[0:00] It's hard to sing. Find Proverbs chapter 11 tonight. We'll review briefly and catch up to what we started last Wednesday night. Proverbs 11.
[0:12] Proverbs 11.
[0:42] Proverbs 11.
[1:12] Proverbs 11. It's something that I've learned first and considered and studied and implemented portions and maybe all of it.
[1:22] And it's all of it so good. It's beneficial stuff that are just things that for you to know and to consider in order to win souls and to be a soul winner and to be effective at least.
[1:33] To increase your chances, you could say. So Proverbs 11. We saw this verse. Verse 30. The Bible says, The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, and he that winneth souls is wise.
[1:46] It's easy to couple some verses in the Proverbs when it comes to wisdom. The Bible says that a wise son maketh a glad father. And there's one way you can please the father is by winning souls.
[1:59] Now, again, it's kind of interesting that that term that we've taken from an Old Testament passage, winning souls, soul winning, having a soul winning emphasis. Churches talk like that a lot.
[2:10] It comes out of the Proverbs. It comes out of an Old Testament line. And it's just kind of funny in a sense when you think about it dispensationally and rightly dividing your Bibles that that term is the one that was taken and used.
[2:24] But none of that really matters to me so much as much as the practice of witnessing and trying to be effective at it. Now, I said something last week. I'll review this. I believe that everybody that's born again, that within the new man, God puts something inside of you, a desire to see someone else saved, not just to take that free gift and run with it.
[2:47] But even if you do live in the flesh and walk and not walk in the spirit, then that's on you. But any attempt, just having your eyes opened, just being quickened by the spirit of God, you see people, you understand now saved and lost.
[3:01] You understand how lost you were, right? That's one thing that really comes to light is how lost you were before Christ. And then that desire, I believe God puts it in you.
[3:11] It's part of just the new nature is the desire to please God and to see other people come to Christ. Now, that doesn't mean you're a good soul winner. That doesn't mean you've even attempted it.
[3:22] I mean, it could mean you're just scared to death to even think about it. But still within you, I bet you it's in you. I bet you it's in every one of us is a desire. And I bet if I preached on this for the next 14 Sunday mornings and Wednesday nights that you just feel more and more and more convicted and more and more desire and drive to want to do it and to be a partaker in it.
[3:46] I mean, don't you want to have something to show Jesus Christ, to offer to him, your Savior? Of course you do. And Paul even uses converts.
[3:57] He references that in his epistles about presenting them with him or being presented together, that kind of thought. Anyway, I think the desire is in you.
[4:09] Whether you exercise that is up to you. But I last week then said the second step is what I would call a conviction. It's having a conviction that I need to do this.
[4:20] I need to be a partaker in this or a participant in attempting to win souls for Christ. The desire is there. Now it's time to put my feet where my heart is and actually give an effort.
[4:33] And some Christians are beyond that desire point and they're in that conviction stage where they feel like I need to do this. I'm convicted about it. I want to do this. And then the time comes to do it or the opportunity comes to do it.
[4:48] And sometimes that fight goes on. You know what I'm talking about. So having a conviction is another thing. It's a step forward. And then the third thing that I mentioned that comes out of that is a burden.
[5:01] Some have a burden. Some can't go without it. Some can't shut their mouth. Some can't let some person go by them without trying. You hear this from missionaries. God put a burden on our heart for the people of Brazil or for the people of Paraguay.
[5:16] Or they'll name it. God put. That's a burden. That's a God-given thing. And not every Christian I would say has that burden. The Apostle Paul. I'll show it to you. Look at 1 Corinthians 9. This is the way he described his burden.
[5:30] It wasn't just a desire to see souls saved. He described his desire in Romans about his own countrymen, Israel. He longed for them. I'll read that to you while you're turning. You're going to 1 Corinthians 9.
[5:41] In Romans chapter 10 verse 1, Paul said, Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they might be saved. So there's step one.
[5:52] Paul had that, no doubt. But he had more than that. He had more than just a conviction. He had a burden about it. Verse, let's start reading in verse number 16.
