NT "Soul" Information
from Paul, Peter, John, Job
The Problem of Soul-Winning, Soul Winning and more Soul Winning!

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Review from Part I - The Proverbs on the Soul

Preface:
The body is not the soul.  (I Thessalonians 5:23; Job 12:10; 14:22; 33:18)
The soul has a body shape. (II Corinthians 12:1-4; Revelation 6:9; Luke 16:19-24)
In the OT, the soul is stuck to the body, so often they are spoken of as identical (Ezekiel 18:4; Genesis 19:20; Joshua 10:35)
The New Birth in the NT is a spiritual operation, cutting the soul loose from the body inside.  (Colossians 2:11-13).

In either testament, the man's soul is his "ego" or "I am."

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Introduction:
Lose your own soul? for what?
Matthew 16:26 - For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?

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Fear the right one!
Matthew 10:28 - And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.  Is this the devil, or God, or both?  But is certainly isn't man! Proverbs 29:25 - The fear of man bringeth a snare: but whoso putteth his trust in the LORD shall be safe.

Lost:
Romans 3:18 - There is no fear of God before their eyes.  (there is a fear among Christians today, but it is the wrong fear)
Hebrews 10:31 - It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

Saved:
But is it a fear for us who are saved?  Not about going to Hell, anyway!
II Timothy 1:7 - For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.

Take your pick!

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Rest unto your soul!
Matthew 11:28-30 - Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.  This rest comes from knowing Paul, etc.
There is no rest if folks try to walk holy to be holy according to the Gospels - but to walk holy because you are holy according to Paul's gospel - there is rest as we learn his way more perfectly!

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Don't be the fool!
Luke 12:16-21 - And he spake a parable unto them, saying, The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully:  And he thought within himself, saying, What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits?  And he said, This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods.  And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry.  But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided?  So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God. My favorite verse quotes from Part I in Proverbs... 14:25 - A true witness delivereth souls: but a deceitful witness speaketh lies!  (John the Baptist, Jesus' works; the Father himself; the Holy Spirit,  the Scriptures, Apostles, Paul, US, Jesus Christ again)
13:19a - the desire accomplished is sweet to the soul...
16:22 - the heart of the wise teacheth his mouth, and addeth learning to his lips.
16:24 - Pleasant words are as an honeycomb, sweet to the soul, and health to the bones.
25:13 - As the cold of snow in the time of harvest, so is a faithful messenger to them that send him: for he refresheth the soul of his masters.
22:24,25 - make no friendship with an angry man: and with a furious man thou shalt not go: Lest thou learn his ways, and get a snare to thy soul.
Destroyeth his own soul, sinneth against his own soul, wrongeth his own soul, soul of the wicked desireth evil, a fool's mouth is his destruction and his lips are the snare of his soul
10:2,3 - treasures of wickedness profit nothing: but righteousness delivereth from death.
Luke 12:21 - ... Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided?  So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.

Souls can be subverted!
Acts 15:24 - Forasmuch as we have heard, that certain which went out from us have troubled you with words, subverting your souls, saying, Ye must be circumcised, and keep the law: to whom we gave no such commandment:

Look at people as souls!
Acts 27:37 - And we were in all in the ship two hundred threescore and sixteen souls.
Revelation 6:9 - And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held:
Revelation 20:4 - And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.

The Lost
Romans 2:9 - Tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that doeth evil, of the Jew first, and also of the Gentile;

If only we would follow the property authority - ending up with the Book as the final authority in all matters of faith and practice!
Romans 13:1 - Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God.

Paul preaches on the spirit of God, Holy Spirit, etc. Doesn't mention much about the soul!
I Corinthians 15:45 - And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.

Gave it all to others!
I Thessalonians 2:8 - So being affectionately desirous of you, we were willing to have imparted unto you, not the gospel of God only, but also our own souls, because ye were dear unto us.

All three!
I Thessalonians 5:23 - And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

The Book deals with the soul!
Hebrews 4:12 -  For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
Hebrews 4:13 - Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do.
We preach the book to the conscience - II Corinthians 4:1,2; 5:11,12

It is the soul that gets saved!
I Peter 1:9: Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls.

We have no excuse now to not love our brethren!
I Peter 1:22: Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently:

Romans Seven daily battle!  Christians and Jews have this battle - if saved, that is!
I Peter 2:11: Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul;

To the Jews - see, Peter is preaching to the Jews, yet there is stuff in there for us!
I Peter 2:25: For ye were as sheep going astray; but are now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls.

Soul saved by water but by staying out of the water!
I Peter 3:20: Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water.

We can NOT have our soul vexed today!!!
II Peter 2:8: (For that righteous man dwelling among them, in seeing and hearing, vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds;)

An unstable soul can be beguiled - but an unsaved one at that.  The saved ones have the Book to follow!
II Peter 2:14: Having eyes full of adultery, and that cannot cease from sin; beguiling unstable souls: an heart they have exercised with covetous practices; cursed children:

And from an unsaved soul - Job!
Job talks about the bitterness of his soul - 7:11, 21:25; his soul being weary of life - 10:1; his soul being vexed - 19:2; 27:2; the hypocrite losing his soul - 27:8; and how the terrors pursue his soul - 30:16!  Praise God these are not our worries!

Not saved for 'you' but for 'Him!'
1. Soul winners are motivated by the need to keep people out of Hell.  They think of the human consequences of rejecting Christ.

Rather, they should be motivated by the desire to see someone get saved to that they will finally being the position to do what they were created to do - Glorify God.  Romans 8:8 - So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God!   They are still 'dead in their sins!'  Revelation 4:11 - Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.

Beginning, not an end!
2.  Because the emphasis of the 'soulwinning, soul winning' crowd is only to get souls saved, they see the salvation of a sinner as an end rather than a beginning.

Remember, birth is a beginning, not an end.  Being 'born-again' is the beginning of one's REAL life, not the end!

Once a soul is saved, a newborn baby is left to fend for itself, thus the influx of the cults ASAP.

Hyper-soul winning churches are geared to leading people to Christ, but totally unprepared to TRAIN the new convert - except to teach him how to soul win!

People like to have kids, but they don't know how to train them, nor do they seem to take the TIME to train them.  A baby is born in 9 a short time, while training takes a lifetime!  day-to-day, week-after-week, month-after-month, year-after-year process that is not as glamorous as a new baby!

A birth is a wonderful thing, but it is not an automatic success story!
A birth of a salvation story is a wonderful thing, but it is not an automatic success story!

That is the job of the mom AND dad in the home!
At church, that is the job of the Book - the church - the preacher - the pastor - the men of the church - the women, etc. all in their prospective roles.

Pulpit Guilt Trips
3. It is nothing but a guilt trip power pressure sermon from the pulpits these days - Sunday after Sunday...

Ephesians 4:12,13 - For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ:
II Corinthians 7:1 - Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.
Colossians 1:28 - Whom we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom; that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus:
I Thessalonians 3:10 - Night and day praying exceedingly that we might see your face, and might perfect that which is lacking in your faith?
II Timothy 3:16,17 - All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.
Galatians 3:3 - Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?