So, I want to preach tonight about the topic of soul winning.
Obviously, that's a topic we're very familiar with here, but maybe we'll get some practical
pointers out of it, and it'll help some of our people that already go soul winning.
Hopefully, it inspires people who aren't soul winning to go out there and go soul
winning.
Maybe you've gotten backslidden, or I know for me, sometimes I do a lot of soul winning.
It's a big part of my job, and sometimes you can kind of get in a rut even if you go
soul winning on a regular basis.
Sometimes you just feel like you're going through the motions, you're just doing
it because you have to, and that's fine, but sometimes I feel like we need a sermon
every now and then to remind us of why it is that we go soul winning.
The reason why we go soul winning is because of the people that we preach to, and that's
the title of the sermon tonight, the people that we preach to.
I think when we read through Acts 16, we see several different types of people that Paul
preached to, and we can learn some things from them.
Soul winning is a big part of our church, it's a big part of our lives, it's something
that we do, and again, we can all kind of grow cold.
I feel like that's why this is an important sermon for us to have tonight.
The first thing I want to point out is that the people that we preach to have a need.
Have a need.
You say, why go soul winning?
Why do we go out there?
Why does this church spend so much time and money making tracts and materials and getting
the maps out and having people create maps and the vans and everything, all the things
that we do that are involved in soul winning that go towards that effort?
Why do we do that?
Why do we spend so much time going out and reaching people with the gospel?
Because people out there have a need.
If you look at Acts 16, look at verse 9, it says, and a vision appeared to Paul in
the night, there stood a man of Macedonia and prayed him saying, come over to Macedonia
and help us.
Now what's great about this guy is that he sees his need.
You know, I've been thinking about this man in Macedonia, you know, he has enough
sense to pray and this vision's getting to Paul, and I don't know all the story
here, it's not exactly clear what's going on, you wonder maybe this guy is saved and
he sees the burden, or he has a burden for the people in his town and he's praying that
a soul winner would come and preach to all the people that we're about to read about.
Or maybe he's just somebody who himself is seeking God and is calling out to God and
God is allowing Paul miraculously to see this man crying out to God.
Either way, a need here is what's being expressed, and we need to understand the reason
why we go out soul winning is because there is a real need to go out and reach
people.
Again, what's great about the man in Macedonia is that he verbalized it.
He come out and said it.
I mean, he obviously is looking to have that need met.
A lot of the people we go talk to, they don't know that they have a need.
They're not even going to admit they have a need because they don't even know that
they have a need.
But they have a need, friend, and that's why we have to go out there and reach them
with the gospel.
Jesus said that the broad is the way that leadeth destruction and many there be
which go in there at.
We go out and we're knocking a lot of doors, we're seeing many, many people saved.
Both here in Phoenix and in Tucson and our missions trips and other like-minded churches
are doing great works for God, seeing souls saved, but I'm telling you, it's a fraction
of the need that's being met today.
Just a small sliver of the need that's out there, excuse me.
Here's the thing, if we don't go, their need is not going to be met.
Where are the other on fire for soul winning Baptist churches?
Where are all the other churches?
I'm sure they're out there and we don't know them, and there's some that we do know
of, but why hasn't this country and this world even been just proselytized several
times over?
Where are all the soul winners today?
If we don't go, that need is not going to be met.
Look at Acts 16, verse 10, and it says that after he had seen the vision, immediately
we endeavored to go unto Macedonia, surely gathering that the Lord hath called us for
to preach the gospel unto them.
See if we don't go, if we don't endeavor to go, this need's not going to be met.
The vision is useless to Paul here.
The prayer of the Macedonian means nothing if Paul does not endeavor to go into Macedonia.
And you know, I'm hoping tonight to maybe inspire us and move us and motivate us to
go out and do the soul winning, but at some point you have to just endeavor for yourself
to go.
At some point you can say, I've been putting it off too long, or I've been out of it
too long, I need to get back into it, and you just need to pick a time and a place
and go.
And maybe you've never been soul winning before, and a lot of people that intimidates
them, but the great thing is you can go out and just be a silent partner.
And there'll be no pressure put upon you to go out and do that, and you can learn
to help fill this need that we have today, to reach people with the gospel.
The great thing about there being a need is that the people that we preach to, yes,
they have a need, but if we go, that need will be met.
That's one of the most encouraging things about soul winning, we don't labor in vain.
We come back all the time, you heard me in the announcements, how many saved this
day, how many saved that day?
And people would look at that and say, oh, is it really taking place?
Well, it is.
Because when you have people who are willing to go out and meet that need, it does happen.
The gospel still has power, the word of God still has power, souls are still dying
and going to hell, people can still be reached with the gospel today.
And if we would go and meet that need, people would get saved.
If you would, go over to Proverbs chapter 15, keep something in Acts 16 all night, we'll
be back there.
There's many people out there today that have a need and a lot of them don't even
know it.
They don't even know the need that they have.
And I love Romans chapter 10 where he quotes Isaiah and says, I was found of them that
sought me not.
And of course, we understand the context, he's referring to Israel and the Gentiles
and so on and so forth, but we could apply that to soul winning.
We could go out and find people that aren't even looking for God.
It happens all the time if you go out soul winning, you know this is true.
People wake up, the farthest thing from their mind when they get up is God.
The farthest thing from their mind is their eternal salvation, it doesn't even cross
their minds hardly.
I'm sure there's people out there that do, we do run into people from time to
time and say, I was just thinking about this, clearly this is God that's brought
you here, we have stories like that.
