Mark chapter 16, we're going to read the last six verses, then open the door for her.
I will try my best to speak slowly. That's one of the complaints when I speak in English.
People say I speak too quickly, so I'll try my best to speak slowly.
But forgive me if I go too fast.
In Mark 16, look at the last six verses, starting at verse 15.
And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.
He that believeth in his baptize shall be saved, but he that believeth not shall be damned.
And each sign shall follow them that believe.
And my name shall they cast out devils, they shall speak with new tongues.
They shall take up serpents, and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them.
They shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.
So then after the Lord had spoken unto them, he was received up into heaven and sat on the right hand of God.
And they went forth and preached every word, the Lord working with them and confirming the word with signs following. Amen.
Let's open the door of prayer.
Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for allowing us to be here today.
I just ask you for your spirit on me as I deliver this message to God.
And I pray this all in Jesus' name. Amen.
Now, this is very interesting. In Mark 16, these are the final words that Jesus ever said before he went up into heaven.
So these are going to be pretty important.
Because let's say, for example, you were dying and you wanted to leave your son or your daughter with something important.
You would tell them something pretty important.
Your dying words would be something very important to leave them with, right?
Now what's interesting is every other version besides the King James says this shouldn't be in the Bible.
But see, at this church we are King James only.
What's interesting is in the book of Mark there are 678 verses.
And every version says the last 12 verses are not supposed to be in the Bible.
If you take 12 verses away from 678, you're left with 666 verses in the book of Mark.
I don't think that's a coincidence that every version says there's supposed to be 666 verses.
But these are the last words. These are very important.
And this is about going soul-winding and getting people saved.
And I want to focus on this one phrase in verse number 20.
It's because often times it's very quoted. We say go ye into all the world, get people saved.
But there's a phrase in verse 20 that I think we often overlook.
It says in verse 20, they went forth and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them.
You see, when you're going soul-winding, you're not doing it alone.
God is with you.
You see, in our own power, we wouldn't be able to get people saved.
We wouldn't have the strength, we wouldn't have the spirit.
We couldn't do anything unless God was with us.
But when you're doing what God tells you to do, the Lord is with you.
When you're going soul-winding, God's final instructions,
the whole reason why we're here to lead people to the Lord, God is going to be with you.
The Lord will work with us.
But see, here's the key. We have to do the work.
You see, if we're not working, the Lord can't work with us.
You see, God wants everybody saved, but is everybody getting saved around the world?
No. The Bible says narrow is the way we see the film to life, and few there be that find it.
The vast majority of people end up going to hell forever because Christians aren't doing the work.
We need to do the work. God wants everybody to be saved.
He said he's committed unto us, the ministry of reconciliation.
God is not going to drop down from heaven today and start preaching the gospel to people in the Philippines,
or in the United States, or anywhere.
He gave it to us. He gave us this word so we can use this to get people saved.
This is how people get saved in the English language.
We do the King James Bible. The word of God, that's how people get saved.
And the Lord will work with us, but we have to do the work.
In Ephesians chapter 2 verse 10, and if you can keep up, you can.
If not, then I'll be reading the verses out loud.
Ephesians 2, 8, and 9 is a very, very famous set of verses, but the next verse is just as important.
In Ephesians chapter 2 verse 10,
And see here's the thing in Mark 16 when we read when he says,
Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.
God wants the gospel to everybody.
I'm not sure how it is in here. In America there's a bad stereotype against Muslim countries.
And obviously Islamic religion is a wicked religion.
But at the same time God wants people saved in Iraq.
God wants people saved in Afghanistan. God wants people saved all across the world.
That's why we send missionaries out to preach the gospel.
He wants everybody to hear the gospel and they get their chance to believe it or not.
It's going to be their choice if they believe it, but he wants us to preach the gospel everywhere.
In Ephesians chapter 2 verse 10, the Bible reads,
You know we should walk when God has planned for us to do good works, to preach the gospel, to get people saved.
And God expects us to do what he's committed unto us in the ministry of reconciliation.
Unfortunately most Christians don't obey this.
But see God is a God that expects us to work.
God doesn't want us to be lazy.
It's not just good enough you're saved and on your way to heaven.
Who are you telling about the gospel?
I mean I think we all probably know people that are lost and on their way to hell if they die right now.
If we don't talk to them, who's going to talk to them?
I mean are the Catholics going to talk to them?
I hope not.
Who knows what they're going to tell them?
I don't know what all the various religions are, but you know what?
They're not going to be preaching the gospel and getting people saved.
It's going to be us, the people of this church, the other Baptist churches,
the other people that believe in salvation by grace through faith.
And unfortunately most people aren't doing the work.
It's always been the few that are doing the work.
You see if everybody was preaching the gospel, the whole world would have heard about Jesus.
Lots of people would be saved across the world.
But the vast majority of people are not saved because Christians are not doing the work.
