Soul Winning 101: What Are You Doing on Earth For Heaven’s Sake? | Evangelism Bible School Lecture

[0:00] Welcome along everybody again. You've all got the notes I hope. So we've got quite a few! pages of notes to go through. Tonight we're talking about the subject of evangelism, soul winning.

[0:18] Winning souls. And just as a way of introduction, I like to ask the question, what in the world are you doing for heaven's sake?

[0:30] What are you doing on earth for heaven's sake? And we think of Isaiah 6 verse 8. Isaiah heard the voice of the Lord saying, whom will I stand? Who will go for us?

[0:41] And Isaiah says, here am I. Send me. A definition of evangelism is really, evangelism is sharing the gospel.

[0:53] It's sharing the gospel, the good news. Gospel means good news. And someone put it like this, it's one beggar telling another beggar where to get bread. Because really we're just, as believers, we're blessed to be saved and we're telling others the experience that we've had to know the Lord, isn't it?

[1:14] And, but for the grace of God we could be still lost and outside of Christ. But because we found that bread, the bread of life, we want to share it with others too. And in the notes there it talks about that evangelism. It's the work of God reaching the unsafe for Christ through the activity of the church by various forms of proclaiming the gospel.

[1:36] And we could unpack all of those different elements there. In a nutshell, it's sharing the gospel. So we'll kind of unpack that and talk about that as we go through. And an important point is that God uses people. He doesn't send angels to tell others the gospel.

[1:51] He uses human beings like you and me. And in your notes there, there's a little kind of funny story. When the Lord returned to earth, his work on earth was finished. The angel Gabriel met him and asked what plans he had made to make sure his work on earth would be carried on.

[2:09] He said, I've given the message to Peter and John, to Mary and Martha. They will tell others and thus the message will spread. Then the angel says, but suppose that the fishermen are too busy with their fishing and the women are too engrossed in their housework.

[2:25] So they forget to tell their friends or the friends forget to pass the message on. What other plans has thou made, Lord? And Jesus paused for a minute then answered, I have no other plan. There is no other plan.

[2:37] Now that is God's plan that human beings, you and me, tell other human beings about the good news, the gospel. There is no other plan. So it's very important. So looking at the importance of evangelism, there's a huge urgency about it.

[2:54] And we see the world as it is today. People are more and more indifferent, so couldn't care less, or they're opposed to the gospel. And the truth is that the gospel needs to be urgently proclaimed. The world needs the truth.

[3:10] And there's lots of scriptures here. I'll just touch on some. Like Luke 19, 10, it says, For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost. There's need of warning these souls.

[3:23] Ezekiel 33 talks about blood on the hands. It's important that we warn. It talks about blood on the hands there. And then John 4, 35, the Lord Jesus says, Look on the fields. They're white already to harvest. Lift up your eyes, he says.

[3:37] And so there's need for immediate action. The harvest is now. Time is short and eternity is long. The core message of evangelism really, it's the whole Bible message. The whole Bible tells us about God's plan of salvation.

[3:56] From go to woe, from Genesis to Revelation, we see that God's plan is there. Salvation is through the Lord Jesus Christ. And the church is there as the ones who are meant to be the messengers called to carry out this message to the world.

[4:11] To throw out the lifeline, if you like, as the picture of throwing a life boy to someone who's drowning. And there's need for a passion for the lost. So we'll unpack some of that as we go through.

[4:27] It's good if you can think about key verses that you can use when you're witnessing to someone, that you can tell them the gospel. And so it's good to have a bit of a pattern. Everyone gets their own kind of way of doing it.

[4:40] There's different people use different methods. Ray Comfort's got a method where he talks about, are you a good person? And they say they are, but then you say, well, have you ever stolen? Have you ever lied? Have you ever lusted?

[4:55] Which is equivalent to adultery. And sort of breaks it down to show that actually there's none good. No, not one. We're all sinners. We've all come, fallen short. So Ray Comfort's approach is quite good there.

[5:09] But I would caution with Ray Comfort. He's into Lordship Salvation. So he adds to the gospel. It's actually not wise. And so I wouldn't recommend him for that reason. If you get some of these key verses in your mind and really make them memory verses that you try to memorize them, or at least have a chain of these verses in your Bible. You can write them down as a sequence.

[5:32] And this is what I often use in really broaching the subject, showing someone that they're a sinner, basically, which is a really important starting point because some people think, well, I'm okay. I'm all right, Jack.

[5:45] You know, I'm not that bad a person. Well, Romans 3.23, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. And then the consequence, it goes on, for the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

[6:01] That's what we like to emphasize. Salvation is a free gift. It's a gift. It's received as you would receive a gift. It's free. And then Ephesians 2.8-9, for by grace are you saved through faith. Grace, faith, that not of yourselves.

[6:17] It is the gift, the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. So some make it that you've got to do other things to merit or to earn it or to prove it.

[6:28] But no, it's by grace through faith. And these are really key evangelism memory verses. That's really good to get in your mind and have that kind of in your thoughts when you do present the gospel.

[6:42] Not saying you have to do it a particular way necessarily. You'll find your own method. Some like to call it like the Romans road is what they call it because it's the book of Romans and they call it the Romans road.

[6:54] So you go, there's numbers of other verses from Romans as well that they tend to go through. And I find that's quite a good method as well. So the gospel in a nutshell is that salvation is a gift. It's purchased by Christ's blood.

[7:08] And it's freely given to anyone who receives Christ, who receives the gift. Of course, we could talk more about other verses. John 3.16 is a classic, isn't it?

[7:19] That, you know, God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life. Again, that picture of Christ given for us the gift to simply receive, to believe on him, to believe in him.

[7:38] Acts 16.31, serves what must I do to be saved. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved and thy house. John 1.12 is a good one to go when you're simply explaining to receive salvation.