But by and large, the people that you go and knock their door and speak to them,
they weren't expecting for anybody to come and ask them about their soul today.
They don't even see the need that they have.
That's why it's all the more important for us to go to them.
The Bible says in Job 26, hell is naked before him and destruction hath no covering.
If people are struggling with being motivated to go out soul winning, maybe they should
just learn to look at the world the way God does.
And when God looks at the world, you know what he sees?
He sees hell naked before him.
He sees destruction hath no covering.
Look there in Proverbs chapter 15 and verse 11, it says, hell and destruction are before
the Lord.
I remember one of the first times I heard this preach, this verse just settled down
in my heart.
It was something that just moved me to want to go out and reach people with the
gospel.
I didn't know how, I really wasn't in a church that was doing this.
But this verse just has always stuck with me.
And he says, hell and destruction are before the Lord and people want to wave a finger
at God.
Like who is he to go send people to hell?
He's righteous, he's just, he's holy.
His ways are not our ways.
And it does say hell and destruction are before the Lord, but look how the verse ends.
How much more the hearts of the sons of men.
I mean, God looks down and he just sees mankind like just a torrent of souls just
cascading over into hell.
And they deserve to go there.
Like we all do, there's none good, no, not one.
But he looks down and it's not like he gets any kind of pleasure out of that.
He looks down and he sees the hearts of the sons of men.
And he asks, who's going to go reach these people?
He's done his part, he's sent his son, he's came, he lived the perfect life, he died,
he was buried, he rose again.
And all he asks us to do is just go and tell him.
That's it.
And if we would go and meet that need that is there, people will get saved.
We have to go find them where they are.
And this is something that so many Baptist churches have gotten away from today, unfortunately.
And it's no wonder our country is in the state that it is in today.
When you've gotten away from the one thing, as I heard Brother Chris vehemently tell
somebody today, that we're the ones that are making America great again.
The soul winners, the preachers, God's people, they're the ones that are making America
great again.
Not some bozo in the White House, I don't care what color tie he's wearing, it doesn't
matter.
Look, I told you I wasn't going to talk about it, here I am.
Every election is about one thing these days, money.
And that's another subject.
They're not the ones that are going to make America great again, we are.
And unfortunately, a lot of Baptist churches have lost sight of that.
They've lost sight of the fact that they need to go, they'll say, oh no, we love
lost souls, we want them to be saved.
All they got to do is just come down this aisle and just take a knee right here at
the altar and then we'll pray with them.
That's the attitude a lot of Baptist churches have.
I've been in them, can't tell me it's any different.
But is that the method that we see in Scripture?
Is that the method Paul had?
No, Paul heard the Macedonian call and endeavored to go.
He didn't say, well, you know, just send the vision right back to that guy, tell
him these are my coordinates, you know, just hop on a ship, get over here, and I'd
be more than willing to bring everybody with you and we'll take care of whatever it is you have.
Paul went to them.
And that's why today door-to-door soul winning is the best method of doing it.
I'm not saying there aren't other methods of reaching people with the Gospel, they're
out there, but none are nearly as efficient and none have a more clear biblical example
than going door-to-door, house-to-house.
I mean, it's plastered on all the windows around here, Acts 5-42, and daily in the
temple in every house they cease not to teach and preach Jesus Christ.
It's painted on the mural right over here, Acts 20-20, how I kept back nothing that
was profitable unto you but showed you and taught you both publicly and from house-to-house.
That's the method that Paul used.
That's the method that Jesus used.
He sent them out two-by-two before his face, whether ever so he himself would come.
But so many today, they'll even admit that there's a need, they'll know that's
what we're supposed to do, they know that that's what we're called to do, but
they don't want to go.
They don't want to go find the lost souls where they are, because it's too inconvenient.
Well, you know, Paul didn't have that problem.
He was willing to hop on a few ships, risk his neck, I mean, you're telling me
that trip wasn't inconvenient?
I mean, I take these soul-winning trips sometimes to go to these different Indian reservations,
went up to Washington recently, and I get a little upset, you know, if TSA makes
me, you know, go through the scanner again, or whatever, you know, or I have to eat
out again, you know, or no home-cooked meal for a week, or something like that.
And I mean that, honestly, that does grieve me after a while.
There's nothing more than you want more.
I was trying not to preach about food either, I'm really hungry, but I'm just
making the point, these are these minor little inconveniences, these little complaints
that we might have.
And Paul, but Paul, you know, and others like him, they were willing to go to such
great lengths to reach lost souls, and to help the people that they were preaching to.
Look at Acts 16, verse 11.
Therefore loosing from Troas, they came with a straight course to Semothracaea, and
the next day to Neapolis, and from thence to Philippi, which is the chief city of
that part of Macedonia and a colony.
So he makes it, you know, he gets out there and he goes.
And we were in that city abiding certain days, and on the Sabbath day we went out by a river
side where there was prayer, prayer was want to be made, and we sat down and spake unto
the women which resorted thither.
And a certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple of the city of Thyatira, which
worshiped God, heard us, whose heart the Lord opened, and she attended unto the things
which were spoken of Paul.
Again, this is Paul, not only when he gets there, he doesn't just go to the center
of town and say, well, I'm here, come find me.
He's going to where prayer was want to be made.
He's saying, where are the people at?
Where can I find them?
Where can I go preach to them?
Again, showing us that the example is to go.
You'll never meet the need that's out there if you aren't willing to go, and you'll
never know the blessing.