The Bible reads in Revelation chapter 2, you can turn there.
Because I want to show you something that a lot of churches will make the mistake sometimes.
A lot of people make the mistake.
In Revelation chapter 2 verses 2 through 5,
these are specific instructions to a specific church.
And this church, like a lot of the churches mentioned here in Revelation 2 and 3,
there's a lot of good things about him, but there's a lot of bad things about him as well.
And in Revelation chapter 2 he says,
I know thy works, and thy labor.
So see this church is doing work.
They are laboring, they're doing work, right?
And it says, and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them which are evil.
And thou hast tried them which say they are apostles and are not, and hast found them liars.
So this church knows the false religions.
They are looking for true doctrine, they've spotted, and they're doing work.
It says in verse 3, and hast borne, and hast patience,
and for my name's sake hast labored, and hast not fainted.
Nevertheless, I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love.
You see this church is doing a lot of work, they're doing a lot of great things,
but they left their first love.
You see, our first love ought to be God and to be getting people saved.
You know, when I first got saved, within 24 hours,
I called my parents on the phone and asked them what they thought it took to get to heaven.
I asked my sister, I got my roommates to talk to the person that led me to the Lord.
You know, that's our first love.
I think when people get saved, immediately they're wondering,
what about all my family, what about my friends, do they believe this?
But unfortunately, people leave their first love.
Unfortunately, people end up forsaking soul because it's hard.
It's difficult.
It's not easy to go out in the heat and knock doors and preach the gospel,
but it's necessary for people to get saved.
They're not going to get saved unless they hear a clear presentation of the gospel.
You see, everybody has heard of the name of Jesus,
but that doesn't mean they understand how to get to heaven.
I got saved right before I turned 19 years old.
I had heard about Jesus all my life, but I didn't know how to go to heaven.
I thought my good works were going to get me there.
Good works are never going to get anybody there.
You know, we have to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, the Bible says.
And if we're not doing the work, then they're not going to get saved.
And this is a church that's laboring and doing good works,
but they left their first love.
That's what we've got to be careful about as church to the people, as individuals.
We could be doing lots of great things for God.
You know, back in West Virginia, we have what we call a bus ministry
where we pick up kids and bring them to church.
And I think that's a great ministry.
But let's say, for example, you quit so many and you just did that.
Then we left our first love.
We'd be laboring, but we would leave our first love.
Our first love ought to always be so little.
We can never get rid of so little.
Because here's the thing, I mean, God is going to be the one who's going to build a church.
We have to rely on Him.
If we wanted to have this whole place packed here today, it would be very easy.
We would start playing rock music.
We'd start playing the world's music.
We'd never preach against any sin.
We'd say, oh, it's no big deal if you do this or that.
Oh, we can go ahead and drink and get divorced, no big deal.
We'd never preach against anything, and then people would come.
Because people don't like having their toes stepped on.
But see, God expects us to preach the truth and to tell people the truth.
We have to trust in God that if we're doing the work, God is going to build the church.
God promises that He will build it.
And there's a problem.
If we try to build a church on our own,
we could have a lot of people in here that could probably make it tough to make this church even better.
What I'm saying is this.
If you bring a bunch of people in the church that don't really love the Lord, it's going to affect everyone.
God, it would be better to be a small church and slowly bring in more people that love the Lord
and teach them rather than bringing a bunch of people here that don't love the Lord.
We could go to lots of churches around here that don't love the Lord.
If we wanted to get them in the church, bring them in.
But we don't need people here that don't love the Lord.
We want to keep people here that love the Lord and want to do the work for God.
The Bible reads in, go to Matthew chapter 4.
This is a very famous passage of scripture.
Now we saw with the last instructions from Jesus' Word before He went up to heaven
was to go eat in all the world, preach the gospel to every creature.
He said He'd work with us.
But I want to show you the first thing He really tells to people when He brings them along.
Matthew chapter 4 verse 18.
The first thing He ever tells them is, follow me.
He's like, I'm going to show you how to get people saved.
That's the first thing God wants us to focus on.
Now we do everything else in order to get more people saved.
We need to read this book so we can have God's power upon us so we can get people saved.
We need to live a holy life so God's power can be upon us to get people saved.
But the whole reason why we're here is to lead people to the Lord.
That's what's important in life is to get people to heaven.
And the first thing He said is, follow me and I will make you the bishops of men.
And you notice that Jesus is the one that's the leader.
That's why it's important that when you look at the leadership of a church,
the people in leadership need to be doing the work.
They need to be out preached to the gospel and other people will follow Him.
But immediately Jesus says, follow me and I will make you.
He doesn't say I might make you.
So what that promises is this.
If you're not getting people saved, you're not following God.
That's what it says in this verse because He says, follow me and I will make you bishops of men.
And that's the sad truth, but if you're not leading people to the Lord,
if you're not preaching the gospel, you're not really following God.
