05/22/2026
From Richard Tuttle ...
Thanks again to the ABW Class of 2026 for allowing me to preside over their Baccalaureate service. Here is the text of my sermon.
• 1st Reading (Kadence Thom) Genesis 2:7
“Man became a living soul (nephesh).” “Then the Lord God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.”
• 2nd Reading (Hannah Brandt) Deuteronomy 6:5
You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.
3rd Reading (Lucas Mertz) Matthew 16:26 “For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul?
To the ABW graduating class of 2026. Thank you so much for the honor of leading your Baccalaureate Service. It has been my pleasure to watch you mature from children to adults. My goal for tonight is also my graduation gift to you in that whatever is to come, it would be well with your soul.
In our 1st reading, God formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living being. A living soul.
Mankind is absolutely unique in all of creation. According to what I have read in the bible there is no other creature formed by God who was given a living soul. No animal, no angelic being, even Satan himself does not have a soul. Based on what I’ve read in the Bible, the only beings who have a soul are God Himself, Jesus His Son and mankind.
In our 2nd reading, we are told to love the Lord our God with all our heart and with all our soul and with all our might.
Somehow our soul is to join with our feelings and strength in loving the Lord our God. The command is more than just agreeing with some statements about God and more than just trying to follow some rules of good behavior. To love the Lord our God with all our soul and heart and strength means to love Him with everything we are…..this is complete devotion
In our 3rd reading, Jesus asks “For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul?
Not only can our soul love, but keeping our soul is worth more than anything we can gain in this world. Today’s culture seems to have this backwards. We strive for wealth, status, comfort, pleasure and fame while ignoring the part of ourselves that is more valuable and more precious than anything our world has to offer. None of these things will save our soul. None of these things will last. None of these things will matter if we have lost our soul.
In our limited time, I want to give you something simple that you can take with you as you continue your journey after graduation. Back in March, our high school band performed a song titled, On A Hymnsong of Philip Bliss, which is based on the hymn, It Is Well With My Soul. I would like to use the story and lyrics of this song to show us how our souls can be saved.
Back in 1871, an attorney named Horatio Spafford was financially ruined after the Chicago Great Fire. As he tried to rebuild his business, he sent his wife and four daughters to London and planned to join them later. Tragically, the ship carrying them sank and his four daughters drowned in the sea. His wife sent him a two word telegram saying, “Saved Alone”
Consider that. This man watched his business burn in the fire. Then he loses his four daughters in a shipwreck. Then, the only way to comfort his wife is for himself to be on a ship and travel the same path that took his daughters. I cannot imagine how difficult that was for him.
Travel back then was not fast. He spent at least 9 days on that ship. That’s more than a week. That’s a lot of time to be alone with your thoughts. No cell phone. No iPad. Nothing but time and silence.
Here is the amazing thing. When Mr Spafford passed by the site of the shipwreck which took the lives of his daughters, he wrote a poem. This poem was eventually set to music and has become a beloved hymn around the world.
Verse 1:
When peace like a river, attendeth my way
(To be attended by peace means it joins you in your journey. There will be times in your life when peace and happiness, like a calm river, will follow your way)
When sorrows like sea billows roll
(Sea billows are the large swelling waves of the sea. The rising and falling of a ship from the rolling of sea billows is what makes a person sea sick. There will be times in your life when everything seems to fall apart and you will feel hopelessly tossed about with no comfort or relief. Your grief and sorrow will continuously pound you like a ship lost at sea.
Whatever my lot,
(A lot is like the tossing of dice. Only God knows our future. There will be times when your life seems random and will not make sense)
Thou hast taught me to say
(A great question to ask right now, is “who is this Thou”? It’s obviously not Mr. Spafford. He is taught by a person, not an idea. Not a feeling. Not a thought, but a person. A Thou. Not them or they but a single person. A Thou with a capital T. There is only one Thou and no one else. What does this God teach him to say?
It is well, it is well, with my soul.
(In the peaceful and happy times…..it is well with my soul. In the miserable and sad times….it is well with my soul.
Verse 2:
Though Satan should buffet
(To be buffeted is to be struck repeatedly with hard punches. In a storm, ships are buffeted by waves. Notice who does the punching. Satan. He is one who causes misery. Sometimes, people in their despair, blame God for their misery. They think or say, if there is a God, why do bad things happen to good people.)
though trials should come
(There will be trials in your life. Some of them will be your fault. The really difficult ones will be the trials you face that are not your fault. Those really hurt.)
Let this blest assurance control
(An assurance is to trust in something proven to be true. To get through the difficult times we need something real.)
That Christ hath regarded my helpless estate
(Our helpless estate is basically our hopeless situation. Christ regards our difficult life. This Christ is the Thou I mentioned earlier. His Name is Jesus. Jesus not only sees what we are going through, but he regards it. He cares. Since He is God, He can also rescue we who are helpless.)
And hath shed His own blood for my soul.
(On the cross, Jesus offered Himself to bleed and die to save my soul. He did that for me. He did that for you.)
Verse 3:
My sin, oh, the bliss of this glorious thought!
(Romans 3:23 says that all of us have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Sin leads to death. Notice it is my sin. I’m the guilty one.)
My sin, not in part but the whole
(Romans 8:1 says that there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Not only did Jesus die on the cross, but on the third day He rose again. He conquered death. When He came back to life He declared with power that He was the Son of God. He showed Himself to be the Thou with a capital T)
Is nailed to His cross, and I bear it no more
(John 8:36 says if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed. Jesus paid it all. He took my place. I don’t have to be weighed down by the guilt of my failures. I don’t have to try harder to be good. I surrender myself to the only One who is good.)
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!
(Ephesians 2:4-5 says “But God being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our sins, made us alive together with Christ. When we know our soul is saved, we praise the Lord for receiving what we could never earn.)
The saving of your soul is so much more than saying the right things or trying to do the right things. It is more than agreeing with a set of beliefs. True salvation of your soul is through a person. The Person of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. He is the way, the truth, the life and no one comes to the Father but by Him. John 14:6
As I said at the beginning of my talk, I want to give you something simple that you can take with you as you continue your journey after graduation. That it will be well with your soul. Even if you forget what I said, perhaps the song will stay with you. See less