And it's interesting about this particular woman, Lydia.
She shows us, I think we can use her as an example of the type of people that we preach
to.
Look, if you go out and you go soul winning and you knock doors, you're going to run
into certain people.
You know, there's going to be certain people that you preach to, certain types of people.
Obviously they're not all encompassed in this list, but we can make an application tonight.
It says there, you know, that she came, there was a certain woman named Lydia in
verse 14, a seller of purple, the city of Thyatira, which worshiped God.
She worshiped God.
Now, we know she's not saved at this point because she later gets saved and baptized
in her house in the same chapter, but what this shows us is that the type of people,
the people that we preach to often are going to be what?
Religious people.
You know, and hopefully I've already kind of motivated people to go soul winning, but
I know there's a lot of people that are in this building that are already very motivated
to go soul winning.
And hopefully from here on out we can just point, you know, people can get some pointers
about how to go soul winning.
And look, I'm not talking about the basics.
There's plenty of sermons on our, on the church website that have been preached,
you know, the soul winning instructions and so on forth, so forth.
But maybe tonight I can give you just some, you know, some of the finer little details,
maybe things that we could all kind of work on and tighten up.
And one of the things we have to understand is, is that when we preach to, the people that
we preach to often are going to be religious people.
I mean I've been doing a lot of soul winning down in South Tucson and I mean they're,
you know, there's statues of Mary everywhere.
I mean the house, they build the houses with the, with the, you know, the little
brick altars you see in the art, they're pre-built.
They was in the plans like, okay, this is where the door is, this is the window, it's
going to be two bedroom, three bath, and there's going to be an altar spot right there
in the front yard.
It's all over.
And you run into religious people all the time.
And that's what Lydia was.
And you know, I just want to give a practical tip here when it comes to soul winning is
that when you preach to religious people, you have to, it's, you know, you want
to give them the gospel, you give them, and here's the thing, you give them the
same gospel you give everybody.
And remember early on when I started soul winning, it's like, well how, you know, I got
to preach to a Mormon a certain way, I got to preach to a Catholic a certain
way, I got to preach to this religion a certain way, no.
Just preach the same gospel to all of them.
Because essentially there's just two, there are really only two world religions, by grace
and by works.
You know, there's the Bible way, which is all by grace, and then there's pretty
much every other religion in the world, which just teaches you have to work your
way to heaven in some way, shape, or form.
But here's the thing, when you're preaching to somebody who's religious, it's really
important that when you get to the end of that gospel presentation, if they believe
this, if they're, you know, they're tracking with you, they're getting it, at some
point you have to make that person choose between Christ, what you've told them today,
and their false religion.
And sometimes we're so eager to just pray with them, we never really make a point
of this.
And this is a very important thing to do.
And be specific, and you know, you don't have to be rude about it, and I think that's
why some people kind of shy away from doing this, because they don't want to be perceived
as being rude, because you're essentially telling them that, what they're wrong.
And you can, but you can do that nicely, you know, you can tell people they're
wrong in a nice way.
But religious people have to be made to choose between what they believe and what they're
being told.
You know, Catholics, at the end of the gospel presentation, should be confronted
about their Catholicism, or whatever religion.
You know, and this is something that I've done often, and just say, you know, you
start out, you find out, what do they believe?
Hey, well what do you think a person has to do to go to heaven?
And whatever the answer is, you know, now you have that, okay, this is what they
told me.
Oh, you know, you got to keep the sacraments, you know, keep the commandments, do the sacraments,
typical Catholic answer, something like that, be a good person, so on and so forth.
Go through the gospel presentation saying, do you see, but you see what I showed you,
but do you see what the Catholic Church teaches is a little different?
Oh yeah, that's different.
They believe you have to do this, this, and this, right?
Yeah.
But now you see what I've showed you, it's all by faith, it's all by grace.
Who do you want to believe today?
Do you want to believe your Catholic Church or the Bible?
And it's an amazing thing when they say, well, I want to believe the Bible.
But what are you doing with religious people when you preach to them?
You have to make that line, you have to tell people, look, you got to choose one
or the other.
We can't just kind of gloss over the fact that they're involved in a false religion
and just let them just pray a prayer and walk away from it.
And this is probably one of the most, you know, revolutionary things, if I can use
that word, that help me with my soul winning.
When I put this one question into practice, it changed my perspective.
And I just encourage everybody to do this.
When you ask all those questions, hopefully that's what you're doing at the end,
you know, you believe you're a sinner, you're reviewing everything, make sure they're
getting it.
People have this tendency to just tell you what you want to hear.
Or they're comprehending it and they're just giving you the right answers.
But if you at the end, before you pray with somebody, would ask this one question,
you'd be amazed at what people really feel.
Just ask the question, what do you personally believe it takes to go to heaven?
Just put it right back on them.
Because it took me a long time to really go along with this.
But I would preach to people and they'd be, yep, I'm a sinner, yep, Jesus is God,
uh-huh, you died for my sins, you rose again, so on.
They'd answer all the questions like, this person's going to get saved, this is great.
And you pray with them and you go on your merry way.
But then when I started asking this question, it was amazing how many people would say
all the right things.
And I'd ask them, what do you personally think a person has to go to heaven?
Be a good person.
Because nothing's changed in their mind, nothing's changed in their heart.
They understand what you just told them, they get it.
But do they really believe it, is that what they're trusting still?
Or are they just telling you the right answers?
Because they think, well, you just want to hear the right answers.