[7:51] Really, it's receiving Christ. John 1.12, but as many as received him, Christ, to them gave him power to become the sons of God, children of God, even to them that believe on his name.

[8:02] And then you've got 1 Corinthians 15.3-4 where Paul talks about, as it says in your notes there, I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, that he was buried, that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures.

[8:19] So these are key verses to get in your mind and pick or choose those that might fit the occasion or develop your own kind of routine or set of verses that you might use depending on the context and the person you're talking to.

[8:35] So our role, really, every Christian, every one of us here that knows Christ, every believer, should be a soul winner. And again, God chose humans, not angels, to preach the gospel.

[8:48] In fact, if you get an angel preach a gospel, it's probably a sus one because we know certain religions, certain denominations have had angels come and give golden plates and revelations.

[9:01] But no, the gospel comes through human souls that are faithful to the word of God. And we're called to be fishers of men, Matthew 4.19. We're called to be ambassadors for Christ.

[9:12] And when you think about being an ambassador, that's a really important role that we represent the kingdom of God on earth. We represent the king of kings in this foreign land that we're in for the meantime as God's people.

[9:25] We're kind of foreigners, but we're ambassadors. We're representatives of the Lord. So it's a vital responsibility that we have. And 1 Peter 3 talks about always being prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks us the reason for the hope that we have.

[9:43] Romans 1.16, we know we ought not to be ashamed. Paul says, for I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.

[9:56] So don't be ashamed. You know, it can take a bit of gumption to share the gospel, but do not be ashamed. It's very important that we do what we can to speak up.

[10:08] So think of the harvest. It's valuable. It's eternal. And souls are precious. Depend on the Holy Spirit as well. And be sincere. Don't argue. One of the traps can be you try to win an argument, but you lose a friend.

[10:21] And you maybe lose a soul because you're just being obnoxious and argument can be off-putting. You don't want to do that. So next section, why do we witness? Why do we do it?

[10:32] Because it's God's desire. It's his mandate. And look at that, Proverbs 11.30, he that winneth souls is wise. It's a wise thing to do. It's a great thing to do. It's honourable to the Lord.

[10:44] And the Lord wants us to have that passion for souls, just like he had, to reach the unreached. And the mandate is for every believer. We know the Great Commission, Matthew 28, verse 19.

[10:57] Go ye therefore and teach all nations, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you. So like making disciples, you could put it. And then we've got Mark 16, 15.

[11:08] Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. So it's not just preachers behind pulpits that preach. It's every witness. Every believer is a witness of these things.

[11:20] Next one, we've got motivations for soul winning. You could think how really there's an eternity at stake here and the concern for eternal souls.

[11:31] And 2 Corinthians 5.11, it says, Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men. You know, there's people in great peril. They're on the edge of the precipice. They're on the edge of the chasm, about to step into eternity.

[11:44] And the Bible talks about there's just a step between me and death. And really there's people that are on the edge of eternity that are not prepared to face Christ. They're going to go to an eternal destruction.

[11:56] 1 Corinthians 9.22, it says, Paul says that I might by all means save some. So have that motivation. How can I find ways to witness to the people in my circle of influence?

[12:08] The love of Christ constraineth us. It talks there in 2 Corinthians 5.14, a love for Christ and a love for others because of Christ.

[12:20] And we see Christ's love took him from heaven's glory to come and be the sacrifice for our sin. So this passion that ought to provoke us not to be silent but to speak up and to give glory to God by reaching out, to have that concern for the well-being of eternal souls.

[12:41] Amen. There's a challenge involved in evangelism too. Think of the challenge, the lost condition of man, the lost world that we live in. As we talked about, all have sinned, the wages of sin is death.

[12:55] It says, he that believes not is condemned already. It tells how the wrath of God abideth on him. It talks about the lost as dead in sins without hope. The lost in hell are crying out.

[13:07] They're wanting soul winners. As we know, the rich man cried out, send someone to tell his loved ones that were yet to come into eternity, to tell them.

[13:19] The lost in hell cry out about souls. But yet many are unable to see or understand without the gospel. They're blind. They're spiritually blinded.

[13:31] Another challenge is the fact that we're in this hostile world that's opposed to the gospel, this prodigal world. You've got the rebellion, the spiritual bankruptcy. We've got the spiritual warfare going on.

[13:43] We can expect opposition. We can expect that it's going to be hard work to at times reach some people. They can be contrary to the gospel. They don't want to know some people.

[13:54] But we should still be faithful and put on our spiritual armour, Ephesians 6, and be strong in Christ because we know greater is he that is in us than it is in the world.

[14:06] And another challenge that we face is the lack of labourers. Matthew 9.37 talks about the harvest truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few. Okay, so lots of challenges, but don't let that put you off doing it.

[14:19] Amen? Okay, next slide. We're going to go into how to witness. So just turning over to top of page three, how to witness. Prepare in prayer. Ask the Lord to help you.

[14:32] It's a vital ingredient, isn't it? Saturate your witness in prayer. Pray for divine appointments, for openings. Ask God for open doors to have opportunity to share.

[14:44] And have that mind to be alert to them when they come up. Oh, actually, that might be a good way of saying something to this one because of the occasion, particular words you might think are appropriate and fitting to share the gospel.

[15:00] Of course, it's important that we know the gospel ourself, what it is, to be able to be very clear about that, not to be confused about the gospel. Witness person to person as well.

[15:12] Reaching out everywhere, to everyone. It could be reaching out to our family. They can be the hardest ones at times. Going into the highways. Reaching the world.

[15:23] There's different ways of witnessing. But person to person is the ultimate, and really that is always the case, that it's one soul at a time, isn't it? Win one soul at a time, one by one. And think about it in a practical way too, that it could happen anywhere, anytime, to all kinds of people, even in your day-by-day routine lives, that you might come across someone, that you can engage with them.