[6:04] In 9.16, Paul says, For though I preach the gospel, I have nothing to glory of. Why? For necessity is laid upon me. Yea, woe is unto me if I preach not the gospel.
[6:15] This is his calling. This is his duty in life given to him by Jesus Christ personally. So it's a burden for the Apostle Paul that he carried with him everywhere he went to preach the gospel.
[6:29] And that's what he did. And so that's what I call the burden there. It's kind of that thought that Paul says, It's nothing, if I do it, I'm not going to pat myself on the back. I have a real calling and burden in life, and a necessity is laid upon me.
[6:44] Now, I know and believe that some people are shy, and some people are scared to death to speak to strangers, to speak publicly. And I understand that. Other people aren't that way at all.
[6:56] Other people are, whether you may say they're gifted, or they're just bold, or they're just, we're just different. And that's okay. But being shy and scared does not necessarily get you off the hook for having a desire and a conviction, at least, that you ought to be active in trying to do something for Jesus Christ and bring some souls to him.
[7:16] Maybe you're either shy and scared, and you're not going to preach on the street. Maybe you're a lady, and you say, Well, I'm never going to go into a bus stop where there's 40 people standing around and just start telling them about Christ.
[7:28] Maybe that's not ever going to happen with you. But there is something you could do. And you don't get to just push it all away and say, Well, I'm intimidated.
[7:38] Because as the scripture says, I can do all things through Christ, which strengthens me. And the things that are right to do in this life, you can do. We can all do them.
[7:48] And we're all scared, too. And we all get nervous. And that's fine. Christ will step in there and come alive. Now, the essentials or the ideas here, the keys toward effective witnessing.
[8:02] Last week, we got kind of through two of them. The first one was to know the scriptures, to know the word of God. And again, it doesn't mean you know everything from Genesis to Revelation.
[8:12] You don't have to expound upon certain deep doctrines and articulate all the events of the flood. And you don't have to go to these things and to these big things.
[8:23] Sometimes it's good to know what you're talking about if people ask questions. But you don't have to be intimidated by questions either. And a good thing to do, if you can, is if you're dealing with somebody and they try to take it to a different direction.
[8:38] And they ask you, Well, what about Cain and his wife? Okay? Like, anytime somebody takes you off track, what you can do, an option, is to say, That's a great question.
[8:51] And we can talk about that. But, and you try to bring it right back to where you are and say, We can talk, we can, I can try to answer that for you. But let me continue where I was. Because that will happen all the time.
[9:02] If you're getting somewhere with somebody and they'll just, Pooh, try to take you over there. Pooh, try to take you over there. The devil's right there putting stuff in their heart and mind to say, Yeah, well, what about this? Yeah, you heard this before, though.
[9:13] That can't be true. You know, so he'll be there. He'll be active. But knowing the scriptures is going to do a huge thing for you. It's going to give you confidence. Now, again, you don't have to know the whole book.
[9:25] You don't have to be proficient even in flipping and turning to all the things. But what you want to do is to know the verses and whether you have them memorized or you're familiar enough with where they are to be able to take somebody.
[9:36] The verses that deal with the components of the gospel of Jesus Christ, of the death of Jesus Christ, that it was for our sins, that it pays their penalty. When just this past, this girl didn't show up tonight, but after Greg was talking about it to somebody, or to Gary, after Sunday, everybody left Sunday.
[9:56] And I was here talking with somebody in my office. And I came out, and there was Greg and some random girl standing there in the fellowship hall. And he's got a Bible. And I'm like, I walked through.
[10:07] I was going to lock up. And he's like, it's Genesis chapter 3, the serpent talking to him. He's going on. He's preaching to her. I'm thinking, whoa, what's going on in here?
[10:19] It turned out this girl, she said she was going to come back tonight. She wanted to interview some Christians and get some, she had some questions about their church and what they get from church and this and that. And so I came and ended up joining him.
[10:30] And he'd been going for a good 20 minutes or so. And then it went for another 20 or better of just, it was incredible. She kept asking questions. It was Bible. Gave her a verse. Answered her question.
