Man, tonight I'm preaching on the subject of soul winning, and I want to talk about
just some practical teachings on soul winning, some different methods, and first, before
I get into that, I just want to go into some of the philosophy behind soul winning.
You know, why soul winning?
Why do we do soul winning?
Why do we believe in it?
Why do we make such a big deal about it?
You know, first of all, I would point out that the term soul winning is a biblically
derived term.
Some people attack that term and say, soul winning?
What are you talking about?
Where do you get that?
But the Bible says in Proverbs 11 30, the fruit of the righteous is a tree of life,
and he that winneth souls is wise.
And so when it talks about the fruit of the righteous, you know, bringing forth fruit,
that has to do with reproduction.
Everything brings forth fruit after its own kind, and when we as Christians multiply by
reproducing ourselves in other people, that's soul winning.
When we win someone else unto Christ, and when we get someone saved, other people will,
you know, act weird about you using the term getting someone saved, okay?
But these are all biblical terms, like for example, you're in 1 Corinthians 1, go to
1 Corinthians 7, 1 Corinthians chapter 7, and there are a lot of scriptures like this,
but for example, this is talking about a saved person who's married to an unsaved person,
and it's explaining that just because you're saved and they're not, you shouldn't divorce
that person or leave that person.
You should remain with that person if they're willing to be with you.
You need to stay with them.
And it says in 1 Corinthians 7 16, for what knowest thou, O wife, whether thou shalt save
thy husband?
Or how knowest thou, O man, whether thou shalt save thy wife, okay?
Now flip over to 1 Peter 3 verse 1, and you'll find a similar thing about a wife who's saved
and she's married to an unsaved man.
And they use that term there.
Hey, wife, you don't know if you're going to save your husband, or you know, if you're
a husband that's saved and your wife's not saved, how do you know if you're going to
be able to save your wife?
Now a lot of people just freak out if they heard that term today in 2015, like, what
do you mean we don't save anybody?
You're so prideful and arrogant to think that you got anybody saved or that you saved
anyone.
But what does the Bible teach?
Over and over again you'll see Paul use this kind of terminology when he says, you know,
I've become all things to all men that by all means I might save some.
He said I want to provoke to emulation them that are of my flesh that I might save some
of them.
Okay?
Paul says in Jude, others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire, hating even
the garment spotted by the flesh.
How knowest thou, oh wife, you know, whether thou shalt save thy husband.
I mean, look, if we give somebody the Gospel, that saves them.
And since we're the one who gave them the Gospel, we saved them.
Now people will try to say that that's blasphemous, but wait a minute, if that's the wording that
the Bible uses, you're blasphemous to criticize it.
Because anybody who stands in judgment of God's word is being blasphemous, okay?
God's word uses the terminology of, and here's what people say, well Paul didn't mean it
that way.
Well, neither did I.
I mean, it doesn't make any sense, right?
See, the bottom line is, whether you like it or not, and whether the Calvinists like
it or not, getting people saved is a job that takes two people.
It takes a human being and it takes God working together to get someone saved, okay?
Because of the fact that God does not just go out and save people without our help.
God is not going door to door today through Phoenix, Arizona.
Jesus is not bodily going to the doors and knocking on the doors and getting people saved.
No, the Bible says He has committed unto us the ministry of reconciliation.
And Jesus said, as long as I'm in the world, I'm the light of the world, but He's no longer
physically in the world.
Now He says unto us, you are the light of the world, and we have Jesus Christ in us,
and we are ambassadors for Christ, and we go to them in Christ's stead and beseech them
to be reconciled unto God.
But you see, Jesus said, without me you can do nothing.
So if we were to go out without the help of the Holy Spirit, without the word of Christ,
we're not going to get anybody saved.
We can't do it without Him in our flesh.
But here's the thing that people choke on, but it's true, He can't do it without us.
He's relying on us.
He needs us to do it.
He's sending us, and that's why the Bible says if our gospel be hid, it's hid to them
that are lost.
So the bottom line is that the Bible says that there are ministers by whom we believed,
even as the Lord gave to every man.
So everybody who's saved had someone give them the gospel at some point, and that person
saved them in a sense.
