The Bible teaches that "MAN" is a result from God’s Creation: Do you have any doubt of this? Man was the "Crowning Achievement" of God’s Creativity! God proclaims that "man was made in His image!" What is meant by the term: "The Body"? ***Body: flesh, bones, blood, etc…(made from dust) Let’s consider that our message today deals with the GREATER part of man! ***Soul: The IMMORTAL portion of man (ALL will live on!) The source of life…that God "breathed into existence" The most vital portion of your being (it IS you!) Not only is the soul….the "GREATER" part of man….according to Scripture, the soul….does NOT belong to man……but to God! (Ezek 18:3-4 NKJV) ""As I live," says the Lord GOD, "you shall no longer use this proverb in Israel. {4} "Behold, all souls are Mine; The soul of the father As well as the soul of the son is Mine; The soul who sins shall die." ***Think about the gravity of this statement: "The soul belongs to God." Bible teaches that man was made from the dust of the Earth. Genesis 3:19 adds that: "for dust you are…to dust you shall return" If our "whole self" is simply DUST……where is the future? What would be the purpose of seeking a peaceful relationship with God, our Father in Heaven? There HAS TO BE more to life….than: "From dust you are…to dust you shall return!" God, the Creator, has formed an IMMORTAL creature A "living being" that will LIVE ON!!! Let us remember….since the SOUL of man belongs to God: We are His creation We are God’s personal choice! (forever!) Solomon was a very smart man. His ability to reason…was "beyond our comprehension." Listen as he concurs with the point we’ve been making: (Eccl 12:6-8 NKJV) "Remember your Creator before the silver cord is loosed, Or the golden bowl is broken, Or the pitcher shattered at the fountain, Or the wheel broken at the well. {7} Then the dust will return to the earth as it was, And the spirit will return to God who gave it. {8} "Vanity of vanities," says the Preacher, "All is vanity."" Here, the wise man makes a very clear distinction between the body and the soul: They are NOT the same; they are NOT both matter! (physical) The body, which is matter, returns to DUST! (This is it’s origin) The spirit of man, which is NON-MATERIAL, returns to God! It is impossible that (2) natures can be MORE distinct…or distinguished! The author of this book…(The Bible)…was not a materialist!!!! USA Today -- Sept. 4, 1985 – A discovery was made of the fabled luxury liner Titanic Found in "a high state of preservation" and resting upright in more than 13,000 feet of water. This discovery stirred a new debate of whether to raise up the ship that has captured the imagination of people -- or let it rest forever in the deep. Robert Ballard, leader of the expedition which located the ship, has since declared that the site would be a memorial to the 1,513 who died when the Titanic hit an iceberg and sank on April 14, 1912. He said: "I see nothing to gain. The souls have now been located, and they're fine where they are." God may have left their bodies at the bottom of the ocean, but their souls were summoned to God. And only He knows exactly where each one is! Not only can God count the number of "hairs" on top of your head, He also continues to "watch over" the SOUL of man….after death….throughout Eternity! According to Paul (in his letter to the Corinthians) "Although our outward man is perishing……the inward man is being renewed day by day." [2 Corinthians 4:16] This thought….(of God caring for the SOULS of man) is the central theme of our lesson this morning. What VALUE has God…in Heaven… placed on the SOULS of men & women on this Earth? A. God’s care of the "human soul" has been seen as He constantly CARES for mankind. ***God…the Provider He gave mankind a literal "paradise" that they could live & care for. The Garden of Eden must have been a marvel to behold! Man has found various beautiful places on Earth…that they have titled: "One of the WONDERS of the Earth!" (Can anything compare to what God provided for Adam & Eve to live in?) (Nobody will know….this side of Heaven!) Through the history of LIFE of this Earth….God has made provisions to satisfy the needs of His "GREATEST CREATION": Mankind! ***Israelites….He gave manna & quail during their wanderings ***He spoke: directly through the fathers (Patriarchal Age) Offered a written law (Mosaic Age) Today we view God’s precepts through His written Word (The Bible) Man has constantly strayed from the Will of God. Our Father in Heaven knows the "heart" of His creation. Hear the voice of Solomon: "The spirit of a man is the lamp of the LORD, Searching all the inner depths of his heart." {Proverbs 20:27} (He understands & searches the hearts of man! He knows our desires) God used an assortment of Prophets…..who carried an important message to the "SOULS" of men and women. Prophets were sent to bring the people back to God The message they carried….showed the concern God had for mankind Jeremiah is a "picture-perfect" example of God’s care & concern for Israel. This is a heartbroken prophet….who has a distressing….heart-wrenching message! ***He labors for more than 40 years to proclaim a message of doom to his "stiff-necked" countrymen! ***Jeremiah is often called…."the weeping prophet" because of his concern and "groans of agony" he feels for his brethren! ***God has "fore-warned" him of the struggle to come. 

