Boys and girls I don't know what you're selling your soul for today, and maybe you aren't, but a lot of people are selling their souls pretty cheap! The Bible asks in Mark 8:36-37, "For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?" That means if you gained everything in the world and you owned EVERYTHING, you'd be terribly rich. But God says that if you did that and lost your own soul, you'd be poor, you'd lose everything and you wouldn't have anything. Well, our story today is about a man and the price of his soul. There was once a man who joined the gold rush and went to California. After some time though, he decided to go back east again. After he and others were crossing the Mississippi River, the boat struck a big rock and started to sink not far from the shore. Those who could swim, swam to the shore and were saved. Some, however, were drowned. Among those who were drowned was the man we are talking about in our story today. He was a very good swimmer and they could not understand why he had drowned. When his body was recovered, they discovered that around his waist he wore a belt. To that belt were fastened bags that were filled with gold nuggets. The weight of the gold had carried him down to a watery grave! Could he not have taken that belt off and have saved his life? He would have lost the gold, but he would have saved his life. It seemed that he had not wanted to give up his gold. He wanted his gold and he wanted his life too, but he lost them both. He lost his gold and he lost his life. How many thousands of people around us today are just like that poor man? They are more attached to the earthly riches and the pleasures and the things than they are to God's Wonderful Salvation! I hope boys and girls, that you never get so taken up with the things of this life that you don't have time for your soul! If you win everything else and lose you own soul, you're a big, big loser! You've lost out. You'll lose not only your soul, but you'll lose everything else. If you won the world, but lost your soul, you'd lose the world at the same time you lost your soul. You'd be a loser in every way. Don't be a loser today. Be a WINNER! Trust the Lord Jesus. Let go of any thing that would hinder you and trust Him as your Saviour and be Saved RIGHT NOW TODAY!