But when you put people on the spot and say, what do you personally believe a person
has to go to heaven?
It's amazing how often you'll find people will just start to tell you what they really
believe.
They'll just be completely honest and tell you, I don't believe anything about what
you just told me.
And at that point, you have to leave them.
Or maybe, depending on whatever it is they say, you could work through some things, whatever.
I understand there's exceptions.
But at that point, you might just have to leave that person.
It's just not their day.
Which leads me to my next point is that the people we preach to have to be willing
to hear.
I mean, that sounds like some common sense, doesn't it?
You can't just go preach to people that don't want to hear.
But we need to make sure that we understand this and not trying to push people or come
across basically wasting time trying to preach to people who it's just obvious they don't
want to hear it.
And the thing is, the more you go and the more you do this, the more you'll start
to see this.
You'll start to recognize this in people.
You could pick up pretty quick when people are just not interested.
Come with us to the, I guess I shouldn't bash the soul-winding time that I am a part
of, but you come with us on the van on Wednesday night.
We'll go to some unreceptive neighborhoods, and you'll get a real good feel for what
it's like when people don't want to hear it.
And you'll start to pick it out real quick, what it looks like.
You know, when they start to say, they start closing a door and saying, oh, I'm
not interested.
That's usually your cue to say, okay, have a good night and go away.
I'm not trying to pick on people.
There's an isolated incidence by any means.
But sometimes people, they just keep insisting and pushing and trying to preach to people
that don't want to hear.
Meanwhile, the guy two doors down, three doors down, four doors down, he's ready
to hear.
He'll listen.
But we're sitting there trying to get someone that has no interest to listen to us.
They have to be willing to hear.
Look at what Lydia did in verse 14.
It says, Lydia heard us.
And when she had heard them, she attended unto the things spoken.
You know, she heard Paul.
She was there going about her business, doing her thing.
She hears Paul speaking.
And the things that she heard Paul saying made her want to hear more and made her
want to listen.
You know, this is an important point is that you only get one impression with people.
You only get one impression, one first impression at the door, just one.
And people need to understand this.
When you go to the door and you have a Bible in your hand, maybe you're dressed a little
nicer, you got a big stack of cards right here, there's some other person standing
next to you that looks just like you.
They know you're religious right off the bat.
And you're probably in a neighborhood, you might very well be in a neighborhood where
religious people come by all the time knocking on doors.
You ever run into these neighborhoods where it's just every door, no soliciting, no soliciting?
I can guarantee you the Mormons have been through there and whoever else.
The point I'm trying to make is this is that when you approach that door, you need
to understand they're already on the defensive a lot of times.
They're already thinking, oh great, another religious zealot that I'm going to have
to tell to go away.
That's their attitude.
And you know what?
I don't back away from that term.
Yeah, I'm a religious zealot.
That's why I'm out here.
Because I'm zealous for the things of God and God wants you to get saved.
But I'm trying to make the point is that you only have one chance to make that
first impression when they come to the door.
So you need to make sure that you're using your people skills when people approach the
door to help them, to let that guard down so that you can preach to them.
You know, smiling helps a lot.
Saying hi, how are you?
A lot of times people I've seen, they just start out right with, right out of the gate,
are you sure you're going to die, are you sure you know you're going to die?
Hi, my name is so and so, do you know when you're going to go when you die?
Look, I know we've got to confront them with that question, but can we ease into that a
little bit?
Can we kind of just ease into confronting people with their eternal salvation?
I mean, we ask that question all the time, we're used to it, we think oh yeah, this
is just another day in the office.
But when you've never been asked that before maybe, or very rarely at the most, and
all of a sudden you've just had a long day at work, you're trying to get dinner
made, whatever, and someone comes to your door and just says hey, do you know where
you're going to die?
Does it really surprise us when people put up the guard and just say, I'm not interested?
Course not.
And we want to fault them, and it's unfortunate that they don't listen.
But you know what, humanly speaking, it's understandable.
Especially when we don't help bring that guard down by smiling.
And I'm not saying you have to be Prince Charming out there, but can we at least say
things like, hi, how are you?
How you doing today?
Smile a little bit.
You know, ask them, hey, I'm from a Baptist church, you know, I try to get that out
right away.
I'm from a Baptist church.
I'm from a Baptist church, Baptist.
Emphasis on the Baptist, so that they know that this isn't Mormon or something
else.
Hey, I'm from a, my name's Corbin, I'm from a Baptist church.
I'm just handing out invitations.
Now, I've even heard people criticize saying that, well, do you think we should tell them
we're handing out invitations?
Because we're out here preaching the gospel, isn't that a lie, Brother Corbin?
Well, I don't know about you, but I am handing out invitations.
I am out inviting people to church.
I am out trying to get them to come to church.
That's part of what I'm doing.
That's not a lie.
No, hey, my name's Brother Corbin, I'm from a Baptist church, we're just out giving
these invitations.
You know, and here's what's so frustrating about this, I'm going to say, I'm going
to give these pointers and say this, and people are going to walk out of here and
not do them.
Because I've preached this exact same point before, and people still don't do it.
And I still, when I scratched my hand, I said, maybe that's why you're getting
treated the way you are at the door.
You know, you get treated like a jerk at the door if you come across as a jerk.
I don't know how else to put it.
And I'm not saying you have to do this, but take the track out, can I give you,
would you like one?
Not just, I'm from a Baptist church, I'm from a Baptist church, I've seen people
shoving it through the door.
Take this.
And I made this point already with the rubber chicken in another sermon.