[15:45] And make it personal. It's their soul's destiny that's at stake, and different people you can relate to in different ways. So I guess it's tailoring, how you tackle it, how you approach them, what you say.

[15:57] Just be yourself. Be sincere and tactful. Try to give them genuine consideration and that thoughtfulness in how you approach them.

[16:08] Important too, if you can, think about, for example, how you got saved, how you came to know the Lord. In Luke 8.39, the Lord talks about showing others, what He has done for you.

[16:20] And we think about personal testimony, everyone's testimony is different. We've all come to the Lord in different ways, haven't we? So you could think about, maybe it'd be good for you to kind of think about, these kind of three aspects of, how you came to know the Lord, what you were saved from, your past life, who you used to be, before Christ, like BC.

[16:42] And then how you were saved, how you came to that journey to faith, how it came about, that you heard the gospel and you came to respond, to come to know the Lord.

[16:53] And then what the Lord means to you now and what He's doing in your life now. So it's good to have that personal testimony. So you can kind of relate that, depending on who you're talking to.

[17:05] Because really our life is the gospel as well. We can live the gospel, let your light shine, talks about Matthew 5.16. And we can attract others to the Lord by sharing how personally we came to know the Lord for ourselves.

[17:19] And that can really relate to some people, depending who we're talking to as well. I know like Michael was saying last week, someone has got this saying, you know, give the gospel, use words if necessary.

[17:32] But of course we know that there's an element of truth in that our life should be a witness, but unless we speak, they're not going to know. So it's important that we share the gospel, that we open our mouth and declare it.

[17:45] Because as much as we might live a good Christian witness and be a good employee or a good colleague at work or, you know, do the right thing in our life, unless you actually share the gospel, they're not going to be able to hear it.

[18:00] Because faith comes by hearing, it talks about. So we want to be bold enough, wisely so, to share the gospel, to speak up for Christ. Next one, the method of evangelism.

[18:15] Really, it is person to person. It's one by one. The right man, or the right woman, the right place, the right time, the right words, as we talked about before as well.

[18:27] And going two by two, that's why as we reach out with the kind of contact evangelism, door-to-door evangelism, it's good to pair up so you can buddy up. That's why we like to do that on a Saturday and everyone's welcome to come and join.

[18:41] And you buddy up, you've got a bit of reinforcement, you can help each other and reach out. As God helps you to share the gospel with a buddy, that can really help.

[18:53] And you can learn too, you can go out as a, you know, they call it a silent partner, you can go out and just observe so you can learn and get more familiar before you even say anything. So if you're feeling really, totally nervous and you don't really want to say a word, don't let that stop you from coming out if you'd like to come and join the door-knocking team.

[19:11] So that's one of the methods there. And again, as far as steps to take, know the gospel yourself. It's really important that you're clear about that, that what the gospel is, that you pray, you depend upon the word of God, that you've got scriptures to come to mind, that you look for those openings.

[19:32] And furthermore, you can follow up people too, like do some discipleship. When someone trusts the Lord, you can help them to grow as well.

[19:43] Here's some practical tips now about how we can approach, choose the right time. Sometimes you do, like for example, door-knocking and they might be just genuinely busy or it could be you might want to talk to someone at work or whatever and it's really not the right time because they're not in that zone where you can really have a conversation.

[20:04] They're too busy, whatever it is. And start maybe with a point of interest as the Lord talked about different ones when he talked to the woman at the well. He related about the water and he kind of made it more of a natural conversation and it came to talk about spiritual water and he brought a spiritual truth out of it.

[20:25] When you witness to, if you can show respect and courtesy, meekness as well, don't go out there trying to, you know, putting it over people. Just try to relate and talk about the gospel.

[20:38] Don't get off on sidetracks and side issues because it's just going to go down rabbit holes. Just keep to the gospel. Keep to the main gospel message. It's important too, as it says there, to be personable and, you know, it's like having a winsome personality.

[20:53] I kind of like the idea of if we want to win some people for the Lord, we want to be winsome as in having that personable kind of attitude that you're not like an off-putting person in your attitude.

[21:05] You're actually a person that they can kind of relate to. You can get on with them and you're a reasonable kind of person. And so that you'll be going to get more of a fair hearing than you trying to be argumentative and just put them down because they have got some false ideas and such.

[21:21] Good also to have some patience to don't condemn people, to criticise them and keep things steered towards spiritual matters. As far as tools, it's really good if you've got a Bible to have that to hand.

[21:35] Maybe keep one in your glove box or sometimes you can get these little small personal workers New Testaments. They're really handy to have like a little New Testament in your pocket or somewhere handy.

[21:48] Of course, these days you've got it on your phone as well. But it's good to keep tracks handy as well for any openings. Have a bunch of tracks and there's a whole selection of tracks. We've got various ones.

[21:59] You know, have a selection on hand and you might be able to find just the right one to come to hand when you need it. Use your Bible so to go through the basic method of encouraging them.

[22:13] Some like this method, A, B, C. So admit, admit that you're a sinner. Believe, B, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. C, come to Christ. You know, basically it's just getting them to receive Christ, trust in Christ.

[22:27] And all along the way you want to depend upon the Lord because really soul winning, we're really only God's messenger, aren't we? But we can't save anybody but we can be used of the Lord.

[22:39] So it's really God saves souls. We can only be a messenger of the gospel and it's ultimately Christ's work to change them from the inside. but God helping us, we can all be God's instrument.

[22:51] We can be God's channel to trust, hopefully, faithfully deliver the message. God helping us to, all right? So it's really important to depend on the Lord.

