find that you have had fellowship with the Lord Jesus. That He has changed your life! You realize that since making a profession of
faith in Him, you are different and now interested in the things of God.
You should be able to examine
yourself and find the assurance from God that you are His child.
Romans 8:15-16
If you examine and find no
real evidence that you have trusted Christ, do so.
If you examine yourself and
find evidence that Christ is in your life, that you are indeed a child of God,
then you have reason to rejoice.
You also have reason to
encourage yourself to a deeper, more intimate walk with Him, seeing that He is
present!
IS MY SOUL RELIANT?
There are times when we have
all failed to be trustworthy. Sometimes,
we have not been worthy of being trusted because of our actions, because of our
sinful nature.
And yet how much it hurts
when someone does not trust us, especially when we’ve done nothing wrong, when
there’s no reason not to trust us!
Imagine how God must feel
when we are not reliant on Him!
He is perfect.
He has done all things well!
He is almighty!
If He can’t be trusted who
can!
And all through Scripture we
are encouraged to put our trust in Him and His Son! We need to be reminded of these Scriptures.
Psalm 62:5-6,8, Deuteronomy 33:27, Proverbs 3:5-6, Isaiah 41:10, John 15:5,
Hebrews 11:6,
You know in your head that
God can be trusted.
But do you know in your heart
that God can be trusted?
Has it ever occurred to you,
that as a Christian that the biggest insult to God is to live in a continual
state of worry and unbelief; to be out of sorts and anxious about the past,
present or the future?
God makes it clear that
everything is to be committed to Him in prayer so that we can have peace of
mind. Psalm 55:22, 1 Peter 5:7, Philippians 4:6-7
So how reliant has your soul
been?
Have you lived in a state of
trust or anxious worry?
To please your God and for
your soul to right with God there MUST be reliance on Him!
IS MY SOUL REMISS?
Some of the hardest words for
anyone to hear are, “I don’t love you anymore.”
It’s said often, but actually
practiced even more frequently.
Often our actions, and even
more so, our attitudes say to someone, “I don’t love you anymore.”
Is that what you are saying
to God, “I don’t love you anymore”?
Revelation 2:4-5 - Nevertheless
I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love. [5]
Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first
works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick
out of his place, except thou repent.
These words were spoken to
the Christian church in
The fervent love which they
once had for the Lord Jesus was no longer there.
The things they did were only
a going “through the motions.”
They left their “first love”,
which implies they loved something or someone else more than they loved the
Lord.
It’s very easy to do, because
there are so many things around to “love”.
The Lord tells us what to do.
He tells us to remember what
it was like when we were most in love with Jesus.
He tells us to repent, to
turn around.
He tells us to go back do the
first works.
Think like you thought when
you most loved Jesus.
Act like you acted when you
most loved Jesus.
Love like you loved when you
most loved Jesus.
IS MY SOUL RESPONSIBLE?
How responsible a Christian
are you?
Check out the New Testament.
In the Book of Acts, when a
person believed he was baptized.
Jesus’ command was very
simple. Matthew 28:19-20
Baptism is to follow
belief. Have you been baptized?
How responsible a Christian
are you?
Do you attend this church
regularly?
Are you a member?
You’re not?
In most cases that’s
irresponsible.
You want to receive but you
don’t want to give.
You can find all sorts of
excuses not to join.
But joining requires
commitment.
Commitment means
responsibility.
And if you don’t join, you
never have to worry about responsibility.
Does Jesus love his church?
Did Jesus make a commitment
to His church? Ephesians 5:25
Christ loves His Church.
Do you love His church?
How about his local church?
Then love it, enough to make
a commitment to membership.
One more thing in the way of
commitment:
Hebrews
You need to be here more than
once a week or once every couple of weeks.
You need to be in Sunday
School and Church.
We need you in the Evening
Service to be encouraged and to be an encouragement.
We need you to be part of our
Prayer Team on Wednesday nights.
Some are concerned about our
lack of growth, and the need for new blood.
Let’s get out and pray for
these things.
How is the State of your
Soul?
Ask yourself:
IS MY SOUL READY?
Are you ready for Jesus to
come back?
What if He had appeared last
week?
Would you have been ready?
Luke
Here’s how to be ready:
Titus 2:11-13 - For the grace of God that bringeth salvation
hath appeared to all men, [12] Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and
worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present
world; [13] Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great
God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;
What is the State of your
Soul?
Ask yourself:
1. IS MY SOUL
REDEEMED?
2. IS MY SOUL
RELIANT?
3. IS MY SOUL
REMISS?
4. IS MY SOUL
RESPONSIBLE?
5. IS MY SOUL
READY?
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SERMONS INDEX