Obviously we all know that Jesus is the Savior.
Obviously we know all glory goes to Him.
All praise goes to Him.
He takes all the credit, but there's nothing wrong with using the biblical terminology
of saying, hey, I was able to get somebody saved, or hey, I saved someone.
That is a biblical term.
And it's not said in pride.
It's not said to somehow glorify ourselves, because of course we know that without Christ
we could do nothing.
He gets all the praise.
It was all done through the power of the Holy Spirit and through the power of God's word.
But you see, the people who don't like that terminology are those who are envious, because
they are doing nothing for God.
And so it makes them feel bad when they hear about people getting saved, because it pricks
their conscience and makes them think, well, wait a minute.
Why am I not getting anybody saved?
Think about that.
When you're not doing anything for God, you're not getting anybody saved, and you're hearing
about people who are getting someone saved, there are two reactions you could have.
Number one, your reaction could be, I need to be doing that.
I want to start.
Sign me up for that.
When can I start?
And then the other reaction by those who are lazy or those who are fearful or for whatever
reason don't want to do it is to try to explain it away like, oh, that's not really happening.
That's not legitimate, or they're not really getting anybody saved, or soul winning doesn't
work.
But listen to me, soul winning works.
Soul winning is God's chosen method to get people saved.
And when I use the word soul winning, all I'm referring to is walking up to an unsaved
person with a Bible in your hand and showing them how to be saved from the Bible.
That's what we're talking about.
Or having the verses memorized, walking up to an unsaved person without Bible, and using
memorized scripture and preaching the word of God to them just verbally.
That's what I mean by soul winning.
It has always worked, it always will work, it is the biblical method, it is the best
method, it is the most effective, and it is the method that God has chosen in order to
get the most people saved.
Now let's look at the Bible and see if that's true.
Look at 1 Corinthians chapter 1 where we started.
Why soul winning?
Soul winning is biblical.
The term is biblical, the concept of saving people or getting people saved, pulling people
out of the fire, so to speak, is a biblical concept.
And it is something that we do in tandem with the Lord.
We work together with the Lord to do this.
It's a team effort between man and God.
Sort of like bringing a child into this world takes two people, doesn't it?
And it don't take two men to do it.
It takes a man and a woman to do it.
So a man and a woman are both necessary to produce a child.
You say, well, you know, who's more important in that process?
It's a ridiculous question because they're both necessary, it can't happen without either
one.
Well, when it comes to soul winning, there's two people that are involved.
There's God and man, and that team effort produces a new life that's born again, and
the Bible uses that illustration many times.
Paul talks about begetting sons in the faith or travailing in birth and birthing souls.
Those are terms that the Apostle Paul uses frequently.
Look at 1 Corinthians 1 verse 18, and the Bible reads, starting verse number 18, whoops,
I'm in 2 Corinthians, no wonder that didn't look familiar.
1 Corinthians 1 verse 18, for the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolish
but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.
For it is written, what's the power of God?
The preaching of the cross.
For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and will bring to nothing the
understanding of the prudent.
Where is the wise?
Where is the scribe?
Where is the disputer of this world?
Had not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?
For after that in the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by
the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.
Notice that, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.
So what is the method that pleases God to get people saved?
What's the method where God said, you know what, it will please me if this is the method
that people will use to get people saved.
He said it's the preaching of the cross.
God chose preaching in order to get people saved.
Now the world looks at preaching as foolish.
So it's not that it actually is foolish.
When the Bible says the foolishness of preaching, you got to get in the context where a few
verses ago he said it's to them that perish foolishness, but unto us which are saved it's
the power of God.
And God chose preaching to get people saved.
That's the method, it pleased him to use that method.
Now a lot of people want to use a whole bunch of other different methods, but that's the
method that pleased God, to save them that would believe.
So it says in verse 22, for the Jews require a sign.
These are other alternative methods for getting people saved.
The Jews require a sign, if they just see a miracle they'd be saved.
And the Greeks seek after wisdom, saying hey, you need to prove it to us logically, you
need to rationalize it and give us evidence, we're atheists, we will see it when we get
the evidence, we believe in science, you know, we want to see the evidence.