[10:41] Took her to this, took her to that, took her to this, took her to that. It was wonderful. And the confidence is there that when she talks, and this is not proud, please don't misinterpret, but when she talks, I'm not intimidated by what's she going to say.
[10:57] What's she going to say? Because I feel like I know where to take her. Or I'm familiar enough with the doctrines of salvation that I can take her.
[11:08] Now, if she asked some crazy thing about some prophecy in Zechariah, I'd have to say, that's a great question. We can come back to that later. But what we want to get to.
[11:20] And anyway, what's one of the best things you can do is to know your scriptures is to practice. I said this last week. I did this myself. It's something you can do in the privacy of your own home is get a gospel track.
[11:33] Get a track that is thorough. Not just an ABC pray after me, but something that gives you a good 10 to 12 scriptures and points about it and is a thorough track.
[11:44] Read through that. See those verses. And then you just, using those, go through your Bible. Find those in your Bible and imagine that you're telling somebody that. And where do I want to go after that?
[11:55] I'm leading the conversation. I show them that they're a sinner, that they come short of the glory of God. You can show them there's a penalty for their sins. Learn those verses. They're not hard to find.
[12:07] And like I said, there's gospel tracks everywhere that can guide you into going that direction. So get familiar with the book. Get familiar with it. I don't think anybody is going to have that excuse unless mentally there is a legitimate issue.
[12:23] I mean, God's not going to ask for a doctor's note, but he knows you. He knows your heart. And he knows if you just want to give him an excuse or just keep pushing it off and pretend, well, I can't memorize or I just can't do things.
[12:37] And I wouldn't make fun of you at all and talk like that if you had a problem. Like mentally you couldn't do it. But you know what the Bible says, out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaketh.
[12:48] And if I followed you around for a day, I bet I'd find out that you know an awful lot of facts about stuff. That doesn't matter. You probably could memorize the scriptures and know how to lead somebody to Christ from start to finish.
[13:02] I'm sure of it. Not only that, God gave you this book to learn it, to study it, and to use it. It's all there. And I hope that you're not going to try to use an excuse to say, I just didn't know or I couldn't know.
[13:18] If you want to get good at anything, you practice. And a lot of times you practice privately on your own where no one can see. And so that's what I did. I'm telling you, if you could see a video of me doing it, I'd look like a really weirdo just preaching up a storm to that lost person in front of me.
[13:36] They were all getting saved. Oh, man, I want so many invisible people to the Lord. Anyway, know the scriptures. Get familiar with them.
[13:47] Don't be afraid to mark your Bible and to take yourself to the next verse or put a little sticky thing there. That's not a bad thing. If your heart is trying to accomplish something, then do what it takes to accomplish it.
[13:59] So know the scriptures. We could say a whole lot more about that, but that'll be enough there. The second thing, then, was using gospel tracks. Like I said, whoever came up with gospel tracks, how did they do it before then?
[14:15] What a wonderful opening. What a very valuable tool to utilize in witnessing to others. The track can't win a soul.
[14:28] There's no power in the paper, but it contains, if it's a good one, it contains the truth from the word of God, and it takes them through those steps that maybe you can't even do on your own.
[14:41] And it can be very, very effective. I want to take some more time this week about the use of gospel tracks and say a few things that maybe can help you about them or maybe change your mind about them or even turn you on to using them more.
[14:57] Because they can be tremendously effective. I told you a few stories last week, just a handful, and then right when we were done, Brother Pfeffer said, yeah, he mentioned the lady's name. She came to church, she says, because a gospel track somebody put somewhere.
[15:10] She found it, and then she got saved, came to church here for years. Do you remember that story? Yeah. That's the one. So, yeah, there was evidence in this local church of that happening in this local area.
[15:21] And if I recall, it was one she found. I'm not sure if that's exactly right, but I thought he said that. Maybe not. Okay.
[15:32] So there you go. And no one got to see the fruit of that at the moment, at the day of. It didn't happen like that. And that was kind of mirrored a story I told you about a guy that was kind of a rough guy that was ready to kill himself.