That's what He says, follow me and I will make you bishops of men.
Now don't get me wrong, it takes a little bit of work.
The first time I went soul winning, I didn't get people saved immediately.
But the truth is if you're following after God, He will show you.
He'll bring the people in your life to show you how to get people saved and you're going to learn.
When I first started going soul winning, I was a silent partner.
I didn't say anything, but I was there just to learn.
And that's God's plan.
That people can train other people to go out and get people saved.
But God says, follow me and I will make you bishops of men.
So if you're not getting people saved, if you're not learning how to get people saved,
you're not really following God.
You might be doing a lot of good works, you might be doing a lot of good things,
but you're not really following God.
That's what it says in Matthew 4.
And it says in verse number 20, and they straightaway left their nets and followed Him.
Straightaway means basically immediately.
Right when they heard that, they left their nets and they followed Him.
Because these were men who said, you know what, I want to find a way to lead people to the Lord.
I want to bring people into heaven. How can I do that?
And Jesus said, I'll show you the way, and they immediately followed.
And we see the same thing here with James and John in the next verse.
And when you look at the four disciples who were the most devoted to Jesus,
these would be the four.
Simon, his brother Andrew, and James and John.
I mean, when you look at the Bible, Simon, Peter, James, and John,
they got to see a lot of things the other ones didn't get to see.
They were the ones truly following God.
For example, in Matthew 24, when he's talking about the end times,
Simon, Peter, James, and John, they got to be there.
Not all the disciples were there, when you read that carefully.
And then Andrew's kind of in between, seems like sometimes he's with them, sometimes.
But I mean, they got to see things because they were truly following God.
It says in Proverbs 11, verse 30,
The fruit of a righteous is a tree of light, and he that winneth souls is wise.
So who's the person who's wise?
The person winning souls.
That's the person that knows this book.
I mean, you could read this book every day for hours,
but if you never lead anyone to the Lord, you're not going to have much Bible wisdom.
That's the truth.
Because God's going to show you wisdom if you're doing the work.
I mean, why is God going to reveal to you wisdom if you're not going to use it?
See, God will reveal to you wisdom if you're going to use it to do something for him.
But if you never do anything for God, then God has no need to give you wisdom.
I mean, God says that he'll give us wisdom and provide it.
He says that if any of you lack wisdom, let him ask you God.
He'll give it to you if you're doing the work.
But if you're not doing the work, a lot of this book is going to go straight over your head.
Bible says be doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.
Bible gives us the example that if you're someone who doesn't do the work
and you just hear about what you're supposed to do,
you're basically going to be looking in a mirror.
Let's say for example I had something speared all across my face, like ketchup or something,
and I looked in the mirror and I walked away and basically,
I know I need to clean it, but if I don't actually do it immediately,
then I'm going to forget about it.
I'm going to walk around with ketchup on my face.
See, that's the way you are if you're not doing the work or being the sole winner
and doing God's work.
That's the exact example God gives us.
In John chapter 15, starting at verse 8, you can turn there if you want.
John chapter 15.
We're going to read John 15 verses 8 through 16.
We're going to read four verses to start out though.
It says, Herein is my Father glorified, that he bear much fruit.
So shall you be my disciples.
As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you.
Continue thee in my love.
If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love,
even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love.
These things have I spoken on you, that my joy might remain in you,
and that your joy might be full.
Verse number 8 in the Bible says, God is glorified when we lead people to the Lord.
The Bible talks about all the angels of heaven rejoice over just one sinner that repented.
One person that believes in the Lord gets saved.
I mean the angels are rejoicing over just one person.
That's how much God cares about the individual.
One person getting saved.
And he's glorified when we bear much fruit.
See that's God's goal is for us to get a lot of people saved.
Not just one or two.
God wants us to be a fruitful tree that's getting people saved in a season.
Every season you just keep getting people saved.
Week by week you're doing the work and you're getting people saved.
That is what God's glorified when that happens.
And he's like, you're going to be my disciple if you do that.
Now it's interesting in verse number 11 he says,
These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.
You know the truth is this, if you know what you need to do and you're not doing it, you will not have joy.
If you know that you're supposed to get people saved and you've learned about this book and you're not doing the work, you will not have joy in your life.
He said he spoke of these things that you might have joy.
I mean anyone who's led someone to the Lord, is there anything more exciting than leading someone to the Lord?
When they put their faith in Jesus they know they're going to heaven.
I mean you're so excited you want to tell everyone like, man I led someone to the Lord.
I mean it is exciting. It's a life filled with joy.
But for most people it's too hard for them because they don't do the work.
But you know what, if you know what the truth is and you don't do it, you're not going to have much joy in your life.
Most of the people that I know back in the United States, I know a lot of people that actually used to go solo and they don't anymore.
And they live miserable lives.
You know because when you're battling the flesh of the Spirit every day, God's Spirit wants you to get people saved, to read his word.