[23:03] Okay, presenting the gospel. Here's some ways you could, again, put it, how to present the gospel. Sometimes, quite often, you come across people that don't really see their need.

[23:14] They don't see their need to, you know, I'm all right, Jack, I've got everything I need, especially Aussies these days, you know, a lot of people are very comfortable and easygoing and, you know, why do I need God?

[23:28] You know, well, you need God because you're a sinner and then they might try to say, well, I'm not as bad as the next guy, I haven't committed this sin or that sin, some awful sins, but no, we're all sinners.

[23:40] It's coming to that realisation, that's the first point, really, admit that you're a sinner, we're all sinners and once you realise you're a sinner, then it follows on that you're spiritually lost and you cannot save yourself.

[23:52] I like to put this one because you do get, you know, as we know, Muslims say they believe in Jesus but they believe in the Jesus that's a good prophet, a great teacher, maybe one of the best teachers and one of the most moral men that ever lived and they esteem him as a prophet, a prophet, but they don't know him as a saviour and that's the big difference between really every other religion and every other persuasion that they don't have a saviour.

[24:20] Once you know that you're a sinner, you need a saviour and Ephesians 2 talks about, you know, for by grace you're saved through faith that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast.

[24:32] We cannot save ourselves, we can't do anything to save ourselves, not the best effort that we can do. I know when I'm witnessing sometimes, I talk about that one, that we've all come short of the glory of God and I like to kind of demonstrate it, well, you know, it's like God's perfection is so high, it's so unattainable, you know, his perfection level as much as we might try and stretch and we might even build a ladder of good works to be tall enough that it's not going to make it.

[24:59] No ladder of good works of religion that we make is going to make it to reach God's perfection. We just can't attain it. We're going to come short of the glory of God. But in Christ, Christ reached down to man and he reached down to us and grabbed a hold of us.

[25:13] It's not that are reaching up to him or doing anything to merit heaven or to work for it or to deserve it. It's Christ reaching down to man that saves us and Christ died for us.

[25:24] That's the thing. You've got to believe that, that Christ died for sinners. Romans 5 verse 8, that's another one of the Romans road ones, that Christ died for us and Acts 4 verse 12 talks about there's none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved.

[25:43] So no other name's going to save. You could say whether it's Buddha and Mohammed, you know, you name it, unless it's Christ, they're not going to be able to save you.

[25:53] He's the one and only saviour. And so it's really good to emphasise that with people as well. A good lead-in to someone when you're maybe first starting talking to them is have you ever given thought to spiritual matters or a really good kind of one to kind of provoke a discussion might be God forbid if you were to die tonight would you go to heaven?

[26:17] Would you have eternal life? And would you like to know for sure how you can have eternal life? And so you can unpack that with them as well. It's basically showing that God's willing to save and the price that he paid God gave his son and we can encourage people to trust him to have that assurance.

[26:37] Now it can be helpful to pray to offer a simple prayer to pray with them and then encourage them to pray. I know some maybe overly emphasise a sinner's prayer.

[26:48] It's not the prayer that saves them. It's not the words or parroting the witnesses' words. It's really got to come from their heart. We can only be a guide.

[26:58] And it can be still helpful though to use the words of a simple sinner's prayer as a guide explaining to them first what you're praying so that they're very clear about what it is that they're praying.

[27:11] But far better really if you can explain what to pray and then they put it in their own words to pray to trust Christ to call upon his name. And when you're witnessing too try to avoid jargon keep it simple.

[27:27] And then once they have prayed you want to encourage them to give them assurance so I'll talk a bit more about that after. Okay, so that's presenting the gospel.

[27:38] And along the way we're going to have these situations where people are going to object. I'm not going to labour all of these but you've got some examples here. The kind of objections that people put up to the gospel.

[27:53] For example oh, I've got too much to give up. If I become a Christian I've got to give up this or that that I know I shouldn't be doing. But then you can think well, actually what really matters at the end of the day in eternity that even if you might have to let go of something there's far much more that you get from the benefit of trusting Christ and of the blessings of knowing him.

[28:16] And of course you could gain the whole world lose your soul. What's more important? Mark 8.36 as well. Some would say again the Christian life is too hard but the yoke that Christ gives is easy.

[28:29] His burden is light. I'll become a Christian later. I'm not ready yet. James 4.14 talks about we don't know what might come tomorrow. So as per the slide here to address the objection try to find a scriptural counter to what they're saying.

[28:47] That is the best ideally. So for example I'll become a Christian later. I'm not ready yet. The Bible talks about today is the day of salvation. And really we don't know if we're going to get another chance.

[29:00] This could be your one and only opportunity to witness to this person without you being pushy or trying to cajole them or pressure them that you want to really emphasize to them hey don't put this off because you don't know how long you've got before you face eternity.

[29:19] Some would say well there's too many hypocrites in the church but we know look we're all humans but Christ is perfect. We know that churches are not perfect.

[29:30] I'm too busy. What shall it profit a man if he gains the whole world? Hey you could work a lifetime and amass a fortune but if you miss heaven you've missed the whole purpose of life.

