Participants: Pr. John Carter
Series Code: CR
Program Code: CR001404
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00:08 From Arcadia, California, the Carter Report presents
00:11 "The Living Word" around the world. 00:18 I want to give you just a warmest welcome today 00:21 to the Carter Report because this is a great program. 00:24 Have you ever wondered 00:26 what's happened to the human race? 00:29 We're going to talk today about the soul 00:33 and the worth of a human soul. 00:37 But firstly would you please welcome Reuben Capistrano 00:42 who is going to come and sing for the glory of God. 00:46 Welcome today, Reuben. 01:15 Why should I feel 01:20 Discouraged 01:24 And why 01:26 should the shadows come 01:34 Why should my heart 01:39 Be lonely 01:44 And long for heaven and home 01:54 When Jesus is my portion 02:01 My portion 02:04 My constant 02:07 Friend is He 02:14 His eye 02:16 is on the sparrow 02:23 And I know 02:26 He watches me 02:33 For His eye 02:36 is on the sparrow 02:43 And I know 02:46 He watches me 02:54 I sing 02:56 because I'm happy 03:04 I sing 03:06 because 03:08 I'm free 03:12 For His eye 03:16 is on the sparrow 03:24 And I know 03:26 He watches me 03:32 Yes, His eye 03:36 is on the sparrow 03:44 And I know 03:47 He watches me 03:54 And I sing 03:56 because I'm happy 04:02 Yes, I sing 04:06 because I'm free 04:12 For His eye 04:16 is on the sparrow 04:24 And I know 04:26 He watches me 04:32 Oh, His eye 04:36 is on the sparrow 04:47 And I know 04:49 He watches me 05:20 Today, we're gonna talk 05:21 about "The Worth of a Soul." 05:24 Now if you take your Bibles 05:26 and if you come over here to the Book of Genesis 05:29 we read here about the creation of a human soul. 05:33 We're gonna come over here to the Book of Genesis 2:7. 05:37 Genesis 2:7, the Bible says, "The Lord God 05:41 formed the man from the dust of the ground 05:44 and breathed into his nostrils the breathe of life, 05:47 man became a living being." 05:49 It's says, in the King James Version, 05:52 which we all love. 05:53 It's says "The Lord God formed the man 05:55 from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostril 05:58 the breathe of life, and man became a living soul." 06:04 In the NIV it's says, "living being or a person." 06:09 A soul is not something that you can't see. 06:14 A soul is sitting next to you today here in church. 06:18 The Hebrew word is Nephesh, Nephesh 06:23 and you find this word many, many parts of the Old Testament 06:27 across it's a Hebrew word and the word soul means 06:31 for the most part it's got various meanings but folk, 06:34 for the most part one of its basic means is 06:38 "a person, a person." 06:42 So when we say, what is the soul worth, 06:43 we're saying, what is a person worth? 06:47 What is the worth of a soul? 06:51 Come over here quickly, would you? 06:53 Mark 8:36, we come to the words of our Lord Jesus Christ. 06:59 Mark 8:36, Jesus said, "What good is a it 07:05 for a man to gain the whole world, 07:09 yet forfeit his soul?" 07:13 Now this text tells us why we ought to follow Christ 07:16 but it also tells us something else. 07:18 It tells us that a soul is worth more than the world. 07:25 Can you believe this? 07:27 How much is a soul worth? 07:30 A soul is worth more than the whole world. 07:35 Listen to me, never put yourself down. 07:41 Never feel inferior. 07:44 Never put yourself down. 07:45 Never feel like some people have said, 07:48 you know, you're just an animal, 07:50 you're just a machine. 07:51 No, you are more important than a whole world. 07:57 You've all heard of the Great Alexander Solzhenitsyn. 08:02 Some have called him the greatest Christian 08:06 of the 20th-century. 08:11 And he was a great critic of the Soviet system 08:14 that diabolical empire. 08:18 He was being tortured for his faith by a woman 08:22 in the Gulag Archipelago. 08:25 Have you read it, you ought to get it. 08:27 The Gulag Archipelago then you'll realize 08:32 what was it like in the Soviet Union. 08:37 And as he was tortured by a communist guard 08:40 and when the pain become so intense, 08:42 he cried out in his pain, don't you know, I'm a soul. 08:52 And the woman said, "we can't help breaking eggs, 08:56 when we're making omelets." 09:00 The omelet was the Soviet State 09:02 and the individual was nothing. 09:04 I'm here to tell you today the individual is everything, 09:10 worth more than a world. 09:13 The death of God always leads to the death of man, 09:16 don't forget that. 09:20 Philosophers like Nietzsche 09:23 got rid of God in the 19th century 09:27 and the following century saw 09:28 the greatest bloodbath in history. 09:33 When I was in Kiev being taken down into the dungeons 09:37 beneath a great auditorium in the city of Kiev 09:41 and I preached in that place where Chris Chafe said, 09:45 "we will get rid of Christ, and we will get rid of God." 09:49 And they took me down into a place where 09:52 thousands of the creams of society 09:55 were tortured to death by the communist. 