Don't hand out a rubber chicken.
People will take anything you hand out, hold out long enough.
And they feel like, great, thanks.
And here's the thing about this, if you ask, it gives them an opportunity to say,
no thank you, I'm not interested.
Then you can move along.
It's just a practical, these are just practical little pointers, things that I've picked
up and hopefully other people will too.
Again, it's not necessary.
I'm not mad if people don't do it.
But it just might help you bring that guard down with people a little bit.
Maybe you're just so charming and good looking that you can just hold on a rotten banana
peel and people just like, thank you.
What other trash do you have?
That's not me.
Newsflash, I'm sure that's a shock to all of you, right?
Hey, would you like one?
Yes, thanks.
Oh, okay.
And then, you know what?
What I've done is I've brought their guard down quite a bit.
Are you a Christian?
I love to ask that question.
Are you a Christian?
Okay.
Well, hey, our church, and here's another, and this wasn't really in my notes, this
isn't really a big deal, but this is one that I used to say a lot that I've tried
not to say anymore.
More important than church.
We've all said that, and probably everybody said, hey, more important than going to church.
More important.
And that's fine, but I just feel like when we say that, we've just made church
very unimportant to them.
Now, I don't know about you, but church is important.
I would love for that person to come to church.
So instead of downplaying church so much, why don't we just say, hey, we'd love
to see folks come visit, but we also like to ask everybody a question.
Are you sure today that if you died, you'd go to heaven?
Now that question is coming.
Look, this hasn't taken that long for me to get to that question, but in just those
few little things, I've brought that defense down a little bit for them to say, oh, maybe
I'll listen to this person.
I mean, Lydia, when she was there, she heard Paul first.
She heard him, and then she attended under the things that were spoken, meaning whatever
Paul was saying, she said, I want to hear what he has to say.
However Paul was saying it, it was inviting her in to hear what she had to say.
You only have one first impression, so make it count when you're out soul winning.
Maybe it's just a matter of learning people skills.
I think some people just have a better aptitude for this.
It's just more ingrained in people.
Or maybe some people that seem to spend time, having spent time in the customer service
industry, they seem to get this a little.
This comes more naturally to them, because basically that's what you're doing.
You're out there offering a service, offering to preach the gospel to them.
What if you were trying to offer them something else?
What if we were trying to, I know we got the vacuum salesman, right?
There's several of those guys.
I know I got one on Tucson.
There's a couple guys here.
Here, you want to buy a vacuum?
Just take this.
That's probably not how they went about it, if they were any good.
There was probably introducing, you know what I'm saying?
People who are in this field, the customer service, they understand how to talk to people.
If you know we've never been in that service, maybe we struggle in this area, then maybe
that's an area we need to work on.
Learn people skills.
I don't know, read a book.
Or how about start dealing with people.
This is probably the best advice.
Deal with people in an unrelated setting, in an unrelated setting.
Something complete that has nothing to do with soul winning or church, but just put
yourself in a place where you have to talk and interact with people and you have to play nice.
So I'm preaching about the people that we're preaching to tonight.
The first thing that we saw is that the people we preach to, they have a need.
And we have to go find them where they are, but that's not enough.
We can't just show up and say, oh, I'm here and now you have to listen.
You have to actually make them want to hear what you have to say.
That takes some effort on our part.
But I want you to say, well, that sounds like a lot of work, I don't know if this
is really worth the time, but we need to do this because the people that we preach
to are in bondage.
They are in bondage.
They are held by sin.
Look at Acts 16, verse 16.
This is another person that Paul preached to.
And it came to pass as we went to prayer, a certain damsel possessed with the spirit
of divination met us and brought her master's much gain, which brought her master's much
gain by soothsaying.
So Paul, when he's out preaching and going ministering, he comes across this young girl,
this damsel, who's possessed by a devil and being used by these men to make money.
That's a very sad case, that's bondage, spiritual bondage.
And we run into that all the time out so many.
Maybe we don't run into literal devil-possessed soothsayers, although if you get out on some
of these reservations, you will.
That's the truth, that these people are possessed by devils.
They'll tell you they are.
They'll act like they are.
It'd be a shock if they weren't.
But we run out of people all the time who are in bondage to sin, of alcohol and drugs,
all these other vices that are out there, all kinds of things that people are just
in bondage to.
We go into these nice neighborhoods and they say, it's clean, there's no liquor bottles
everywhere.
It's like, oh, these people got together.
Yeah, except they're in bondage to covetousness, envy, and greed, and they're selfish.
People are in bondage out there today.
Look at verse 17.
He followed Paul and us and cried, saying, these men are the servants of the Most High
God which show unto us the way of salvation, and this she did many days.
She did this many days.
I mean, here's the thing, when you're dealing with people who are in bondage, people who
have all kinds of problems, people where sin is just having their way with them, you
have to be patient with those people.
We have to be patient with people when we're out sowing.
The people that we preach to, we have to be patient with them.
Look at the patience Paul had.
We know he eventually cracks down and deals with it, but she did this for many days.
Paul's putting up with it, and putting up with it, and putting up with it until
finally he just turns around and rebukes her and the spirit that was in her.
When we're preaching to people, they might not receive it.
They might not receive it the first time or the second time, but you need to be patient
with people.
The way you can apply this a little more practically is when somebody doesn't want
to hear what you have to say or at some point in your gospel presentation just says
they're not interested or rejects it or isn't getting whatever, that's not the time
to just give them a cold shoulder.