[29:42] What shall it profit a man if he loses his soul? Some would then have the counter I'm good enough you know I'm an upstanding citizen I'm a good kind of person I go to mass every whatever I give to charity I'm a good enough person it's just trying to help them to understand hey look we're all in the same boat we've all sinned I've sinned all have sinned and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags even the best things that we do and then you get the opposite side of the coin I'm too bad you know I'm too far gone you know what would God want with me I'm just too far far away from God but the Bible says Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners so it's a good thing that you're recognising you're a sinner because this is who Jesus came for he didn't come for the righteous and those that had it all together he came for the sinners and it tells us that John 6 37 he says those who come to me are in no wise cast out he's not going to cast away anyone you can't be bad enough that Jesus will reject you if you come to him it says

[30:48] Isaiah 1 though your sins be as scarlet they shall be as white as snow so even though you might be the most grievous sinner then there's no reason not to come to him some would then raise questions about sorrow and suffering that had some hard things happen to them or others there's scriptures there you could refer to along that line some of these things they're kind of they can be hard questions to tackle but hopefully you can get some kind of ideas from the notes here then some will say oh you know you've got your religion I've got mine we're all going in the same place anyway all roads lead to heaven kind of thing but then you can counter that with like John 14 6 Jesus says I am the way the truth and the life no man comes to the father but by me in Matthew 7 talks about the narrow way says broad is the way that leads to destruction many there be that go in there out but he says I am the narrow way the way that leads to life some more tips here dealing with false religions sometimes you can get off on a tangent where people might start saying well

[31:59] I'm a Mormon or I'm a Seventh-day Adventist or I'm whatever religion you could name numbers of them don't really get into criticising their beliefs at least not at the start it's kind of a red herring it's kind of going to take it down a whole machination really it's presenting to them the fact that they're going to face eternity and if you died right now are you sure you'd go to heaven and how can I show you how you can know the way to heaven and it's keeping your heart soft towards them as well pray for them leave the door open maybe they're not ready yet maybe they've just got such a fixation with where they've come from their religious culture but try to keep it so that there's an open door you're not leaving them kind of enraged or having antagonised them try to keep that door open so that they can know that yeah you're open to talking about things with them because some of these principles here with these difficult questions the whole goal is to lead them to Christ not to solve all their problems or all their arguments or all the kind of side issues the peripheral matters they want to go on and on about you want to present Christ to them and lead them to

[33:20] Christ and if you don't know something just be honest you don't have to have all the answers to every little pet question they might come up with simply keep pointing them to the Lord and keep listening as well to uncover the deeper heart questions emphasize the Holy Spirit's power some think they're too sinful or this or that or becoming a Christian means I've got to give up this sin it's about presenting Christ to them that Christ is the answer to their essential need of salvation and some might have hurts from others from the past oh this church hurt me this Christian hurt me we may not be able to answer that in exact you know in exact detail but we can focus on that Christ is able to heal he's able to heal our hurts from the past and he's able to comfort us and be our saviour and whatever people or churches have done to us it's not really the issue it's whether you're going to heaven or not it's whether you've got assurance of eternal life or not next slide we're talking about harvest and the

[34:39] Lord Jesus talks about that the fields are white all ready to harvest so this picture here in John 4 that the fields are already ready they're ripe they're ready to bring in the sheaves it's talking about the unsaved multitudes the harvest is this whole field of grain that's ready to be harvested to get the sickle out and bring in the harvest it's speaking about the unsaved and the ones who bring in the harvest are you and me we're God's labourers and Matthew 9 37 similar reference there the Lord says the harvest truly is plenteous there's this great harvest but the labourers are few and when you think about it the problem is that many Christians don't know where the field is or what to do there some people don't as a believer as a Christian sometimes we don't catch this very important truth that every one of us are called to this mission it's not some ministers or particular ministries or it's just not the select few it's every believer every believer that is called to this work of evangelism now you're not necessarily an evangelist as such in the kind of formal sense of it but in the sense that evangelism is a shared ministry that every believer there's a ministry called every believer evangelism and that's the truth that really every believer is meant to be doing this work and yet some people are just oblivious to the fact that the fields are white the fields are ripe they're ready to be harvested we can think about how the apostles gave witness to Christ's resurrection

[36:20] Andrew told Peter Philip brought Nathaniel the persecuted Christians witnessed everywhere there's different examples of witnessing but the whole same concept is there of this sense of harvest and when you think about the wording here that the harvest is ripe it's ready so what's holding us back when you think like as farmers in the farmer analogy when the harvest is ready you don't really muck around when the harvest is ready you've got to bring it in and it's that picture there what's stopping us what's holding us back it's really a call to urgency isn't it that the fields are ready the souls are ready they're ripe I've got to lift up my eyes and look at these fields the fields are all around us the streets all around the streets all around us the city all around us the city of our community is ready and the problem is the labourers are few and it's still the same today and in the context

[37:28] Matthew 9 38 the Lord says pray ye the Lord of the harvest that he'll send forth labourers into his harvest it's got this sense of thrusting them forth like you know sending them out shoving them out into the work that needs to be done and we should pray for that now when we witness seeing we can expect different responses responses vary and we know that as our Lord talks about the parable of the sower yeah the four kinds of soil there in Mark 4 so you might get some as the picture there is of a man who goes out to sow the sower went out to sow and the seed in the explanation of it the Lord says that the seed is the word of God he says that he's got a bag of seed like a satchel a bag and it's full of seed and he's grabbing that seed and he's throwing it out as he walks down the furrows down the field and the Lord talks about these four kinds of ground so some would be the wayside you know where the path is where it's just rock hard where the people have been walking it's like the pavement like the footpath it's like hard some people are just hard-hearted and they'll just totally object and refuse and then you get the stony ground where again it's just not receptive then you get the thorns talks about the world's cares and and other loves of other things half-hearted people people that aren't really serious about knowing God and they might be double-minded and might kind of say a token might show a token interest but then you have the good ground that is the ground that is fertile where the seed can go down deep into the soil and that seed can then germinate and it can grow and that's that's a picture of how when we're witnessing when we're throwing out the seed that this is really the the hearers that are believing they're believing hearers and they receive the seed the gospel so don't be discouraged if it seems like you're getting a lot of objections because just the problem is not the seed you know you're saying all the right things you're sharing the gospel you're giving the gospel as faithfully as you know how to and you're trying your best and you're still going to strike some ground as it were that is like the hard hearted ground the hard the half hearted you're going to get some hearers that are just not responsive and are not going to receive the word of God they're not going to receive the gospel but then God helping you you strike some who do receive and thank God then you'll have that rejoicing that they did receive the gospel and they got saved another aspect is follow you've got to get their name and phone number or some contact means so then you can contact them later and just be an encouragement just try to follow them up and give them a bit of support and offer you a way behold all things have become new and they're starting a new relationship with