The flesh wants you to do everything that's wrong.
When you're in between all the time you're not going to be happy.
When you know what the truth is but you're still kind of going back and forth, you're not going to be happy.
You know it's like why don't I just go all in for God?
That is when you're going to be happy in life.
You might not have lots of money, you might not have lots of fame, but you know what, you're going to live a happy life.
You're leading people to the Lord and serving God.
That is how we can have joy.
Now going down to verse number 16 here in John 15.
He says, He has not chosen me but I have chosen you and ordained you that you should go and bring forth fruit and that your fruit should remain.
See God doesn't want us to just get people saved, he wants us our entire lives, our fruit, to remain.
That 20 years from now you're still getting people saved.
30 years from now you're still getting people saved.
Week by week your fruit remains.
Keep getting people saved your entire life.
That is how we're going to have joy.
That is why God, He didn't just choose us to get to heaven.
I mean God showed us, we heard the gospel, we decided to put our faith in Jesus, we got saved, but that's not the end of it.
God wants us, He's planned for us to do works and to lead people to the Lord.
That is how He's going to be glorified.
That is how we're going to live a happy life.
Look at 2 Corinthians chapter 5.
Now if you notice, this is throughout the entire Bible, leading people to the Lord, isn't it?
I mean soul winning is book after book after book, I mean I even cut verses out.
I mean I looked at, there's like so many places in the Bible that you could turn here
where God talks about leading people to the Lord because it is so important.
His first instructions to the disciples, lead people to the Lord.
His last instructions, lead people to the Lord.
Sounds pretty important to me.
2 Corinthians chapter 5.
We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body and be present with the Lord.
Wherefore we labor that whether present or absent we may be accepted of Him.
Now the Bible says in verse number 9, we labor.
Labor is a strong word.
I mean if you think of somebody who, let's say you looked at someone who had a job recently
and you said they labored, you wouldn't think of somebody sitting behind a desk, would you?
Typing on a computer, that's what I do at my job.
I sit behind and it gets pretty boring.
You sit behind a computer and you type all day on a computer.
You wouldn't really look at me, and I work hard at my job, but you wouldn't really call me a laborer.
You could consider someone a laborer if they're out in the sun working hard,
a farmer, someone who's doing real hard work, they're sweating.
That's what we look at as a laborer.
And see that's how we're going to be accepted of Him if we are a laborer.
You see here's the thing about fishing.
When you go fishing, the fish doesn't jump in the boat after you.
It doesn't then jump and then drill itself and cut itself into pieces.
See we have to go get the fish.
That's the example God gives us.
We have to go out and get them.
See people aren't just going to come running in here when we're done today
and just say, tell us how to get to heaven.
I hope that happens.
I doubt it will though.
God never had anybody just come up to me out of nowhere and say, well show me how to get to heaven.
I've had to go and tell other people how to get to heaven.
And so the Bible says we need to be laborers.
I used to live in Phoenix, Arizona.
And Arizona is a pretty hot state as well.
It gets to 100 degrees Fahrenheit.
I'm trying to think what this is in Celsius.
Let me think for one second here.
It's like 50 Celsius I would say.
It can get up to like 50 degrees Celsius, maybe even a tad bit hot or so.
I mean it's around that level, 50 Celsius.
It's pretty hot.
And we went out in the sun for hours and you're sweating like that.
You bring a jug of water with you from each store just to drink.
Because otherwise you could end up passing out.
And it's pretty hot in this country.
We're going to have to labor to get people safe.
Going door to door it's going to be hot.
We're going to sweat.
It's going to be tough.
But see that's what God calls us to do.
Is to be laborers.
To do the work.
And then it says in the next couple of verses,
We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ,
that everyone may receive the things done in his body,
according to that he hath done.
And whether it be good or bad,
knowing therefore the terror of the Lord,
we persuade men.
You see we ought to try to persuade people to get safe.
At that door we ought to care so much about them
that we're not just like,
yeah we knocked on the door, we're going to invite you to church,
and that's it.
We ought to really care about that first thing.
Man you have to believe this.
Please listen to me.
Let me show you how to get to heaven.
We ought to care about them so much.
And when you think about hell,
sometimes you know we like to think about heaven and good things,
but sometimes honestly we need to think about hell.
And just realize that it's a real place.
And when people die they're going to spend forever there.
Now I don't like thinking about it.
I wish that most people were going to heaven honestly.
But I mean that's not the truth.
The truth is most people are going to hell.
And we need to realize that,
because that will motivate us to go out and preach to God
so we can get people safe.
First Thessalonians chapter 5 verses 12 and 13.
Now this is a famous chapter in the Bible.
It's famous for talking about the return of Jesus Christ.
But in verses number 12 and 13 it's very interesting talking about Saul
when he says in verse number 12,
So you know what Paul tells us here?
You ought to know the people that are doing the work.
