Souled Out

I was watching a movie titled To Save a Life. The movie centered around a young man who seemingly had everything  going his way. It had not always been that way. When he was a freshman in high school, he had one friend, a young black boy who had been his friend since kindergarten. The friendship was so strong that when they were still in elementary school the young black boy shoved him out of the way of an oncoming car and was hit by the car instead. The black boy was crippled for the rest of his life and walked with a pronounced limp. The young man went on to be a star athlete and one of the most popular kids at school while his friend became a target for the other kids. Things got so bad for the black boy that he committed suicide in front of his former friend.

The young man attends the funeral of his former friend and is befriended by the youth pastor who preached the black boy's funeral. As the movie progresses and the youth minister and this young man grow closer, we find that this popular young man does not live the idyllic life. His parents are on the verge of divorce, his girfriend is pregnant and he is tortured by the thoughts that he turned his back on his friend in his greatest hour of need. The young man begins to attend the youth minister's classes. The classes center around the theme Souled Out. We will talk about the rest of the movie later in the post.

I had wondered if \Souled Out was a fictional ministry or the real deal so I looked it up on the internet. It turns out that Souled Out is the real deal. Souled Out Youth Ministries was founded in 1993 as an interdenominational youth based organization in Chicago. It is now a worldwide ministry. The message is simple. God is faithful and His grace endures forever. This is based on Psalm 100:5.

What does it mean to be souled out? When you think about the term "sold out," you think of someone selling out their principles to accomplish what they desire but Souled Out means something completely different. Let us go to the book of Acts for a better understanding.  Acts 2 41 tells us that when the people heard Peter proclaim "Repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins and receive the gift of the Holy Ghost," the people gladly received his words and were baptized and 3000 souls were added to the church that day. This is not the end of the story. We must look at verse 42 to see what really took place.

The scripture tells us that the people continued steadfastly in the apostles doctrine (teaching) and fellowship and in the breaking of bread and in prayers. We are also told that they sold their goods and gave to those in need, They worshipped daily in the Temple, shared fellowship meals from house to house and was continually praising God.

Once again I ask what does it mean to be Souled Out? When we are souled out God's Holy Word is the most important book in our lives. Communion is more than a ritualistic practice every Sunday, We long to fellowship with others of like mind spiritually. We communicate with our Heavenly Father frequently through prayer, not setting up a traditional time of prayer, but talking with God when we feel the need to share with Him We pray for family, friends, co workers, neighbors and yeas even those we may not love or even like..We look to the needs of our brethern and give God the praise for our success and our struggles for in all things God is with us.Souled Out means a total, uncompromising, commitment to our Heavenly Father and Creator. How I wish that we all fit into this category, but sadly no one comes close to being the committed, convicted, uncompromising servant that we should be.

Now for the rest of the story. The young man in the movie challenged the youth of the church to take their faith beyond the walls of the church. He accepted the responsibility of his girlfriend's pregnancy, he confronted his father regarding the way he treated his mother, he admitted his failure in not helping his friend when he was alone and in need  and finally he put everything secondary to following God, including the scholarship that he had longed for. My challenge to myself and whoever reads this blog is to be Souled Out in a very real way, in every sense of the word. May god bless you this week.