[40:48] God you know as many as received him he gave them power to become the children of God the sons of God even to them that believe on his name so they're like little children they're like babes in Christ and it's good to encourage them in time to really be baptised there's no need to prolong that but if they've trusted Christ it's good for them to commit in baptism and then help them to grow help them to keep learning keep training keep taking in the word of God committing it to faithful men so they can teach others also so they can also become a witness like you so it's a whole new identity they get isn't it a whole new relationship and a whole new lifestyle as well and last page there page six we're about encouraging believers to sometimes you get people that are backslidden they're not sure about their salvation they're struggling with sin they're discouraged I know that when someone trusts the Lord it's good to for example it's not in your notes but 1 John 5 verses 11 through 13 1 John 5 verses 11 through 13 it's good to share verses like this one when someone trusts the Lord because really the first thing that happens when someone trusts the Lord and calls on the Lord for salvation is the devil wants to defeat them to discourage them to deter them to stop them from growing to make them backslide to not fellowship and sometimes they can get full of all this condemnation and feel like maybe they're not saved or they've lost their salvation which is not possible but they've got this lack of assurance of salvation so 1 John 5 11 it says and this is the record that God hath given to us eternal life so the gift picture again the gift given to us eternal life and this life is in his son he that hath the son hath life and he that hath not the son of God hath not life these things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the son of God that you may know that you have eternal life some people say well I hope I have eternal life

[42:48] I hope I'm going to heaven or I think I'm going to heaven I think I have trusted Jesus I think that I'm a Christian but no the Bible says you can know that you're a Christian you can know that you're a Christian you can know that you have eternal life according to 1 John 5 11 through 13 there and another thing too is John 10 28 it's a good one to tell someone who's trusted the Lord John 10 28 it's not in your notes there it says that Jesus says I give unto them eternal life and they shall never perish neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand so they can have that assurance that assurance that yeah I'm saved because I'm in his hand he says that no one's going to pluck you out of my hand out of the father's hand so it's a great assurance there that you can have next one the role of the Holy Spirit it's important that we know that we've got another helper we've got another comforter and of course it's critical really the

[43:51] Holy Spirit takes that critical word of God and brings that conviction of sin and it helps he helps us in evangelism to guide us and he'll convict the world of sin of righteousness of judgment and of course in Acts 1 8 it talks about you shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost comes upon you and you will be my witnesses witnesses so in Jerusalem Judea to the uttermost parts of the world so it talks about how you shall be my witnesses and how because of the power of the Holy Spirit so we're empowered by we're endued with power from on high and so we want to trust the leading of the Holy Spirit of course the Holy Spirit won't act in contradiction to the word of God he will always act in accord with the scriptures and we can know that and we want to be used of God and be that evangelist God helping us that will have that compassion and that consistency that dedication and that motivation to keep on witnessing in conclusion really just to sum it up as a call to action evangelism soul winning it's a mandate for all

[45:02] Christians for all of us and we can all witness in our own way I know we've got a younger person here in the school you know we can witness to our schoolmates to our classmates to our teachers maybe if they're not saved you know it's a it's a whole wide world out there of people that we can reach out to isn't it and be a witness yourself God helping you to be a good witness not a poor testimony that you can be seen that yeah you're a fair dinkum Christian and be willing to open up your mouth and share the gospel it's a mandate it's something that's really mandated it's something it's our duty to do it's his command that we should go and some would say they'll use excuses like well I'm praying about it or it's kind of like fobbing it off I'm not called someone else can do it that people can use all kinds of excuses and alibis or you know sort of reasons why you know maybe I'm just not a talker or I'm just too nervous or whatever it be hey look everyone has those moments when they feel nervous and a bit shy and it's a bit hard let God use your personality in his way because everyone's personality is different not everyone's a big blabber mouth gab gab!

[46:19] sort of person but you can still be a quiet witness and you can still be a faithful witness even just sharing a few words here and there when it's appropriate to and the message really is go it's go there's no waiting for ideal conditions you know some would think well and it's sometimes like that when we go door knocking well the weather's not favourable well it doesn't really matter you know we can wait for the favourable conditions and miss out on the opportunity we shouldn't wait for ideal conditions and don't wait to think hey I'll wait till I know more about the Bible now if you're a saved man a saved woman and you know that you're saved you're ready to be a witness you don't have to wait you don't have to have years of training or have some kind of training course well you've had the training course tonight so you're fully qualified but no you don't have to have any kind of training really you just have to be yourself and let the Lord use you you know really it's the primary task of the church is soul winning and it's often lost in modern churches where they don't they don't really seem to care about soul winning it's in some quarters it's more about drawing a crowd and gathering people together without really presenting the gospel they miss that that's a real shame it's a tragic thing and and some people go to church morning and night and midweek in some churches and they don't even hear the gospel presents it so they're not even saved you know they're just a church goer without being saved but the

[47:52] Bible says that he that winneth souls is wise it says the fruit of the righteous is a tree of life he that winneth souls is wise so just can I encourage you brother sister here tonight that God is able to use you the person that you are in his service in his army and believe the scriptures tell it like it is tell people the gospel you can use tracks sometimes people like to maybe talk through a track okay this track's got really a great summary we've got boxes of them in the corner there and it's a great summary really to step you through your need good works cannot save you God loves you Christ died for your sins eternal life is a free gift believe and trust in the Lord and then it's God's forever gift that we can know forever that we're saved that we've got that assurance so there's lots more we could say but I know just in closing if we can trust God's guidance as well let the Lord lead you to the ones he might prompt you about certain people in your life that