09:58 I went for a walk in a park, 10:02 I walked past these saintly trees 10:06 and all the trees they were photographs 10:09 some people who where tortured to death 10:12 and then shot with the bullet to the back of the neck. 10:17 In Eastern Siberia there is a city 10:19 by the name of Magadan. 10:21 Ever heard of it? 10:24 The streets of the city up heaved 10:28 it was human bones covered with tar now. 10:33 But a person went to Magadan, 10:35 his life expectancy was measured in months 10:37 because it didn't matter. 10:41 When in Russia I shouted to the people of millions 10:44 who came to the meetings, "you're not an animal, 10:46 you're not a machine, you are a child of God." 10:51 Jesus said, "One soul one person 10:54 is worth more than the world." 10:56 Never put yourself down, never put anybody else down. 11:03 Jesus got in human flesh treated people with respect, 11:07 compassion, consideration, dignity and love. 11:11 So should we, if we are His disciples. 11:14 Why? Come to Genesis 1:27. 11:18 Genesis 1:27, Genesis 1:27, "So God." 11:26 Elohim, this is Yahweh Elohim. 11:30 Genesis 1:27, 11:31 "So God created man in his own image, 11:34 in the image of God he created him, 11:37 male and female he created them." 11:43 We are not the product of nothingness, 11:45 we came from the hand of God 11:47 and we were made in the image of God. 11:50 We are not related to the animals or trees. 11:58 Man is distinct and glorious 12:00 because only man was made in the image of God. 12:03 What is a soul worth? 12:06 Listen to the famous atheist, the great debater, 12:11 the great scientist from Oxford University. 12:14 I heard he make the statement, 12:17 the universe came from nothing. 12:21 Atoms, molecules, everything 12:25 it came from nothing. 12:33 He said it was the straight faith. 12:37 One of the greatest scientist in the world 12:39 but walk in darkness he said "man is the product of chance." 12:44 The evolutionary process he said 12:47 has no meaning it is totally random. 12:50 It is based on the Darwinian concepts 12:52 of the Survival of the Fittest and Natural Selection. 12:56 Of course said some truths, 12:59 in the Survival of the fittest we all know that 13:01 and Natural Selection. 13:03 But man is more than that. 13:07 And because this doctrine is permeated society 13:11 we have today the great despair, 13:15 why do famous Hollywood stars who got more money 13:20 then they can procastic at why do they suicide? 13:26 Why do so many people suicide? 13:29 What has gone wrong with society? 13:34 Alexander Solzhenitsyn said, as he looked over the 13:38 utter chaos of the former Soviet Union he said, 13:43 "Man has forgotten God 13:46 and all of these things that come upon us 13:49 man has forgotten God. 13:51 The death of God always leads to the death of man." 13:55 What's going wrong in American Society? 14:00 Why do we have a culture of rudeness? 14:03 Whatever happened to civility 14:06 and good manners and respect? 14:11 But a man is simply a cosmic accident 14:15 than really he is a cosmic nothing. 14:21 But I suggest you today he is made in the image of God 14:26 and man is tremendously important. 14:31 Seeing hell, Jesus treated people, 14:36 they must have been worth a lot. 14:39 Come over here to John 8:1-11, John Chapter 8. 14:43 Aren't you're glad you're in church here today? 14:45 John 8:1-11, 14:48 "But Jesus went out to the Mount of Olives." 14:50 Been there many times. 14:52 "At dawn he appeared again in the temple courts, 14:55 where all the people gathered around him, 14:57 and he sat down to teach them. 14:59 The teacher of the law and the Pharisees 15:01 brought in a woman caught in adultery. 15:03 They made her stand before the group and said to Jesus, 15:06 'Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. 15:09 In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. 15:12 Now what do you say?' 15:14 They were using this question as a trap, 15:16 in order to have a basis for accusing him. 15:19 But Jesus bent down and started to write 15:21 on the ground with his finger. 15:22 When they kept on questioning him, 15:24 he straightened up and said to them, 15:26 'if any one of you is without sin, 15:28 let him be the first to throw a stone at her.' 15:31 Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground. 15:33 At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, 15:37 the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, 15:39 with the woman still standing there. 15:41 Jesus straightened up and asked her, 15:43 'Woman where are they? 15:45 Has no one condemned you?' 15:46 'No one, sir, 'she said. 15:48 'Then neither do I condemn you, 'Jesus declared. 15:51 'Go now and leave your life of sin.' 15:56 " Look at me, he did not condemned her, 16:00 he did not damn her, 16:03 he did not even disfellowshipped her. 16:09 He forgave her and restored her 16:12 because she was more valuable, 16:15 worth more than a billion worlds in space. 