Recycling Souls

“Recycling Souls”

“Look at those charred stones they are pulling out of the rubbish and using again!” Nehemiah 4:2

Intro: There is no such thing as a “standard testimony of salvation.” A testimony is your words that tell others about how you became a Christian. You tell the experiences you have had. You share how you overcame sin, and how you made the decision to accept and believe in Christ. It is simply you saying how you feel about God changing your life.

For some of you here today this could be your testimony. It could go as far back as your early childhood. That there has always been a presence, an awareness that God had a calling upon your life. Over the years you followed that calling through the hills and valleys, through the joys and struggles until you became mature enough to “claim the name of Jesus Christ” for yourself and through Confirmation affirm Him as your Lord and Saviour.

For others here today this might be your testimony. It could be the life story of how you were mean as a rattle snake. “There wasn’t nothin’you hadn’t tried or done.” No party was ever wild enough and no woman ever fast enough. But somehow, somewhere you hit rock bottom. At the bottom of the miry, slimy, disgusting pit of sin you realized that instead of making a fist with your hand it was time to open that hand and reach up and take the outstretched hand of Jesus. From that day forward your life has never been the same it has turned around for the better.

There is a true story of a man who had reached the darkest depths of depression in his life. He took out a six shot revolver. But he only had five bullets. He put all five bullets in the revolver. He sat on the side of his bed and cried for hours before making the decision to end his life. He put the gun to his head and pulled the trigger but nothing happened. He thought to himself. Only he could be so foolish, only he could be so stupid, only he could fail so miserably as to not line up the shell with the chamber.

So now more angry and more determined than ever before he put the gun to his head a second time and pulled the trigger. But once again nothing happened. His testimony is that it wasn’t two misfired bullets…, but one Saviour who died on a cross to take his place. His testimony is that it wasn’t two misfired bullets but one Son of God who took his place in death to provide life and forgiveness of his sin.

Today we are going to talk about “Recycling Souls.”

I. God Does Not Make Junk.

This is one of my favorite sayings and the bible gives us proof. God created the water, God created the sky "God called the dry land; and the waters He called the Seas: and God saw that it was good." Genesis 1:10

"And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, and herb yielding seed, and the fruit yielding trees of every kind, "And the earth brought forth grass, and herbs, and trees yielding fruit, and God saw that it was good." Genesis 1:12

God made the light, and NOTICE God made the darkness…, (there is significance in God created both the light and the darkness, and notice God divided or separated the two.) but God divided the light from the day and from the night "And to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and God saw that it was good." Genesis 1:18

And God created every moving creature, and the birds that fly And God created great whales, and fish in the sea and every living creature that moveth, every winged bird that flies, (and except for the mosquito’s) God saw that it was good." Genesis 1:21

"And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creatures cattle, and creeping things, and beast of all kinds in the fields, and it was so." Genesis 1:24 and God saw that it was good." Genesis 1:25 (KJV)

And then God created His best creation yet, "God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them." Genesis 1:27 "And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good.”And God blessed them, and God said unto them, be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth. (The word replenish is left out of some translations which I think is a lapse of the correct translation.) The word replenish means: to fill, to stock, to refill and restock, to use and use over again, to recycle. I don’t think God was just talking about recycling newspaper, plastic and aluminum cans. But God was talking about recycling everything good that He had created.