And they say, you know the Greek, seeking after wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified,
unto the Jews a stumbling block, and unto the Greeks foolishness, but unto them which
are called both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God, because
the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.
So he says, you know, people might want something different and people might think, oh if we're
going to reach the Jews we've got to show them a sign, if we're going to reach the Greeks
we've got to use the wisdom of the world, we have to logic with people and rationalize.
No God says it doesn't matter whether we're talking to a Jew or a Greek or anyone else,
we preach Christ crucified, that is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believe
it, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.
But look at these encouraging verses that come right after that.
It says in verse 26, for you see your calling brethren, how that not many wise men after
the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called, but God hath chosen the foolish
things of the world to confound the wise, and God hath chosen the weak things of the
world to confound the things which are mighty, and base things of the world, and things which
are despised hath God chosen, and things which are not to bring to naught things that
are, that no flesh should glory in his presence.
What's he saying?
He's saying, you know, look around at who's serving God, look around at who's doing the
soul winning, look around at who's doing the preaching and pastoring the churches.
He's saying typically it's not the most talented people, it's not the most noble people, it's
not the best looking people, it's not the most talented or even super witty or intelligent
or whatever.
He's saying, you know what, God uses people as they are and he'll often use the base things
of this world, people that are weak, people that aren't that mighty, maybe they're not
that cool, they're not really that suave, he'll use people where when you see them being
used by God, you don't think to yourself, oh well it's obvious why that guy's being
used by God, because look how good looking he is.
Look how smooth he is.
Look at the talent.
Look at the silver tongued oratory skills.
Of course, you know, people are flocking to this guy's church.
Is that what it says he uses?
No.
He uses people where you look at it and say, you know what, the fact that this guy's church
is growing at all must be God.
Hey, the fact that this guy goes out and gets people saved, that's the power of God.
Because why?
He gets the glory that way.
And you know what?
I've noticed that God can use anybody to be a soul winner who's just willing to go and
do it.
I mean, even people who are not social butterflies, even people who are not talkative, outgoing,
old kind of personalities, I have seen God use all kinds of people to get people saved.
The timid and shy, the outgoing, people that are real intellectual, people that are not
as intellectual, he uses all kinds of people and God gets the glory.
And you know, I don't want to embarrass anybody in our church, but I'm going to.
But here's the thing.
You know, there are some people in our church that are quiet people, right?
And there are other people in our church who are real talkative, right?
And if I asked you to name some of the people in our church that are more quiet, you know,
you might mention, hey, Scott is pretty quiet.
But you know what, though?
I've been out soul winning with Scott and Scott transforms when he goes, who's been
soul winning with Scott?
He transforms and he does a great job.
I mean, all of a sudden he just starts talking and you know, he does really well.
And I remember the first time I went soul winning with Scott, I was just thinking, you
know, because I'd already spent a lot of time with Scott, but I hadn't been soul winning
with him.
And I just remember thinking to myself, like, I can't even picture this, you know, how's
this going to, I was just thinking, how's this going to go down?
Because I just couldn't see him just going up and just, you know, boldly confronting
somebody and giving them the gospel.
But you know what?
I was, I saw him do it.
I was impressed.
What is it?
Because do you really, does anybody here really think that Scott was just born to just go
out and just confront strangers and boldly speak to them?
I mean, no, but here's the thing.
How does he do it?
Because he does it through Christ, because the Bible says, I can do all things through
Christ which strengtheneth me, you know, so God can use, because a lot of people, when
you talked about soul winning, that's what they'll tell you, right?
Oh, that's just not me.
I'm a shy person.
But you know what?
If anybody would actually come to our church, spend time with the people that do the soul
winning, they'd realize, hey, you know what?
These are all kinds of people that are being effective at soul winning, not just a certain
type of person that has that talent and that skill.
You know, a lot of times when people see the pastor going soul winning, they'll kind of
think to themselves, oh, that's the pastor, you know, of course he can do that, he's the
pastor.