God places such a GRAND importance on YOUR soul…….His Son (Jesus) was given to provide the price….for your SOUL to be made "perfect"! Billions of people were scattered on a great plain before God's throne. Some of the groups near the front talked heatedly -- not with cringing shame, but with belligerence. "How can God judge us?" said one. "What does he know about suffering?" snapped a brunette. She jerked back a sleeve to reveal a tattooed number from a Nazi concentration camp. "We endured terror, beatings, torture, death!" In another group a black man lowered his collar. "What about this?" he demanded, showing an ugly rope burn. "Lynched for no crime but being black! We have suffocated in slave ships, been wrenched from loved ones, toiled till death gave release." Far out across the plain were hundreds of such groups. Each had a complaint against God for the evil and suffering He permitted in His world. How lucky God was to live in Heaven where there was no weeping no fear, no hunger, no hatred! Indeed, what did God know about what man had been forced to endure in this world? "After all. God leads a pretty sheltered live," they said. So each group sent out a leader, chosen because he had suffered the most. There was a Jew, a black, an untouchable from India, an illegitimate person, a victim of Hiroshima, and one from a Siberian slave camp. In the center of the plain they consulted with each other. At last they were ready to present their case. It was rather simple: ***Before God would be qualified to be their judge, He must endure what they had endured. ***Their decision was that God "should be sentenced to live on earth -- as a man!" But because He was God, they set certain safeguards to be sure He could not use His divine powers to help Himself: Let Him be born a Jew. Let the legitimacy of His birth be doubted, so that none would know who is really His father. Let Him champion a cause so just, but so radical, that it brings down upon Him the hate, condemnation, and efforts of every major traditional and established religious authority to eliminate Him. Let Him try to describe what no man has ever seen, tasted, heard, or smelled -- let Him try to communicate God to men. Let Him be betrayed by His dearest friends. Let Him be indicted on false charges, tried before a prejudiced jury, and convicted by a cowardly judge. Let Him see what it is to be terribly alone and completely abandoned by every living thing. Let Him be tortured and let Him die! Let Him die the most humiliating death -- with common thieves. As each leader announced his portion of the sentence, loud murmurs of approval went up from the great throngs of people. But when the last had finished pronouncing sentence, there was a long silence. No one uttered another word. No one moved. For suddenly all knew: God had already served His sentence. All this….because of the VALUE of the SOUL! (The VALUE that God places on SOULS…is seen in this ultimate sacrifice: Jesus His Son!) Paul speaks of preparing himself to meet God! In Romans 7:14-25, Paul is conflicted. ***The LAW of God is PERFECT*** ***Yet…He understands that he is CARNAL*** ***There is a struggle….DAILY*** (Rom 7:22-25 NKJV) "For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man. {23} But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. {24} O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? {25} I thank God; through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin." And finally, the same man….Paul writes in 1 Thessalonians 5:23: "Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ." Paul admonishes the church at Thessalonica as well as His church today….to prepare for the judgment day by making our ENTIRE being ready! Man is a body. As we previously mentioned, God "formed" man from the dust of the ground. The "physical body" of mankind is called the temple of God. Man has been instructed to care for this vessel which carries: "the inner man" Man is a soul. On that final day of Judgment, it is the SOULS of all mankind….who will stand before the Throne of God. "The inner Man" who will live on…throughout Eternity. Where will YOUR Soul spend eternity? What Value have YOU placed on your SOUL ??? 
 
 

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