16:22 Would you come over to Luke 15, Luke 15:11, 16:28 "Jesus continues, 'There was man who had two sons. 16:31 The younger one said to his father, Father, 16:34 give me my share of the estate. 16:36 So he divided his property between them. 16:38 Not long after that, 16:39 the younger son got together all he had, 16:42 set off to a distant country 16:44 and there squandered his wealth in wild living. 16:46 After he spent everything, there was a severe famine." 16:49 Verse 25, "Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. 16:54 When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing." 16:57 Goodness. 16:58 "So he called one of the servants and asked him, 17:00 what was going on? 17:01 'Your brother has come,' he replied, 17:03 'and your father has killed the fattened calf 17:05 because he has him back safe and sound.' 17:08 The older brother became angry 17:11 and refused to go in. 17:12 so his father went out and pleaded with him. 17:15 But he answered his father, 'Look! 17:17 All these years I've been slaving for you 17:19 and never disobeyed your orders." 17:22 There you have salvation by works. 17:25 I've been slaving do, do, do, do cock-a-doodle-doo, 17:28 and you still don't love me. 17:30 "Yet you never gave me even a young goat 17:32 so I could celebrate with my friends. 17:35 But when this son of yours 17:38 who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home 17:41 you kill the fattened calf for him.' 17:45 He is also prodigal. 17:46 He is prodigal in meekness. 17:53 "My son,' the father said, 'you are always with me, 17:59 everything I have is yours. 18:02 But we had to celebrate and be glad, 18:05 because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again. 18:11 He was lost and is found.' 18:16 " You have two types of sinners here. 18:19 The disrespectable sinner, 18:21 there people out in the world sleeping with the prostitutes, 18:24 and sleeping around. 18:26 But then there is the other class of sinner 18:28 and that's the elder brother and he is a respectable sinner, 18:32 he goes to church every Sabbath. 18:34 And everybody says, "What a great elder he is, 18:38 what a great person he is." 18:44 And he's slaving away. 18:46 But I would I remind you something, 18:51 God loved both sons 18:55 and He treated both sons with respect, 19:00 love and compassion. 19:03 Why, because they were good? 19:08 No, because a soul is more important than the world. 19:14 One person, 19:19 time will fell me today 19:23 to tell of Peter the denyer, 19:28 presumptuous a man who run his mouth. 19:33 Have you met people like that? 19:35 All grunts and no bacon. 19:40 All thunder and no rain. 19:44 Always talking but not doing 19:50 and he denied the Lord of glory. 19:54 But Jesus sent a message through the angel, 19:57 "go tell my disciples and Peter." 20:03 Why, because of the worth of a soul. 20:06 There was Thomas the doubter who said 20:08 "unless I can see the nail prints 20:11 and see the mark in the side I will not believe." 20:17 And Jesus did not cast him aside even though he had doubts 20:24 because the doubter is a soul 20:27 worth more than the world. 20:31 Then there is the remarkable story 20:34 of the woman in the big crowd with the issue of blood. 20:38 Lately she had cancer 20:41 and she had been bleeding for years 20:43 and she came to see Jesus with hope burning in her breast. 20:49 Because hope burns eternal in the human heart. 20:55 And as Jesus went by He reached out a trembling finger 20:59 and touched Him and Jesus turned around and said, 21:03 "Who touched me?" 21:06 The disciples logically said, "Everybody is touching You." 21:11 But He said no, some one has touched me." 21:14 He could tell the difference between an idle touch 21:18 and touch of faith. 21:21 She came and fell at His feet and He said, 21:23 "your faith has saved you, you're healed go in peace." 21:28 Why did He treated this way? 21:30 Why didn't He just say, I'm busy? 21:35 Because, she is a soul. 21:38 And then there is another story, 21:39 the story that gives hope to the leader of the IRS. 21:47 The Internal Revenue Service, 21:49 as it is affectionately called here in the United States. 21:53 It tells when Jesus was out one day 21:56 and the leader of the tax collectors 21:58 was up in a tree. 22:01 He wanted to see Jesus. 22:03 He was little man. 22:04 And Jesus said to him, "Zacchaeus, you come down 22:08 because I'm going to your house today." 22:10 How did He know his name? 22:14 He knew his name a man in a tree, 22:17 He knew his name. 22:21 Because there is nothing more precious than a soul, 22:26 nothing more precious. 22:28 Listen to this, people matter most, 22:33 not grand institutions, not this building, 22:40 not powerful organizations, not material positions, 22:45 America, not houses, lands and gadgets. 