You ought to become friends with the people that are doing the work,
the people that are really living for God.
The people that I'm friends with back in the United States,
they are people that do the work.
They are the ones that are laboring.
You know the sad thing is oftentimes the people that are doing the work
get criticized by those that are not doing the work.
But you know the Bible tells us the exact opposite of what we should do.
It says we ought to know those that labor.
And we ought to esteem them very highly in love for their work's sake.
You ought to look at the people that are doing the work here at church
and say you know that is someone who is living for the Lord.
I need to be more like them.
Instead of tearing down someone we ought to build them up.
Because you know it's not easy to do the work.
Especially when people criticize you.
Satan's going to attack anybody that's doing the work.
If you start really going solely, you know what's probably honestly going to happen?
The devil's going to try to stop that immediately.
And that's why we need to encourage the people that are doing the work.
We saw in John 15 it talked about having joy.
Whenever you look throughout the Bible, if you don't have joy you're not going to get people saved.
And that's why we need to encourage and edify one another.
Because nobody keeps doing something they don't enjoy.
If you came here every single week and you paid in church,
you'd probably stop coming after a while, right?
If you didn't enjoy going solely, you would end up stopping after a while.
And that's why we need to encourage each other about doing the work
and help build each other up and edify each other.
Cemetery people now, which often times we as Christians are guilty of,
we need to build each other up and encourage one another.
Especially the people that are doing the work.
Look at 1 Corinthians chapter 3.
Now one thing that's often interesting is
the Bible says that when you are leading people of the Lord,
Paul often times says that we might save some.
Paul says that he's saving people.
Obviously Jesus Christ is the Savior. Nobody's disputing that.
He did all the work, we're just showing them the path.
But see here's the thing, if somebody was drowning in the water,
if you threw in a life raft to save them,
obviously the life raft is what they grabbed a hold of,
but who's the one who threw it in?
You did, right? So you did save them, right?
And see that's the thing, God is not going to get anybody saved on his own.
We have to do the work as well.
Obviously Jesus is the Savior,
but we also have to do the work to get him saved.
And so that's why Paul used the example of
I begotten someone through the gospel.
He says he has sons in the faith.
So if we get people saved, we are leading them to the Lord.
Often times people criticize that term,
but it's biblical to say that you save people,
that you lead people to the Lord.
That's what the Bible talks about a lot.
In 1 Corinthians chapter 3 it says,
Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos?
But ministers by whom ye believe,
even as the Lord gave to every man.
So the Bible says that no individual is anything special,
they're just ministers by whom you believe.
It's not like I have any special talent.
Nothing I'm saying here today is because I'm magically impounded.
I'm just quoting you Bible verses and showing you what God said.
And when we lead people to the Lord,
we use God's word because God's word is what has power.
I don't have much power in my own words.
I'm not that special.
None of us are that great, but God's word is amazing.
And God's word is what has power to get people saved.
And see God says ministers by whom ye believe,
even as the Lord gave to every man.
You see God intends for everybody to get saved.
Not everybody is going to get saved,
but God wants everybody.
God is planning for someone specifically to give the gospel to everybody.
I know people where I work at my job,
that honestly if I don't give them the gospel,
probably nobody ever will.
And it's tough, because obviously at work I'm not just going to stop work
and start giving someone the gospel.
I have to pray for the opportunity that God will provide it.
But if you think about people in your life,
probably everybody in here has certain people that they come in contact with
that if you don't get that person saved,
they're going to spend forever in hell.
You are literally their only hope.
You're the person that God designed to get them saved.
You see it's interesting how this works.
There are certain people that would not want to listen to me.
Maybe my personality rubs them the wrong way.
Maybe they think I'm arrogant or whatever the reason.
Same thing with you.
There are certain people that wouldn't listen to you or you or anyone here.
See that's why God gave to everybody someone specific to preach the gospel.
Because for some reason some people don't like certain people or they won't listen
or maybe they don't have the opportunity.
But God gave to every man a reason.
And then it says in verse number 6,
I have planted a polished water, but God gave the increase.
So neither is he that planteth anything, neither he that watereth,
but God that giveth the increase.
Now he that planteth and he that watereth are one,
and every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labor.
So the Bible says we're going to receive a reward for the labor that we do.
Now some people like to say this, they say,
Well, I don't need anyone in the Lord, I just plant.
That's my job, that's what God's given me.
See that's not really what the Bible is saying here.
There are certain times, if I'm going out so many door to door,
some days nobody's going to get saved, but I'm planting seed.
And hopefully they will get saved, somebody else waters.
But if you're never leading anyone to the Lord,
God didn't say, well certain people are always going to plant.
And they're never going to lead you to the Lord.
That's not what the Bible says, because he promises I'll make you a fish or a men.
So there are some days where if you go out so many for three hours and no one gets saved,
hey that doesn't mean you did a bad job, you did a great job.