[15:49] So use gospel tracks. They are tremendous in giving you a great opening to witnessing instead of just blasting away with some. Isn't that a lot of times the biggest step, the most awkward for some of us is just breaking that ice.
[16:04] How do I engage them? How do I do that track and do that for you? And it can be effective to break that ice and then get a conversation going. So you can hand them out.
[16:15] And that's something we talked about a little bit last week. You can leave them lay places. And I want to talk about that a little bit today just to spend some time on the gospel tracks because I think they're a viable ministry, a real tool that can be effective.
[16:31] If that's all you did in your life was hand out tracks and you never preached, you never sang, you never did anything that anyone ever heard your voice ever. If you just handed out tracks, you might be in for some rewards because it's a real ministry.
[16:47] Number one, you can hand them out. That's great. And I think that's best not just for the person, that it's a personal touch, but it's also best for you because you did something.
[16:58] You made a contact. You reached out with your hand instead of just kind of snuck it behind you on the chair and got up and walked away. That can be effective, too. But how much more effective when you hand it to them with a smile and it doesn't have to be a 20-minute message after that.
[17:14] It could just be that's it. Can I give this to you? And you're on your way. The Lord can use those things. And there, I'll give you, some things are just hitting me now. I remember a guy who's a friend of mine and he had a, this was, I don't know if it was just when it came out or we just got a pack of these chick track called Heart Trouble.
[17:34] And he, you know, it was new on the track rack and so he grabbed a couple of them. And he called me up and he said, hey, you know that, you know that new track, the Heart Trouble? He's like, you ain't gonna believe this.
[17:45] And he tells me a story. He was at a gas station. He left. He held the door for this guy as he's walking in. And he's leaving and he had, and he felt the Lord say, give that guy a track.
[17:56] And he's, he looked in and said, Heart Trouble. And he's like, oh, man, you know, I don't know if I can give him this one. It kind of sounds, you know, this guy holding his heart like a heart. But he felt convicted, like you need to give, he felt like God was saying, do it.
[18:10] And so he did. He turned around and went and found, hey, I think I was supposed, and he gave him the track, said Heart Trouble. The guy looked at him and he goes, how did you know? And he's, he's like, I didn't.
[18:20] What do you mean? And he said, I, I just had a heart attack. And I, and he went on to talk to him for a few minutes and tell, and so he got the witness to the man. And because the title of the track was enough.
[18:32] But of course, the Lord inside of him dealing with him saying, that guy right there, you know what that voice is like, I trust. So tracks can be effective. They're so effective if you hand them out.
[18:43] Chick, Chick Publications puts out a stat that, I don't know how accurate this is, but this is a figure they came up with, with the research. They say that 89% of Christians have never handed out a gospel track with their own hands.
[18:57] Now that could be very true. It could be, you know, I don't know. If, if I would just give a disclaimer with that, just personally, I would say that not, not all Christians are in local churches that are even promoting it or even have it or even consider that this is something that they should be participating in.
[19:17] And it's not saying that eight or nine out of 10 refuse to, to do it, but they'll say that they've never done it. That's their, their research and their statistics. And let that, that not be the case with 89% of Bible Baptist church.
[19:34] So handling them out one-on-one is, I think there's endless opportunities to doing that. I know a guy that we would go out door to door and, and I would go with my Bible with a few tracks in my pocket with a few flyers from the church, just kind of ready for anything.
[19:50] And my goal is to, to talk to the people and to try to get them into the Bible and lead them to Christ. And it's like, and this guy, he, he would always want to go by himself. And I'm always like, go with a partner.
[20:02] And, and he would just be like, no, no, he's so friendly. You can never like tell him no. Cause he's just, no, it's okay. I'm just, he just, he's so happy, go lucky, friendly, smiley, like innocent, just a wonderful guy.
[20:16] And we're going through these neighborhoods and I'm going to take one side. He's going to take the other. And he's just chew, chew, chew, just down, down, down. I'm thinking, come on, man, like try to talk to people.
[20:26] And that's how I am inside. I'm kind of a little frustrated that he's not, but then I look at what he's doing. And after being around him for a while, I think this guy's got something going on.