[48:58] God's putting on your heart that yeah actually you could think they might have a tender heart and I can find those opportunities and pray for them and then pray for those openings those opportunities to speak to them now I know we talked about doing some kind of role plays I think I'll just maybe just do a quick presentation myself as to for example how I do a door knocking approach and you know when you're witnessing you're not always door knocking but it's the same essential kind of components really and you might like to grab one or more of these because I find these really quite handy it's called a marked New Testament and so you come to the door and you say for example I'll just use my kind of normal pattern hi I'm Andrew from a local Baptist church and I'm with so and so and we're just introducing ourselves meeting the neighbours just wondered how we can be a support to you as a church and I wanted to talk to you about the good news the gospel have you heard how you can go to heaven how you can have eternal life and you know you might use for example the approach God forbid if you were to die tonight would you know for sure that you're going to heaven that you have eternal life and so hopefully they might say well not really heard the gospel I don't know and can I show you so yeah I'll be glad to show you just take a few minutes to show you from the

[50:24] Bible what the gospel is and how you can know the way to heaven how you can be saved so I present this to them like how it's got marked verses and go to page 216 for example and it's got these underlined verses that are really helpful so for example Romans 3 23 for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God and then we'd say for example look I know that I'm a sinner would you accept that all have sinned that means you and me means everyone yeah I can accept that I'm a sinner that I've you might have to take that a couple of times because they might say well I've not really sinned well a little sin is as bad as a big sin you know we've all sinned the Bible says God says we've all sinned you can't really argue with God and then you go through the next it goes in a chain of verses you go to the bottom of the page it says turn to the next page so the next one it says for the wages of sin is death but the gift of

[51:25] God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord and sometimes I don't really go through all the chain of verses because there's multiple of them but I might say for example look I'd like to give this to you afterwards and you don't have to say well how much do I owe you why because it's free it's a gift and try to explain again along the the theme of how eternal life is a free gift and really it's not that we have to do anything to deserve it it's not that we have to earn it or get some credit for good works that we do to merit it or to be somehow deserving of it it's actually a free gift and it's the same with this and you don't have to pay something for it when you trust Christ you just have to receive the free gift just have to receive the salvation gift that the wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord so that gift is eternal life and then I'd like to turn for example to John 1 12 but as many as received him Jesus to them gave me power to become the sons of God even to them that believe on his name you can say children of God if it's a female because it's the same intention that we can become the children of God even to them that believe on his name and that's the whole point is receiving Christ as your saviour and then to try to explain that someone has to pay for our sin and really if you're not saved and some might say well I've got religion

[52:52] I believe Jesus is a good prophet if you're not got a saviour then you're going to have to pay for your sin because the Bible says that the wages of sin is death but the gift of God eternal life is through Jesus Christ our Lord he has to become your Lord and saviour you have to trust him and call on him as your saviour in order to be saved it says whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved that's another in the Romans road Romans 10 13 that we can call on the name of the Lord it says if we call on the name of the Lord we shall be saved there's a promise there that if you do this you shall be saved call on the name of the Lord you shall be saved it's one follows the other and hopefully you can get them to come to that understanding yeah okay I realise I'm a sinner I realise that I need a saviour I realise that I'm lost and I need to be saved and I know that I believe that Jesus died for my sin on the cross and I want to receive him as my saviour and you'd guide them through a prayer along that same theme you know covering those same elements and that they ideally they would trust Christ to be their Lord and saviour so that's just in a nutshell how I kind of present it but you'll get your own pattern your own method your own kind of natural way that you like to present it there's not really a one size fits all every believer might find and it depends really on really when you knock a door or whoever when you speak to a soul whether it be down the shop or wherever you are in your life every soul is different every encounter with a soul is different and they might have different objections or arguments or take a conversation this way or that way try to bring it back to the main issue of how can I be saved how can

[54:39] I know that I have eternal life don't go off on side issues it's just not it's just going to take it off track it's not going to be helpful point them to the saviour how they can be saved how they can know that they have eternal life so that's just in a nutshell how I present it again you could use different methods now I said earlier on in the talk for example ray comfort is one proponent and Paul Washer different ones have this and John MacArthur just talking honestly the question was asked what is lordship salvation so there's some that do sadly they they've got a lot of good material and I would use some elements perhaps of like you know when you when you would say well am I a good person and some people would say that they are and you could demonstrate through the referring to the law the ten commandments how well actually we're not all of us have sinned it's just getting back to that clarifying that essential issue that all are sinners and we need a saviour but the trouble with ray comfort sadly as he says things like you've got to repent of all your sins and believe and this phrase repent of your sin it's not actually a biblical phrase it talks about faith and repentance repentance it talks about repentance from dead works but it never says in the bible repent of your sin and some use this phrase well meaning as they are that really it's actually not biblical and it can confuse the gospel because they make it such that okay believing in Jesus is not enough I've got to do something as well and really when you actually boil it down to it as a

[56:29] Christian we still struggle with sin you know Paul says sin dwelleth in me so we know we've got that battle that struggle that inner struggle with sin and that's going to go with us till our dying day we're still going to struggle with sin and that getting victory over sin that's normal as a Christian we're probably continually repenting of our sin and confessing our sin and forsaking our sin God helping us but as far as the salvation itself goes Acts 16 31 is a great one to turn to where Paul and Silas were there the earthquake happened the jailer said sirs what must I do to be saved and they say believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved and thy house the emphasis is believe on the Lord Jesus Christ it's by faith it's by grace through faith the problem with these lordship salvation people is they confuse the gospel in saying well okay you've got to stop sinning and believe oh that means I've just got to suddenly stop whatever they might be doing as if it's somehow deserving salvation by stopping a sin now of course we should stop sin