People heard the gospel and you planted a seed,
but if you never ever lead anyone to the Lord, there's something you need to change.
Maybe you need to learn that from someone who is getting more people saved,
someone who has more experience or something.
But I mean there are going to be some days all we do is plant.
But don't think that if you went out for a couple hours and no one got saved
that you didn't do anything useful.
The person who led me to the Lord, he gave me the gospel.
This is a friend of mine from college and I'm still friends with him today.
And I left that night and I did not get saved immediately.
I got saved 20 minutes later when I went back to my apartment.
Now if this was door to door and he went out for hours and I was the only person he talked to,
he would have left and said, nobody got saved today, it was a bad day.
But I ended up getting saved right after that.
The word of God was already in there and I was making that decision in my mind if I believed it or not.
And so you know what, that could be the truth.
He's got a soul in him for a couple hours and you don't think he leads anyone to the Lord?
And then you have to lead someone to the Lord who becomes a great soul
or who becomes a preacher, who becomes really bold and devoted to God.
We don't know what God's done that day.
So you might go out for hours and nobody gets saved,
it doesn't mean that they didn't end up getting saved 20 minutes later.
Or a year down the road, the scene is inside of them,
they might end up getting saved because you did the work.
Because sometimes it takes multiple people to give someone the gospel before they're going to believe it.
Because before we're saved, this doesn't make any sense.
I mean after you're saved, it's hard to look back on the other side.
But before I was saved, it didn't make any sense to me that it was just my faith.
Until someone explained it to me for a long time.
It didn't make any sense to me.
Because to me it has to be based on how good of a life I live.
But see, the Bible says the gift of God is eternal life.
It's that simple. God did the work, we just believe on him that he did the work.
He made the payment.
It says in verse number 9 in this chapter,
For we are laborers together with God.
So once again, God is with us when we're going soloing.
If we're doing God's work, God is going to be with us.
His Spirit is upon us. He's given us the power.
God is going to be with us.
You're not doing this on your own.
You're not doing this in your own strength or your own power.
Who has your own strength?
You wouldn't be able to lead someone to the Lord.
Because our words are not that great, but God's word is what gets people saved.
It says we're born again not of corrupt will see, but of incorrupt will buy the word of God.
The word of God is what leads people to the Lord.
And that is a great thing because
if I can tell you the thing I enjoy most in life outside of the Bible,
in terms of just hobbies,
I would say it's playing soccer. I love soccer.
I always wanted to be a pro player.
I used to be pretty decent. I had injuries and stuff like that.
But honestly, I probably never would have become the greatest player in the world.
Because God didn't give me that ability.
But see, here's the thing. Anybody in this room
could become the greatest Christian in this room.
Because God doesn't say you have to be born with a special talent.
You don't have to be born with a special talent.
You just have to be willing to follow God.
See, God's word is already written.
I don't have to make up my own words. God's word is right here.
If I show people the truth, they can get saved.
That's the great thing about living for God.
Anybody can become the best if they made the decision to really be devoted to God.
And that is a great message of hope.
You look at sports like basketball.
If you're not this tall, you're probably not going to make it as a professional basketball player, right?
So that would cut out most of the world.
But you see, the great thing about living for God,
when you get saved, you have this book, you can get people saved.
You can do great things for God if you're willing to stay devoted to Him.
And it says we're laborers together with God.
The Bible says God's chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise.
You know, it sounds pretty foolish to people when you've got a soul winning
and you're giving people the gospel.
It sounds pretty foolish, but God's chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise.
Most people I know that are good soul winners,
they're not people that are naturally outgoing.
I'm not a naturally outgoing person, honestly.
It might seem like I am because I'm preaching,
and going soul winning makes you more outgoing.
But you know what, somebody doesn't have to just naturally count it.
I'm not the sort of person who could lead people to the Lord.
I said that one time about ten years ago.
I was like, I can never imagine myself telling people how to get to heaven.
I can never imagine myself preaching or showing people something from the Bible.
And that was the way Moses was in the Bible, right?
When he started, he said, I don't know the words.
He's like, I'm slow, I'm stutter, I'm slow of speech.
And he says, let Aaron do the talking.
If you look, though, in the book of Exodus,
pretty soon Moses is doing all the talking.
After probably a month, he's like, all right, Aaron, it's my turn now.
Because when you get on fire for God, God will give you the strength.
He will give you the power when you get on fire for God.
You don't have to be born with a great voice.
You don't have to be born with an outgoing personality.
God will give you the strength if you're willing to do the work.
Look at Psalms chapter 51.
Psalms chapter, we've just got four more passages to look at.
In Psalms chapter 51, starting at verse 10, the Bible reads,
Created me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.
That's a very important part of Psalms right there, is having a clean heart.
If you're living in a lot of sin, then you're going out of soul,
and you're probably not going to get people saved.
We need to have a clean heart.
