Mark chapter 5, we're going to look at the qualifications for soul winning.
Mark chapter 5, Mark chapter number 5, it says in verse number 15,
as you're turning there, this is, and while you're turning to Mark chapter 5,
I'll tell you the the context here. Jesus Christ shows up and this guy is
a demoniac. He's, he's possessed with devils,
and I mean this guy's a maniac. He's, he's naked. He's cutting himself
with stones until he bleeds. He's running around like a wild man.
They try to put this guy under arrest. He breaks the handcuffs.
They tried to, they couldn't even bind him with chains. He's like these drug
addicts who get superhuman strength, and they're ripping things apart.
And so this guy's just a complete maniac,
and this guy, Jesus, casts out the devils, and this guy gets saved.
And it says in verse 15, they come to Jesus, these are the people of the town,
and see him that was possessed with the devil, and had the legion
sitting and clothed, and in his right mind, and they were afraid.
And they that saw that, saw it, told how it befell to him that was possessed with
the devil, and also concerning the swine, and they began to pray him to depart out
of their coasts. So they're telling Jesus, you need to
leave. This is too weird.
And when he, Jesus, was coming to the ship,
he that had been possessed with the devil, prayed him that he might be with
him. So this wild man, this maniac,
who just got saved, he wants to go. Like Jesus, he wants to be like the
thirteenth disciple. You know, Jesus is leaving with his
disciples, and this guy says, hey, I want to go too. Take me with you. You
just, you know, got me saved, and this is great.
So he prayed him that he might be with him. How be it, Jesus suffered him not,
Jesus didn't allow him, but saith unto him, go home to thy
friends, and tell them how great things the Lord
hath done for thee, and have had compassion on thee. And he
departed and began to publish. Now what does the word publish mean?
This is back before printing presses and publishing houses.
It's not the modern use of the word publish that we would think of.
Publish means to basically make public. You know, uh, earlier in
Mark, there's a guy who who was healed, and he began to blaze
abroad. The matter the Bible says, you know, like, it's just like spreading
like wildfire, blazing it above. So this guy is told, go
tell your friends what the Lord has done for you, and he
departed and began to publish in Decapolis, meaning everybody in
Decapolis is hearing about it. It comes from the same root as our word
public publish. He's just publicly proclaiming
what Christ has done for him. He's publishing it in Decapolis,
how great things Jesus had done for him, and all
men did marvel. Okay, so from this passage, I found the, uh,
qualifications for soul winning. Number one, be saved.
You got to be saved to go soul winning, right? You can't save others if you
haven't even been saved. Number two, you have to be wearing
clothes, right? I mean, this guy did need to put
clothes on. Don't you, you don't go soul-winning
naked, all right? So number one, you got to be saved.
Number two, you got to have clothes on, and number three, you got to be in your
right mind, right? So if you're just like a raving
lunatic maniac, then I will not take you soul-winning.
But if you're saved and clothed and in your right mind,
we're ready to take you out soul-winning. You can come.
You're welcome. You know, I don't care what sin is in your life. You are welcome
to go out soul-winning, okay? Because of the fact that soul-winning
is what's going to help you get purged so that you can bring forth more fruit.
Because of the fact that I'm just glad that the gospel of Christ is being
preached, no matter who's preaching it, as long as they're preaching the right
gospel, as long as the saved person preaching
the right gospel, I'm for it.