[20:37] He takes a stack of tracks and that's all he wants to do is get a track into the hand of whoever answers the door. He doesn't want to talk to him. He just wants to smile, let him know his name, where he's from.
[20:49] And I wanted to give this to you and have a nice day. And he's gone. And he's smiling the whole time. He's so warm and friendly. And nobody says, get lost, you idiot. But that's what they say to me.
[21:00] And they say, they just take the track. Thank you. And he's walking right down to the next door. Thank you. And he dumps them out all up and down the street. Every neighborhood gets a track with the church information on it.
[21:11] Because his demeanor and his approach and presentation is just non-confrontational and friendly. Now, I try to be friendly too, but it's kind of obvious that I want to talk to them and engage them.
[21:26] And then, you know, people, how they are, just that shuts them off a lot of times. So, anyway, not that that's a wrong thing to do, but let me get back to the tracks. I would like to see the fruit from that man's ministry of all the tracks he's handed out going from house to house to house to house to house.
[21:44] And I don't know, but God does. And I think it's pretty incredible. And I think that's something that you could do too. And you don't even have to talk to people. And sometimes they'll ask you a question and he'll just, basically, it's just what church are you from?
[21:58] And he just tells them what church he's from. That's easy too. And sometimes they'll ask him, what is this all, you know, and it generally doesn't get into much conversation. He's just kind of in, out, in, out, and it's all good.
[22:10] So handing out tracks, you can do it door to door. You can do it when somebody's sitting and waiting anywhere at a restaurant. Name a place.
[22:20] This city here, there's people waiting and sitting all over the place. And you probably pass by them every day. While people are working, you can, if you exchange money, you can exchange a track.
[22:30] Today we were at the gun range and I thought to myself, we were walking back from putting some targets out and coming back. And I just looked out and thought, I don't have a track on me. And I just was thinking on these things of the different kinds of tracks.
[22:43] I thought, I don't know if I've ever seen one that's, like, aimed at shooters and gun guys and NRA guys. And I just thought, I wonder if there is, there probably is.
[22:54] There's probably one out there with bullets on the front of it that would be the right track for everybody on the range. But I didn't have one, obviously. Didn't even, don't even know if they exist.
[23:06] You can hand them out in crowds. But we, one time we were out street preaching at night in our town. And it was kind of dead.
[23:17] It was really dead at this spot that was the best spot. And we had a load of tracks on us. And I saw these lights glowing off in the distance. And I realized that's a, there's a ballpark over there.
[23:29] It's like a minor league thing. And I thought, that thing's going to let loose pretty soon. And a lot of people are going to be coming. And so we kind of just stayed put and crowd.
[23:40] Some came, filtered our way, and we gave them tracks and, you know, kind of picked up some of the preaching. But I thought, the next time we come in here, I'm coming in here with that chick track, The Slugger. Because it has a baseball guy on it.
[23:52] And so we got a couple hundred of those. And we went in and did our street preaching. And it was kind of dead again. And, but I saw those lights glowing. I thought, I know what's going to happen. And so I rounded up the crew that we were with.
[24:03] And we went to the place where the gates kind of funnel out when the game's over. And they just masses are coming through on the sidewalks, passing you by. And so I said to them, here's what we're going to do.
[24:15] I'm going to stand right here. You stand over there. I need somebody here with extra tracks to feed me. Because it's going to go, I'm telling you. And we're going to have it like that. And as soon as that thing let loose, here comes the crowds.
[24:26] And like the people we're with, they're kind of like, whoa. You know, they see this mob coming at you. And you know they're all going to come right beside you. And so I said, hey, just pretend we're part of this, you know, ballpark here.
[24:39] Let's just, so we just started handing out tracks. And it wasn't like, got your gospel track. You're going to hell. I was saying stuff like, hey, you know, go Rebs. That was the team revolution. Go Rebs and have a great night.
[24:51] I was like, yeah, we got the win. I was just acting like I was part of the ballpark. Every single person took one. Nobody, people were stopping. Hey, I need two, one for the, we're like, give me more.