I remember I was talking to Brother Jimenez and he went through a period in his church
where there were a lot of people in the church who wanted to be a silent partner and he didn't
really have enough talkers yet, because you know, when we go soul winning, we go two by
two and people that are new, people that haven't really learned, they come as a silent partner
so they can come along and learn and so forth.
And basically, he had a lot of silent partners and he would have to kind of schedule with
them different times and rotate them through because there were more silent partners and
very few talkers.
And I told him, I said, listen, Brother Jimenez, this is how it works, you'll go overnight
from having very few talkers, all of a sudden you'll just have a ton of talkers, you'll
go just because, and I told him, this is why.
I said, because right now, because you're one of the only guys that does the talking,
people are intimidated to do the talking because they're thinking, oh, well Brother
Jimenez, he's really good at it, he's really knowledgeable, he's the pastor of the church.
But I said to him, I said, as soon as they see some of their fellow church members out
there start doing some talking, when they look at them, they're going to say, you know
what, I can do this too.
I mean, if he can do it, I can do it.
See, when they look at the pastor, they don't always have that attitude of, hey, if he can
do it, I can do it, because they just tell themselves, well, he's a pastor, this guy's
been studying for years, you know, this guy's been saved and soul winning for a decade
or whatever, and he knows his Bible and he's saved.
But here's the thing though, when they see average church members going out and doing
great things for God, they want to get in on the action, they want to do it too.
And he told me, he said it was just like I said, you know, that once he had a couple
people talking, then other people saw that example and it emboldened them.
And they said, well, if he can do it, I can do it, yeah, you know.
And all of a sudden it just starts multiplying to where you have a lot more talkers, then
you can get more silent partners, you can double the efforts and get out there and really
do a great work for God, preaching the gospel in the highways and hedges, compelling them
to come in that God's house may be filled.
I love the Bible verse that we have, I don't know if you've noticed, but on the window
here, in the window lettering where it has the times and the services and everything,
there's a Bible verse, and daily in the temple and in every house.
They cease not to teach and preach Jesus Christ.
And God forbid that that verse would ever cease to apply to our church.
You know, we want that church to apply to where it says, hey, they did not cease to
go to every house and teach and preach Jesus Christ.
But let me tell you something, a lot of people are ceasing today.
And moving on to newer, more modern methodology, we need to never cease house to house, door
to door soul winning.
Just to pick on another person besides Scott, brother Jimmy Wright is not somebody that's
super talkative and outgoing in our church, but he told me that he literally, because
he's been counting his soul winning ever since he, how long have you been soul winning?
Not trying to embarrass you.
Four years?
He just hit 300 people that he's won to the Lord in the last four years.
He writes down every single person that he wins to the Lord.
And you know what?
He's not somebody that you would think of as somebody who just walks into church, hey,
you know, everybody, you know, real loud and outgoing.
But you know what?
He gets out there and he does it and he's going week after week and he's seen over 300
people say it.
I mean, that's more than a lot of pastors have done or a lot of other people.
You know, I'm just trying to point this out, you know, I hope I'm not embarrassing specific
people, but my point being, there's no excuse not to do it.
You know, God can use all of us the way that we are and he'll use us in different ways.
And look, if you're outgoing, great, God can use that too.
Because with certain kinds of people, that's what it's going to take.
Other people are going to respond better to a quieter person.
Other people are going to respond better to this personality or that personality.
That's why we all need to go.
We can all be ourselves and we can all be used by God.
But there's no excuse to sit there and say, hey, that's not my gift.
It's not a gift, it's a command.
You know, there are gifts within the church, that's not one of them, okay?
It's a command to get out there and God can use every man, woman, boy and girl to present
the Gospel, to show someone how to be saved.
Go to Romans chapter 1, Romans chapter number 1.
Here's a saying that I've heard that I really like also and I found this saying to be true.
The longer I live my life, this is just proven true over and over again.
I always tell this to people, there's always a prepared place for a prepared person.
You know, there's always a prepared place for a prepared person.
You know, I've studied different things and learned different things in my life and gained
different skills and I've never learned anything that I didn't eventually use.
Different things that you learn and you think, when am I ever going to use this?
But you use it though because whenever you learn and grow and gain skills, there's always
a prepared place for a prepared person.
