Saving your Soul - Introduction

In the summer months preceding Jesus' Spring crucifixion, Christ was bringing to a close His Galilean ministry of some two years.  As His time there in the north country of Palestine was coming to an end, the Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke all tell us that Jesus began openly teaching that he would soon be rejected by the elders and killed.  Mark's eighth chapter, verses 31 - 38 (our text this Sunday), tells us that Jesus first made this grave prophecy in Capernaum, the small coastal fishing village which had served as His Galilean command-post.

 

Mark further records that as soon as Jesus had shared this disturbing piece of insider information, one of His inner circle, Simon Peter, was so bothered that he ''took Jesus aside and rebuked Him'' for saying such things.  Christ's response to Peter was quite strong, ''Get behind Me Satan!'' He said, ''For you are looking at things from man's perspective, not God's.'' 

 

While Peter was undoubtedly having to recover from Christ's rebuttal, Mark says Jesus gathered His disciples around Him and continued His teaching, making some profound statements and asking some important questions.  This Sunday morning we will delve into these statements and questions: 1) ''Whoever desires to be my disciple, let them deny themselves, take up their cross and follow me.''  2) ''Whoever tries to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for My sake will save it.''  3) ''What would it profit someone if they gained the whole world and lost their soul?''  And finally, 4) ''What would a person give in exchange for their soul?''

 

Sunday we will flesh out these poignant statements and questions of Jesus in a message I'm calling, ''Saving Your Soul.''   We will further ask questions like: What is a soul?  What does it mean to lose your soul?  What does it mean to sell your soul?  And, what does it mean to save your soul?  No doubt, these are important matters for us to spend concentrated time considering.

 

Looking forward to being together Sunday,

Stan