That's not the time to just say, well, they must be reprobating.
I mean, obviously, I'm such a great soul winner.
Why wouldn't they want to hear what I have to say?
There could be no other explanation that these people are just, you know, reprobate
concerning the faith.
So I should just be able to treat them however I want.
Like the literal, just like, no, I'm not interested.
Okay bye.
Maybe it's not even the cold shoulder, the silent turnaround, it's just, okay bye.
How about, all right, well, have a nice day.
God bless you.
What's wrong with that?
Because maybe next time, because I don't know if you've noticed, but it's not like
we're going to finish that map and then be done soul winning and just be like, all right,
well, we did Phoenix.
Let's just sit back and chill, admire our accomplishment.
No, you know what?
We're going to get a brand new map, put it up there, and we're going to start all
over again.
You know, or maybe that person's going to move to another neighborhood saying this,
what are the odds?
It could happen.
That same person that you were like, that somebody else from our church was just like,
they didn't want to hear what I had to say, so whatever.
And now they're just like, oh, well I'll keep that invite.
These jerks ever come back, I'll make sure I don't ever give them time of day again.
Be patient with them.
Look, if Paul can put up with some little damsel demoniac following around pestering
him for days, I'm sure we could deal with somebody, you know, being a little curt or
just not interested at the, you know, they're not interested.
Go over to 2 Timothy chapter 2, keep something in Acts, the Bible says, now we exhort you
brethren, 1 Thessalonians 5, warn them that are unruly, comfort the feeble-minded,
support the weak, and be patient.
Now you know, we read that and we think, oh, that's just within the church, right?
Now obviously that is very, that's a whole other sermon right there.
People need to quit, you know, biting and devouring one another in the local church.
But you know, it extends beyond the walls of the church, this attitude.
He said there, warn them that unruly, support the weak, be patient toward all men, all
men, saved and unsaved.
See that none render evil for evil unto any man, but follow after that which is good,
both among yourselves and to all men.
You're there in 2 Timothy, look at verse, 2 Timothy 2, look at verse 23, but foolish
and unlearned questions avoid, knowing they do gender strifes.
And the servant of the Lord must not strive, but be gentle unto all men, everybody, apt
to teach, patient and meekness, instructing those that oppose themselves.
Look, these lost people that are in bondage out there, they're their own worst enemy.
They're their own worst, they don't need you to help them.
They don't need you to be another enemy, or to make, you know, things any more difficult
for them.
Yes, we need to be direct.
There's a time to just be very direct with people, I understand that.
But sometimes I think we're on a little bit of a hair trigger.
Some people are on a little bit of a hair trigger with that.
Look at, go back to Acts 16 verse 17, look, in 2 Timothy he was saying, you know, we need
to be meek, we need to be patient towards all men, why?
Because they're in the snare of the devil, that they may recover themselves out of
the snare of the devil, they're in bondage.
And just because it's not obvious that there's a bunch of sin in their life, either way
they're in bondage to just the nature of sin, that they're going to go to hell
if they don't get saved.
Now of course there is a time to be direct.
Look at verse 17, but Paul, being grieved, after what?
After many days, turned and said to the Spirit, command thee in the name of the Lord
Jesus Christ, come out of her, and he came out of her at the same hour.
So obviously there's a time where we just, you know, we don't entertain foolish questions,
we don't get in, you know, questions of stripes and words, and we just have to
say look, conversation's over, I mean, the first door I knocked out tonight, that's
exactly what happened.
I was, the guy, I went to a door, it turned out to be some studio or something like that,
some art studio, so we went, started going to the next door.
The neighbor who was at a place of business was outside, and he called me back.
And he said, did you ring the bell, you know, what are you, what's going on?
And I tell him, hey, we're from a Baptist church, go through my spiel, give him
the invite.
I said, are you Christian?
Oh yeah.
And he even said he claimed to be a Baptist.
And then he starts trying to argue with me and say that you have to be baptized to
be saved.
I'm thinking, you're not Baptist.
No Baptist believes that.
And I tried, I tried a few things and said, well, you know, Paul said I came not to baptize
but to preach or something, whatever, I don't know, I was off the cuff.
And I tried to reason a little bit, it was obvious, and I said, well hey, I could
show you from the Bible that it's all by grace, it's not a work, you don't have
to be baptized to be saved.
You know, I dealt with Mark 16 for a second, but the guy just wanted to argue.
But even then, I was direct with the guy, but I just said, hey, you know what, I don't
believe that, the Bible doesn't teach that, you know, I'm not really interested
in getting a debate with you about it, I'm going to go talk to somebody else, but
you have a nice night, God bless you.
And as I was walking away, and the guy was saying, you've got to be baptized, brother.
Yeshua!
I didn't turn around and be like, oh, you're a Yeshua guy, whatever.
Oh, that's it, now it's on.
Now let's go mix it up with this guy.
Because it would have been a total waste of time.
A few doors down, you know, we didn't get to preach the gospel to anybody, but there
was this nice lady who took the invitation, listened to John 3.16, let me explain it
to her, but if I had sat there and said, well I'm going to make sure this guy knows
who the real Baptist is around here, that would have, you know, I get being direct,
but even then, you know, be direct so you can get out of there.
You know, Paul was only direct after it grieved him, it took many days to do so.
Look, the people that we preach to, you know, they're in bondage, the people that
preach to, they have a need, and if we don't go and reach them, no one else is
going to do it.
Or very, you know, the likelihood of anyone going to them is slim to none.