22:56 The most important thing in the universe is a soul. 23:02 Next, if people matter most-- 23:07 what is the most important thing 23:12 that I can do with my life? 23:24 Alma, we're so delighted 23:25 to have you here in our church today. 23:27 You've been a member of this congregation 23:30 from many years we appreciate and love you. 23:33 What is your profession, Alma? 23:35 I'm an actress and a filmmaker. 23:38 Tell me some of the shows that you've been in? 23:43 In Living Color, television shows, 23:44 Touched by an Angel, ER and films were Mo' Money, 23:49 The Other Sister. 23:50 Now there're been certain great African Americans, 23:55 who've had a profound impact around the world, 23:57 tell me about some African Americans 24:00 who have influenced you touched your life? 24:03 There's been quite a few, Pastor Carter, 24:05 to name a few Frederick Douglass, 24:07 George Washington Carver. 24:08 And of course I have to always mention my parents 24:11 Bonnie McBrown and Willie Dixon they were my biggest mentors. 24:15 But the one that really touched me 24:19 with her story was Harriet Tubman. 24:21 She was one of the most inspirational figures 24:24 not only African American history 24:26 but in history, world history itself. 24:29 She was born back in the 1800s to Harriet Green and Ben Ross. 24:34 And they-- her birth name was Araminta Ross. 24:39 And she made her life passion to free slaves 24:43 from the tyrannous slavery. 24:45 And her early years in slavery 24:47 she was regularly beaten by her master. 24:50 She was beaten so severely one time 24:51 her master threw a heavy metal object 24:54 which hit her in the head 24:55 and she had a scar for the rest of her life. 24:57 And it created debilitating circumstances for her. 25:02 She had epileptic seizures and bad nightmares 25:08 and visions because of that. 25:11 Early on she got married to John Harbet. 25:17 Back then it was not uncommon for this 25:20 to be considered a mixed marriage, 25:23 not because he was a white man but because he was a freeman 25:26 and she was still a slave. 25:27 So they consider that a mixed marriage. 25:29 And so she was able to really save thousands of souls 25:33 and deliver them from the curse of slavery. 25:38 Tell me about the man, they've even called him 25:43 I think the "Peanut King" because what he did with a 25:47 humble little peanut. 25:50 Oh, yes, George Washington Carver, 25:53 who also knew Harriet Tubman, they met along the way. 25:57 Getting back to Harriet Tubman though, Pastor Carter, 25:59 she got involved with the underground railroad. 26:02 And she got involved with that through William still 26:04 who introduced to her in Pennsylvania 26:06 where she made her way over there. 26:08 And through her trips she actually freed 300 slaves. 26:13 And each time she went back to the plantation 26:15 where she was a slave, she put her life on the line. 26:18 Yes. 26:19 But she-- she says she was told by God that 26:22 this was her duty to free slaves. 26:24 And she say, as long as I live this is what I'm gonna do 26:27 and she did that to her till dying day 26:30 in 1930 at 93 years of age. 26:34 What a saint? 26:36 Alma, what does Jesus mean to you personally? 26:40 You know, growing up my patents who always in church 26:43 especially my mom always sent us to church, 26:46 every weekend. 26:50 You'll hear about Jesus and you'll hear about God 26:52 and sometimes as a child it does really you know 26:56 kind of like within two years psyche would that means. 26:59 So I really understood what that meant as an adult. 27:05 And I'm not trying to give you a kudos but 27:08 I really understood it when I came to one of your meetings 27:10 before I've became a true Christian 27:13 and understood it through the archaeology 27:15 of how we got here and everything. 27:18 And for me because my mother did die 27:21 when I was young and all I have left 27:24 because I was really closed to my mom 27:25 so all I have left was the Bible 27:27 to really hold on to really start reading it. 27:30 And then come in to really understand the Bible 27:31 more through some of your programs. 27:34 Jesus Christ I honestly, I don't-- 27:39 I really don't know how people can make in life 27:41 without having Christ in their life 27:43 because it's such a rough roll life. 27:46 And if I didn't have Christ in my life 27:48 I really don't think I would be stand here right now. 27:52 Alma, we love you and we appreciate your testimony 27:56 and thank God for you. 27:58 And so many people like you in this country 28:00 who make this place, this world a better place, 28:04 God bless you, Alma. Thank you very much. 28:05 Thank you. All right. 28:06 Thank you, thank you. 28:12 The city was Jerusalem 28:20 The time was long ago 28:28 The people called Him, Jesus 28:36 The crime was the love 28:40 He showed 28:44 And I'm the one to blame 28:52 I caused all the pain |
Revised 2014-12-17