We need to be living a righteous life to get people saved.
It says in verse number 11,
Cast me not away from thy presence, and take not thy Holy Spirit from me.
Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation, and uphold me with thy free spirit.
See, David didn't lose his salvation, but he lost his joy.
The Bible talks about praying for the Spirit to be upon you.
When you're saved, you're in bond with the Holy Spirit.
You know, in the New Testament age, after Jesus has risen again.
But at the same time, the Spirit can still come upon you
to preach boldly and to do mighty things.
He asks that as joy is not done,
and here's a very important reason why in verse 13,
Then will I teach transgressors thy ways,
and sinners shall be converted unto thee.
You see, if you're not living a clean life,
and if you don't have joy, you're not going to get people saved.
We need to be living a clean life, a holy, righteous life.
God is a holy God. He is a righteous God.
He expects us to be living a righteous life.
And if we're doing that, and if we have joy, we can get people saved.
See, that's why it's so important to have joy.
Because if you lose your joy, you're not going to get people saved.
And if you're sinning, you're going to lose your joy.
As a Christian, if you're living a sinful life,
immediately you feel guilty, you have no joy.
You feel almost guilty of even showing up to church
if you're living a sinful life.
That's the way I feel if I'm doing something that's wrong.
And so that's why it's important we do not lose our joy.
Because if we have our joy, then we're going to get people saved.
Sinners shall be converted unto thee.
That's a promise from God that if you're having a joy,
you have a clean heart, you're looking for the Lord,
people will get saved.
That's what the Bible says.
Look at 1 Samuel 17.
You see, so many isn't just in the New Testament,
it's in the Old Testament as well.
The Bible talks about people going out with God's book
in the Old Testament to lead people to the Lord.
It doesn't matter what time period,
God wants people to hear the truth about salvation and about Jesus.
Obviously in the Old Testament they put their faith in.
They had the coming Messiah and she hadn't come yet.
But God expects us to be out and doing the work.
In all ages God wants us to be laboring and doing work.
In 1 Samuel 17,
this is the famous chapter of David and Goliath.
And there's a lot of great symbolism in this chapter as well.
You see, books in the Old Testament, a lot of times these stories,
God's giving us a lot of symbolism that we can use in our lives.
We see a lot of symbols of Jesus Christ in the Bible.
Jonah symbolized Jesus, dying for us.
And there's a lot of examples of that in the Bible.
Joseph in the book of Genesis was a type of price
for a symbol of Jesus in a lot of ways.
Obviously he was a senator just like all of us,
but he symbolized Jesus in a lot of ways.
Here in 1 Samuel we're going to see something pretty interesting.
The Bible reads in verse 26,
And David spake to the men that stood by him, saying,
What shall be done to the man that killeth this Philistine,
and taketh away to approach from Israel?
For who is this uncircumcised Philistine,
that he should defy the armies of the living God?
And the people answered him after this manner, saying,
So shall it be done to the man that killeth him.
Verse number 28,
And Eliab his eldest brother heard when he spake unto the men,
and Eliab's anger was kindled against David.
And he said, Why cameest thou down hither,
and with whom hast thou left those few sheep in the wilderness?
I know thy pride and the naughtiness of thine heart,
for thou art come down, that thou mightest see the battle.
Now what's interesting is David's dad sent him to the battle.
It wasn't his thought.
It was no disrespecting and honoring his dad.
He went to the battle because his dad told him to go to the battle.
But once he wants to get involved in the action,
his oldest brother tries to prevent him.
He tries to criticize him.
The sad thing is when someone decides to become a soul owner,
a lot of times they get criticism from people they know,
from friends, especially if you know unsaved people.
Unsaved people are going to criticize if they hear
you're going out and telling people about Jesus.
Oh, you're going to offend them,
let them come to their own beliefs on their own.
People should get to decide what they believe.
People will try to criticize you and tear you down.
But I expect it from the unsaved world,
but God forbid that a saved person will criticize you for going soul owner.
Sadly, that's what oftentimes happens.
I imagine Eliab probably went to heaven when he died,
and he's criticizing David for doing the work.
Well, I mean, Eliab's not doing the work, is he?
He can try to fight Goliath, but he criticizes the one who is doing the work.
That's kind of a natural tendency as a human.
When someone else is doing something and we know we should be doing it,
we criticize them.
And you know what? If someone's going soul owner,
you better not criticize them.
You've got to get on fire for God as well to start going soul owner.
But sadly, that's what's going to happen.
So be ready for it. If you decide you want to become a soul owner,
you want to start getting on fire for God,
there's probably going to be people that are going to try to stop you.
Like I said, the devil will try to stop you immediately.
And in verse number 29, I love David's reaction.
David said, what have I now done? Is there not a cause?
And he turned from him toward another and he spake after him in the same manner
and the people answered him again after the former man.
David doesn't worry about it.