We understand something, that the people that we preach to are hopeless, they're hopeless.
What I'm really trying to do with this sermon tonight, beyond just giving a few practical
little pointers, and beyond just trying to motivate people to go soul winning, is really
to make sure those of us that are going soul winning are going out there with a real
genuine burden for souls.
Really going out there, really caring about the people that we're talking to, and taking
the time and doing things right, and working on how we present the gospel.
Because it's important.
Because the people that we preach to are hopeless.
No hope without God in this world.
Look at Acts 16 verse 25, and at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, of course it was after
they got arrested, and sang praises unto God, and the prisoners heard them.
And suddenly there was a great earthquake so that the foundations of prison were shaken
and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone's bands were loosed.
The keeper of the prisoner, waking out of sleep and seeing the prison doors open,
he drew out his sword and would have killed himself, supposing that the prisoners had
been fled.
Now, you know, quick note, I've heard people say, you know, the repenting your sins crowd
would say, you know, the Philippian jailer here, he was repenting when he sprang in
and came down trembling and fell down before Paul.
That was his repentance.
Look a person who's convicted of the Holy Ghost and is convicted of hell and sin and
heaven and they're pondering their eternal destiny.
They don't pull out swords and attempt to kill themselves, and this is kind of a sub-topic
here, but he's hopeless in this situation.
He's completely without hope, and that's, at least in his mind.
You have to remember, and I'll read to you from Acts chapter 12, remember what happened
to the other keepers when the prisoners escaped in Acts 12?
Now, as soon as it was day, there was no small stir among the soldiers.
What was become of Peter, remember when the angel came and kicked Peter in the ribs
and said, get up, and he let him out?
The next day, verse 19, it says, and when Herod had sought for him and found him not,
he examined the keepers, so he's questioning him.
Where did you put him?
Where did you go after you put him in the jail?
Did you lock the door?
Who'd you leave him with?
What'd you do with the key?
How did he get out?
And when he got done with his little examination here, and commanded that they should be put
to death.
I mean, that was the custom back there, because think about it, if you're the jailer
and you're keeping people in prison and you know if they get out, you're gonna be killed,
you're gonna do your job a whole lot better.
I mean, think how much better you'd do your job if you knew if you did messed
up, you were gonna get killed.
And that's like, that's an insurance policy by your employer.
I don't know that I'd take that job, right?
But that's what they did.
So now it makes sense why the Philippian jailer, he sees this here, this earthquake
wakes him up, all the doors are open.
He's assuming everybody's gone.
That's why Paul has to say, do thyself no harm.
We are all here.
So he goes immediately to Paul, you know, because Paul is the one crying out, he must
be the one that's, you know, could say, hey, we're out of here or not, you know,
so he's going to try to there, and he said, what must I do to be saved?
You know, what do I got to do to keep my skin from swinging?
Because in his mind, at this point in his life, he's completely without hope.
And that's a great picture of the people that we preach to, the people that we preach
to, if we don't go, they have no hope of being saved on their own.
Look, it takes a saved person to get somebody saved.
They're not just going to get saved because of a YouTube card.
I'm not against YouTube cards.
They're great.
Hand them out.
Guess what?
They're not against the tracks.
They're going to look at the YouTube card.
They're going to get saved.
You know what they're going to do?
They're going to look it up online.
You know what they're going to hear?
A saved person preached the gospel, and then they're going to get saved because it takes
a saved person to get saved.
And I know that's not anything we're struggling with in this church, so we're not going to
belabor that point.
But the point is this, that if we don't, if we, the saved people who have the truth,
don't go and preach it, they don't have any hope.
The people that we preach to are hopeless.
You know, and they're hopeless in the sense that, you know, a lot of people out
there, they just feel like there's no point in living.
Their whole attitude is just, you know, hey, eat, drink, and be married, for tomorrow
we die.
That's a depressing way to live life, because all those things are empty and vain.
But Paul here, when he runs across this hopeless individual, he takes advantage of the circumstance,
and what does he do?
He preaches the gospel unto them.
He says in Ephesians 2, wherefore remember that ye being in times past Gentiles in the
flesh who are called on circumcision by that which is called circumcision in the flesh
made by hands, that at that time ye were without Christ.
He's reminding the Ephesians that there was a time in their life that they were without
Christ.
And what does it mean to be without Christ?
Being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenant of the promised,
having no hope, and without God in the world.
Look, the people that we preach today, we're their only hope, for all you know.
For all you know, that person's door that you go and knock on, and they come to the
door, you might be their only chance.
So make it count, and do a good job.
Verse 33, we'll continue on here, and I'm almost done.
Well we'll just wrap it up here, and he said, we'll read verse 30, and he took
them the same hour of the night, and washed their stripes, and was baptized, seeing
all his in a straight way, and when he had brought them into his house, he sat meet
before them, and rejoiced, believing in God with all his house.
Now I've never had that.
But I tell you what, when you're out there in a midweek at around 5 o'clock, and everybody
else is cooking dinner, who's that, Brother Kevin, we were smelling the garlic today,
we're both talking about it, like someone was cooking some kind of spaghetti or something.
It's like, why can't we have an Acts 16 moment, and get this guy saved?
Come on in, man, sit down.
These people that have no hope, when you get them saved, man, they rejoice, believing
in God.
You're relieving such a burden.
I want to conclude by saying this, the people that we preach to, they're privileged to
have us there, because they don't have any hope without us.
And you'll say, oh, Christ is their hope, yeah I understand, but you know what, Christ
uses us to get these people saved.