[25:02] I mean, we got hundreds of them out just like that because we just found a good spot and a good place. And anyway, distributing tracks, it's easy to do.
[25:14] And there's tons of opportunities. It is a real ministry. Of course, not everybody wants to hand them out or not every time do you need to hand them out.
[25:24] And there's a load of testimonies of people that have received gospel tracks just by finding them. People leaving them in convenient places at a bus stop or at a waiting room or at a place where somebody's going to be.
[25:36] I know people, I don't generally put them in bathrooms too much, but I know somebody rolled it up inside the toilet paper roll. So eventually it was going to come out. Somebody's going to get a surprise.
[25:47] But there's just be creative. I told you last week about some of them putting them in different retail places, just finding a way to stuff a track in somewhere so that somebody somewhere is going to have an opportunity to receive the gospel.
[26:03] Somebody you'll probably never see with your eyes and never meet, never connect with. But there's a way indirectly that you might be able to get the gospel to them. And you pray, God, you know, bless this thing.
[26:14] Use this thing. Get it to the right person. This is for you. So I want to read this to you. This is called The World's Greatest Missionary. It's in a hundred-point form.
[26:25] I condensed it down to something that I want to read to you. It says, I am the world's greatest missionary. I will go anywhere in the world without complaint. I speak hundreds of languages and dialects fluently.
[26:39] I lead many lost people to salvation through Jesus Christ. I require no salary, so I don't need to raise financial support. I need no home, no clothes, no personal supplies.
[26:51] I have no family that needs my time or attention. I have no desire for personal fame or fortune. The riches of this world mean nothing to me. Peer pressure cannot slow me down.
[27:01] I need no days off or annual furlough. I cannot be tempted to sin. I never get sick. I'm the world's greatest missionary. A hundred percent of my effort goes to preaching the gospel.
[27:13] I'll never compromise the truth for the sake of popularity. Young people love me and enjoy taking me with them to school. I never get frustrated, angry, or impolite. I can't be silent. I present the gospel everywhere I go.
[27:25] I will wait patiently for hours, days, weeks, or longer for a chance to share the gospel. I'll never get tired, quit. I'll never burn out. I don't need a passport. I don't need a visa.
[27:36] I cross all legal and racial barriers. Dictators, ruthless leaders can't stop me. Once I'm inside a country, I can't be kicked out.
[27:46] I will gladly go to countries where witnessing is illegal because I'm the world's greatest missionary. I preach anywhere because I don't fear for my safety.
[27:57] Everybody, educated or not, can understand my message. I love preaching the gospel in prisons because inmates love me. Nobody can resist my method of preaching the gospel. I can preach anywhere on airplanes, buses, trains, street corners, amusement parks, wherever.
[28:12] Other missionaries love me because when they leave, I stay behind and keep on preaching the gospel. I'm no respective persons. I will present the gospel to anyone at any time.
[28:22] No matter how long I'm ignored, eventually someone will allow me to give them the gospel. Who am I? I'm the world's greatest missionary. I am a gospel tract. So interesting thoughts there.
[28:33] And like I said, I think that's a real ministry and a real one that can be used by all of us. So you want to be a little more effective in soul winning?
[28:46] That gospel tract thing is worth considering. Have them on you. I'm guilty of not having them on me like sometimes I ought to. And there's times where I think, oh, that's on me because I should have.
[28:58] And that's something that we have to condition ourselves to remember, to have them on you. Sometimes a gospel tract is all you can do.
[29:10] And sometimes I've gone to doors, going door to door and trying to knock on them, talk to people. And they come to the phone that I are on the phone and they're not going to talk. And all I can do is, hey, just wanted to give you this. I'll let you go. And what happened?
[29:21] Well, they got some tracts. And they've got the gospel and the power of the gospel in their hands at this moment. And what a thought to whether someone saved or lost, to look back across their life and realize that there was a point in life where I had it in my hand.
[29:38] I was that close. And to be the one that put it there. It's not to, you know, to get yourself any points on that. But it's God could use that.