[57:40] God helping us we should be continually trying to stop sin and and sin less and hopefully not not sin but the reality is that sin is going to be with us for the Christian life and the problem is they're kind of front-loading the gospel really the sin problem is more of the sanctification stage at salvation we simply believe on sin but it's not about me somehow stopping sin in the sense of as part of earning or deserving salvation that I'm some would say for example okay you've got to stop drinking and believe or you've got to stop smoking and believe in Romans 10 13 whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved when we call on his name believe it can be the case where you can get false converts so a false convert is someone they might come forward and have some emotional response to pray a prayer but not really fully understanding what the gospel is not really fully understanding that what they're trusting in and and so that there's sometimes they're like a stillbirth or something there they're not really safe they're kind of they've got some kind of response but it's about parroting the words they just go through kind of say after me you know one two three pray after me and it's like that can be a mistake there's some preachers well-meaning as they can be they might say you know pray this prayer and they just blah blah blah repeat the words but never were saved because they're just trusting and going forward at the meeting or putting their hand up and all this up there it's not going through the ritual of it that it's actually no my faith is in Christ that's who I'm standing on that's who I'm trusting in my faith is on Jesus Christ to I've trusted Jesus to be my Lord and

[59:31] Savior and that that's my salvation is there that moment of trust wonderful works I've done this and I've done that sort of bragging on as they come to the throne of glory and and the Lord says I never knew you depart from me you that work iniquity they're saying Lord Lord but he wasn't really their Lord and so now some would say well that's because they might have lost their salvation but no he says I never never knew you so they were never saved they're never ever saved it's not like they had it and lost it and these are people who've never ever got saved so they might have gone through all the religious ritual and done religious works and ministry even and that the Lord says I never knew you because they didn't have the trust in Christ so that's another thing I want to get really clear about but yeah hopefully that makes it a little bit clearer about that one of our preachers put what I believe is the biblical position on repentance and cop some flack over that but repent of your sin it's not actually biblical to to make that part of salvation it's about call on the name of the Lord it's about trust in the Lord call on Jesus as your saviour trust

[60:39] Jesus by grace through faith and it's not of any forsaking of sin as much as we ought to do that but that's not part of the salvation that's the sanctification that's as we grow in Christ and we and sin drops off us and such yeah the word repent it means change of mind it's metanoia so meta means change noia means the mind so it means your mind gets changed so God it's like yeah your heart gets changed God changes our heart our mind our thinking so we get a whole new way of thinking a whole new mindset a whole new worldview but it's and that could include about sin these preachers mistakenly make it about oh you've got to stop you know Ray Comfort is really bad actually this where he says you've got to give up all of your sin and believe so and he says this to some people it's really quite a false doctrine because he's adding to the gospel because it's not it's not in there it doesn't say stop your sinning and believe it says believe that then the stopping sinning happens as you grow as a Christian otherwise it's almost like law it's law keeping and it's by it's by making it about what you do and it's about what Christ is and it's about the finished work at the cross that Jesus paid for our sin and that was everything everything that had to be done to help us with our sin problem Jesus has done it it is finished but the person who repented the most in the Bible is God that he repented in other words he relented he changed his mind when he was going to judge he relented he repented and he didn't judge them he changed his mind about the judgment so it basically means a change of mind so when you trust

[62:16] Christ you change your mind from unbelief to faith you change your mind from you know your own going your own way to to trusting God's way to trusting Jesus as your Savior to stop trusting yourself and trusting Jesus some make it well they kind of measure people and we go oh he can't be a Christian because he's still doing this or she can't be a Christian because she's still doing that or whatever it be and they kind of like become spiritual fruit inspectors and we judge people because they've got a particular sin problem or they can't be a Christian well that's false because we've all got a sin problem it's just some people are better at hiding their sin or it's not such an obvious sin you know I'm not saying you know we should be sinful but I'm just saying it's not about your sin it's about whether you've got the Savior and whether your trust is in him because it makes it all about you stopping sinning is it's about works it boils down to works it's adding to the work of the cross it's by grace you're saved through faith it's not about your works and even the best works of trying to stop sinning which is a good thing a commendable thing for you to try to stop sinning but that's your salvation isn't contingent on that otherwise it just becomes a work you're just as bad as the cults God gives you victory over sin but just if you stumble it doesn't mean you've lost your salvation or you never had it you know sin is going to be dogging our steps right through the Christian life you know Paul says sin dwells in me he's the best isn't he far be it from me to say you know just go and do what you like God helping you he'll give you victory over sin that's your walk that's the sanctification that's your salvation being lived out that God will help you to have victory over sin but it's some some put it they kind of front load it like they put it at the beginning you can't be saved unless you stop doing this particular sin I mean there's some things that might take some time to extricate themselves God will sort that out just trust Christ and whatever it be there's all manner of sin you could think of that the main thing is that you've trust Christ as your saviour and then that sanctification happens where God helps you to get victory the daily victory over sin the struggle with sin especially Ray comfort he says you've got to repent of all your sin and so he's talking to and there's examples of it where he's on video talking to someone is obviously a bit intoxicated and he's saying well you've got to repent of all your sins so you can't be saved because he's this but then this person actually did articulate that they've trusted Christ as their saviour as much as you might question and wonder why they're still acting that way if that is their trust is in Christ as their saviour then this this problem of getting intoxicated of being drunken that doesn't necessarily mean that they're not saved they've just got that issue that God's still working on I mean I know for example people that I know have got saved but it takes a while for some things to drop off them you know for them to start to drop off those sinful things or or things that might be questionable things it takes time for people to lose that to drop off