And these people, whether they realize it or not, they are privileged to have us at
the door, knocking.
Bible says in 2 Corinthians 5 verse 20, now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though
God did beseech you by us.
I mean, whether they realize it or not, when we're knocking on their door, it's
like, and we got a Bible in our hand, and the Holy Spirit in our heart, and a burden
to get them saved, it's like God is begging them to be saved, through us.
That's amazing.
And they're privileged to have us there.
And look, we understand that, we read 2 Corinthians 5 and we think, yeah, they are privileged
to have us there.
They are.
We're doing them a favor.
That should not be our attitude, ever.
Here's the thing, the people that we're talking to, the people that we preach to,
they don't realize how privileged they are.
They don't realize this is an ambassador for Christ standing at my door.
We understand that because we're saved, and we read 2 Corinthians 5, and we understand
the importance of what we're doing, but to them, you're just another guy.
They don't understand how privileged they are.
So don't rub their face in it.
Don't expect them to understand that fact.
Don't expect them to just, you know, just stop everything and cling to every word that
you say because it's obviously, you're an ambassador for Christ.
They don't get that.
They don't understand how privileged they are.
Don't expect them to.
Now if you would, go to one last place.
Go to 2 Corinthians chapter 4.
Look it's true we're ambassadors for Christ.
Great calling.
No other, there isn't a higher calling on this earth, and it's a calling that every
one of God's children can fulfill.
Every single one of them can, isn't that great?
That you, you know, the world would look at us and say, nobody's, and you know what,
to a large extent, they're right.
And I'm fine with that.
I mean, who am I, you know, like Paul said, you know, who's sufficient for these things?
Who are we?
We have this treasure in earthen vessels.
We're nobodies.
But isn't it great that just average ordinary people, that in Christ, we can fulfill the
highest calling that there is?
And maybe we don't do it because we don't understand that.
Maybe we don't understand how privileged we are to go out and preach the gospel.
Maybe that's why there's Christians even in a church like this that's on fire for
soul winning.
That makes soul winning so readily available to so many people, still just say, eh, it's
not for me.
Maybe it's because you don't fully understand how privileged you are to be an ambassador
for Christ.
And it's true that's a very high calling, but let's let this mind be in you, it says
in Philippians 2, which was also in Christ Jesus, the one we represent, who being in
the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no
reputation and took upon him the form of a servant.
Look, that's how you have to approach soul winning.
Even though you're an ambassador for Christ, even though you're fulfilling this
great high calling and they're very privileged to have you there, you can't show up and
make yourself of some reputation.
I'm here to preach you the gospel.
I hope you appreciate it.
Good luck with that.
You'll get nowhere with that kind of an attitude in out soul winning.
At the very least, you're going to blow it for at least those people.
And again, you're their only hope in many instances.
Took on the form of a servant.
I'm willing to go to these doors as an ambassador for Christ and have them treat
me poorly, annoy me, bother me, tell me whatever.
Why?
Because I'm there to serve them.
I'm just there to serve them.
I'm hoping that they'll at least give me an opportunity to preach them the gospel or
leave them with a verse.
So I'm going to serve them.
See what I'm going to do?
I'm going to learn to be a better soul winner.
I'm going to learn to be a nicer person.
I'm going to try to put on a happy face, even if I'm having a bad day, and try
to get them to listen to what I have to say because whether they realize it or not, they're
without hope in this world.
Look at 2 Corinthians chapter 4 verse 3.
It says, this is familiar, I know, but if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that
are lost, and whom the God of this world hath blind to the minds of them which believe
not, lest the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto
them.
For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus, Lord, and ourselves, and ourselves, your servants
for Jesus' sake.
Look, we're there to represent Christ.
We're there to preach His message, not our own, not try to impress them with our intellect,
not to impress them with our clever way of giving the gospel.
We're there to just help them to get saved, help them to see their need for Christ.
Look at verse 7, but we have this treasure in earth and vessels that the excellency
of the power may be of God and not of us.
Look, the people that we preach to are to be served by us, not impressed by us.
They're to be served by us.
That's the attitude we have to have when we go out soul winning.
And I'm trying to think of just maybe an illustration to kind of put this all together.
This is the one I came up with.
Imagine people are on a spiritual death bed.
A spiritual death bed.
And here's the scariest thing about it.
They don't know they're, honestly, that's what they are on.
And they don't even know it.
Look, you get on a physical death bed, you're going to know it.
You're going to know what's laying ahead for you.
I mean, you're literally dying, but look, the lost people are hopeless and they're
lying on a spiritual death bed.
And we have the cure.
They have a disease that is going to take them down to hell forever.
And we have the cure.
We have the answer.
So here's the question tonight.
How is your bedside manner?
I mean, would you, if someone was dying of a physical, literal disease, they're wracked
with pain and you have a cure, you're just, eh, if I have to.
You go over there, pry their mouth open and just shove it in.
You're cured.
You're welcome.
That's a poor bedside manner.
To an extreme.
But is that how we are spiritually sometimes?
How is our bedside manner tonight when we're out talking to people who are on their spiritual
death bed?
Look, we are ambassadors of Christ, but we're representing somebody who made themselves
of no reputation but became a servant for us.
These are the people that we preach to, people that are in bondage, people that have a need,
people that are hopeless without us.
Let's make sure we're approaching them the right way.
Let's make sure we're doing everything we can to help them to see their need so
that they might get saved.
Let's go ahead and pray.