[29:49] And sometimes that's all you can do. And I don't think you'll ever run out of opportunities. I think they're a wonderful ministry. Before we move on, I want to give you one more so that we actually got somewhere tonight forward.
[30:02] Take a look at, let's get, go to Nehemiah chapter 2. So know your Bible. And then have tracts on you.
[30:14] If you want to be effective, then those are two great points. Nehemiah chapter 2. And let's get another place as well.
[30:29] Get Ephesians chapter 6. And a third thought along the lines of being effective in soul winning.
[30:40] Another key is to pray as you go. Be in prayer. Be in communication with God while you're attempting to accomplish something for him.
[30:50] And here's a great example in Nehemiah of how this actually works. And somehow, sometimes it's all you can do. So Nehemiah, you know the story here at the beginning of the book here with the, he's sad about his hometown and the condition of it.
[31:08] And he wants to see something done. The Lord puts this on his heart. He's praying about it. And in chapter 2, the king sees him with a sad countenance.
[31:21] And he, in verse 2, the king said unto me, why is thy countenance sad, seeing thou art not sick? This is nothing else but sorrow of heart. Then was I very sore afraid and said unto the king, let the king live forever.
[31:32] Why should not my countenance be sad when the city, the place of my father's sepulchers, life, waste, and the gates are ever consumed with fire? Then the king said unto me, for what dost thou make request? So I prayed to the God of heaven, and I said unto the king, if it pleased the king, and if you know he didn't get down on his knees and his hands, and say one moment, king, oh God of heaven.
[31:52] You know what he did? If you've been out there trying to talk to people, you're in your heart. God, help me. God, what do I say? When they're responding to something, you're thinking, Lord, what do I say?
[32:03] What's, what's, which way should I go? Help me out here. He's praying to the God of heaven in an instant, in a moment, in a conversation with another human being. If you want to be a little more effective in your witness and your soul winning attempts, then learn how to pray on the spot, in the moment.
[32:22] Take a look at Ephesians chapter 6. Ephesians chapter 6. Pray as you go. Pray before you go. Pray as you go.
[32:33] It's, it's not just part of the operation. I'd say it's part of the preparation. It's getting your heart right. Getting your mind right. And being in tune with God and what he attempts to do and how he leads you.
[32:46] You don't want your flesh to be in the conversation. And that's happened to me far too many times. To where I just, even in, just in, you know what I said?
[32:57] Sunday, knowledge puffeth up. And that's, I've been just a victim to my own flesh and knowledge. To where somebody says something, I know the answer. But that's really not what needs to be accomplished right here.
[33:09] But instead, boom, I'm going to give them the answer. And I'm going to preach, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Nothing's happening. Well, keep the flesh out. Be in prayer. Look at verse 18 and 19 here.
[33:23] Ephesians 6 verse 18. Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the spirit. And watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints. And for me, praying for me, Paul's asking their prayers to be for him.
[33:36] That utterance may be given unto me. That I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel. For which I am an ambassador in bonds. And therein I may speak boldly as I ought to speak.
[33:48] So get this, Paul believes that the saints' prayers for him are going to help him to preach the gospel boldly. And to know what he's supposed to speak.
[34:00] If it works for him, why wouldn't it work for you and me? If your prayers work toward him, I think your prayers will work toward you as well. So prayer is effective and it's necessary and it's even called upon in the scriptures when it comes to opening your mouth boldly and preaching the gospel.
[34:21] And in knowing, as he says, as I ought to speak. Knowing what I should be saying to this person. The right words, the right verses, the right avenue or direction to take them.
[34:32] I don't know if you've done this, but as you witness to some people, it's like you bring them right up to the door. And they're just not ready or they just turn away from it. And then if you still have the opening of teeth, you go back and you come around another angle and you come right back up to the place.
[34:50] And they just don't take it. And I've tried it like three different times. You just take another conversation and you work it right back around to them receiving Christ. And it's like they don't, they just, they're not ready.
[35:02] And that's the prayer is to know what I ought to speak. How should I take this conversation? How can I take this conversation in a direction to where we can land it on Christ dying for their sins and their need for our Savior?