He knows he's doing what's right. He just ignores his brother.
That's the best approach.
If someone's trying to criticize you for going soul owner,
go get in an argument with them. Just ignore it.
Just forget about it. You do the work and worry about yourself.
With that person, they're going to have to answer for God for criticizing them.
Hopefully they'll get on fire for God as well.
But you know what? Oftentimes, people are going to try to tear you down.
In 2 Kings, we just have two more passages to look at.
2 Kings 10 verses 15 and 16.
Starting at verse 15 of 2 Kings 10.
And when he was departed thence, he lighted on Jehonadab, the son of Rahab,
coming to meet him, and he saluted him and said to him,
Is thy heart right, as my heart is with thy heart?
And Jehonadab answered, It is.
If it be, give me thy hand. And he gave him his hand,
and he took him up to him into the chariot,
and he said, Come with me and see my zeal for the Lord.
So they made him ride in his chariot.
This is kind of the message.
For anyone that's a soldier and people that aren't really doing that,
hey, come see our zeal for the Lord.
Come see the excitement.
See, David, when he got to the battle, he couldn't just sit on the sidelines.
He had to get involved in the action.
It was too exciting to just sit on the sidelines.
We have far too many spectators when it comes to Christianity.
We need people to get on fire and see the zeal for the Lord.
We need people involved in the battle.
It's exciting.
If you're going to have a joyful life, it's worth it to labor and do the work.
We need more people doing it.
We need more people saying it. We need people to hear the Gospel.
It's sad when anybody goes to Hell,
but it's really sad if someone goes to Hell
and they don't really hear a clear presentation of the Gospel.
If they choose to reject it, that's their choice.
I've got to say, when I was 18, I had not heard the Gospel before.
It would be pretty sad if I ended up going to Hell
because nobody told me how to get to Heaven.
That's pretty sad, because there are people out there
that they will believe when you preach the Gospel.
Most people do reject it,
but there are people that are just ready to hear the truth.
If we put in the work, then they would get saved.
Come see the zeal for the Lord.
Come see the excitement.
2 Samuel 23, we're just going to read two more verses and I'll be done.
I've pretty much made you guys bounce to 12 or 13 different books in the Bible.
Just take something from pretty much every book in the Bible.
2 Samuel 23, starting at verse 9.
Forgive me if I mispronounce some of these names,
because we don't name people like this today.
An afternoon was Eleazar the son of Dodo the Ahoy.
I don't know about you, but in America you can call someone Dodo,
but it would probably sound insulting if that was their name.
It's kind of a strange name.
Dodo the Ahoy, one of the three mighty men with David,
when they defied the Philistines that were there gathered to gather to battle,
and the men of Israel were drawn away.
He arose and smote the Philistines until his hand was weary.
And his hand clamed onto the sword,
and the Lord brought a great victory that day,
and the people returned after him only to spoil.
The Bible says in verse 10, his hand clamed onto the sword.
When something cleaves, basically your hand almost becomes a part of what you're holding,
because you hold it so intently for so long.
For example, if you held a sword for hours and you're fighting a battle,
it would almost feel like the sword was part of your hand.
Almost like you couldn't even get the sword out of your hand,
you couldn't even get the clave out of the sword.
Now, obviously this is a true story that happened,
but God's giving us a lot of symbolism as well.
This is the sword of God.
Our hand ought to cling to this sword,
to go out and to get people saved.
It says until his hand was weary.
You see, until your hand is so weary,
until you're so tired from preaching the gospel,
you can do even more preaching the gospel.
Until you're so tired from reading this word
and going out and getting people saved,
you know what, God says you can do more.
God expects us to labor.
This person was weary because he had a clave under the sword.
And then it says, and the Lord wrought a great victory that day.
You see, if our hand cleaves to this sword,
and we go out and we preach the gospel and tell them the truth,
the Lord is going to have a great victory.
There are going to be people that are going to get saved,
but we have to make the decision that our hand is going to cling to this sword,
that we're going to do the work.
God is not going to come down from having to do it for us.
Soul winning is one of those things that we know that we need to do.
It's throughout the Bible, going into all the world,
but it's one of those things that it's very easy for it to die out in our lives.
If you start losing your joy, it's very easy for it to die out.
If you start living a sinful life, it's very easy for it to die out.
Or it's very easy to say, well, I'm still doing more soul winning than so and so,
so I can cut back.
Any of us can do more.
The only person in this room can do more soul winning.
Even Paul the Apostle, I bet you that if you had asked him right before he died,
he would say, you know what, there are people that I should have given the gospel to
that I didn't give the gospel to.
All of us can do more.
Our hand ought to cling to this sword, and God's going to have a great victory.
Let's close the word of prayer.
Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for allowing us to be here today.
I just ask you to bless the rest of the service,
and with Pastor Jeff, he delivered to you your words as well.
We pray this all in Jesus' name. Amen.