[35:14] And so pray as you go. I'll give you one more verse and then we'll be done. Look at Jude. Flip over to Jude. I think prayer is really easy to neglect.
[35:26] You know it is. It's easy to just neglect praying. It's easy to overlook it as well. It's easy to forget to pray. But it's such an important part of the work and of this spiritual interaction that you're attempting to be part of and partake in.
[35:45] Jude. And look at verse. So you probably know verses 22 and 23. And if some have compassion making a difference. Others save with fear. Pulling them out of the fire. And that's commonly applied to soul winning.
[35:59] Look at earlier in the chapter. Just giving you some of the context here. Earlier in the chapter you've got Enoch preaching the fire. prayer. On these ungodly people in verses 14, 15, 16.
[36:11] And in the middle of that. And just after that. He mentions their mockers in the last time. And ungodly lusts. And so forth. And so in all of that. This preaching to the lost.
[36:22] And trying to save some with fear. In verse 20. He says. But ye beloved. Building up yourselves in your most holy faith. Praying in the Holy Ghost. And I believe prayer.
[36:35] Is a real element necessary. To being an effective preacher. And an effective witness. And even one that will be able to see souls get saved.
[36:46] Is praying in the Holy Ghost. Is walking in the spirit. And being in prayer as you go. Before you go. And as you go. And keeping your communication with God.
[36:58] Don't. What's the. What's that song say. About the flesh. The arm of flesh will fail you. You dare not trust your own.
[37:10] What's that. Standing on the promises. Or one of them. Stand up for Jesus maybe. That's a thought that goes through. Don't trust your ability. And don't trust your knowledge of the Bible.
[37:21] Be in prayer. So pray as you go. I think you'll be more effective. When your mind's right. And when you're in tune with the Lord. And what he's doing. So know your Bible. Have tracks on you.
[37:33] And be in prayer. As you seek to win souls for Jesus Christ. There's three. We've got five more. And I think they will go faster. Probably. But I hope this kind of stuff.
[37:46] Stir's you up a little bit. To participate in it. And even kind of spurs you to. To reach out of your comfort zone. If needed. And to be participant in this. It's going to be something I said earlier.
[37:57] And you're going to have to condition your mind toward it. Because it's very easy just to. To be private. Nobody wants me to bother them. And I don't want them to bother me. And that could be a soul.
[38:07] That God wants to save. Last thought. Praying as you go. Being in prayer. And communication with God. Instead of with the radio. And instead of with your cell phone.
[38:17] But being in communication with God. Will probably alert you more. To the people that he wants you to deal with. Or speak to. Or hand a track to. Because you're thinking on him. You're thinking on what he wants you to be doing.
[38:29] And that'll help you from being a zombie. Just going past everybody. And just trying to get back to your own little world. And I know sometimes that's all you want to do. And things are on your mind.
[38:40] And I fully get it. And it's true for all of us. But if you want to be a witness. And you have a conviction about it. And the Lord burdens you about what you're supposed to be doing for him. You want to be effective.
[38:50] Then take some of these thoughts serious. And see if you can't get something done for God. So we'll be dismissed. Let's have a word of prayer. And then we'll head out of here. God again thank you for Wednesday night.
[39:02] Lord it's a slim crowd. But that doesn't mean anything. We're thankful that we can be together. That the word of God can be thought on. And preached and taught. And I pray God that these thoughts. That we're considering tonight.
[39:14] That they would be. That they'd bear fruit in our hearts first. And in our minds. And then Lord that something would. Come of it outwardly. That we'd be active. That your spirit would guide us.
[39:25] That we'd be obedient. And that we'd even see some fruit. If you'd allow. Of some souls coming to Jesus Christ. And receiving him as their savior. And their eternity being fixed.
[39:36] And changed forever. And then Lord. We would rejoice in that. But Father for now. Just help us to learn on these things. And to grow in them. And begin to move us.
[39:47] And grow us. Into soul winners. That are pleasing to our Father. We pray this in Jesus name. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.