So instead of going out and seeking opportunities, a lot of times better to work on preparing
ourselves and being ready and then the opportunities will be there, okay?
Like for example, preaching, man, I want to get opportunities to preach.
Learn how to preach.
Get the ability to preach.
Get prepared to preach.
Have a sermon ready and God will give you opportunities to preach.
You know, he'll strike me with sickness, that way other people can come and fill in and
preach.
I thought, when Brother Corbin preached, you know, a few weeks ago or a week and a half
ago, you know, I was feeling great the day before and then I just got really sick and
then he preached that sermon and then as soon as he was done preaching, I started feeling
better and I was wondering, like, did God just make me sick so that he would preach
that sermon?
But the point being, God will give us opportunities, you know, it's not that hard to find opportunities
to preach.
But you know what's hard?
Learning how to preach and getting prepared to preach.
You know, if you learn a foreign language, God will give you the opportunity to preach
to souls in that language.
You know, there's always a prepared place for a prepared person.
You know, you learn how to play the piano, learn how to sing, learn how to preach, learn
how to go soul winning and God will bring people across your path and he'll give you
a church that tells you, here's the time to go soul winning, here's a place, here's
a group, here's a guy to go with and make it easy for you so that you can go out and
win souls to Christ.
But what if you're not prepared?
What if you don't know what you're doing?
What if you haven't learned?
You know, I can tell you this, I got saved when I was six years old and I wanted to win
people to Christ throughout my life and I would always fail at it because I didn't really
know what I was doing.
No one had really taught me how to do the soul winning.
And so it wasn't until I was 17 years old that I actually started going out and knocking
doors and seeing success of winning people of the Lord.
But from six to 17 I didn't get anybody saved, you know, six to 16 because of the fact that
I didn't really know what I was doing, I was unprepared.
If you're prepared, if you're ready to preach the Gospel, God will bring people across your
path.
If you're ready to preach the Gospel, show up at a soul winning time and there's all
kinds of opportunity to go out and win people to the Lord.
Look at Romans 1 verse 15, it says, so as much as in me is, I am ready to preach the
Gospel to you that are at Rome also.
When he says as much as in me is, I think he's just talking about, you know, all the
preaching he's heard, all the Bible that he's read, all the things that he's been taught.
He said, look, I'm ready to preach the Gospel.
Let me ask you this.
Are you ready to preach the Gospel today?
I mean if somebody came across your path, let's say you were at work or let's say in
your neighborhood and it does happen, it doesn't happen all the time, but it happens where
somebody will just walk up to you and literally ask you how to be saved.
Now it's pretty rare and if that's your whole soul winning program, that's pretty lame if
you're waiting for that to happen because the soul winning command over and over again
is go, go ye into all the world and teach all nations, go and preach the Gospel to every
creature.
It's always go.
We need to go to them.
But honestly, some people will come to you.
Can you imagine how rotten you would feel if somebody walked up to you and said, hey,
listen, I've been thinking a lot lately.
I think I need to be saved.
Can you tell me how to be saved?
Can you show me from the Bible how to be saved?
And you don't know where the verses are.
You don't know what to say.
I mean, wouldn't that be a horrible feeling?
Just to feel like, wow, I lost this opportunity and then maybe a few days go by, that person
might be hardened by the events of life.
They might not be in the same frame of mind.
That was the chance.
I've had people come up to me and sometimes they don't always do it like the Philippian
jailer where they just fall on their knees and say, what must I do to be saved?
But I've had people come up to me and just say, hey, you're a pastor, right?
Yeah, I'm a pastor.
In my neighborhood, a guy walked up and he said, you're a pastor, right?
He said, well, you know what?
I want to be baptized.
Would you baptize me?
Now look, this guy didn't need baptism.
He needed to get saved first.
He's not even saved.
But he didn't know that.
I mean, this guy doesn't know.
He's not a guy who knows the Bible or knows the gospel.
He's just thinking, I need to get some religion.
Something's wrong with me.
I don't know if I'm going to heaven.
I don't know if I'm going to hell.
I want to figure something out.
And so he came to me and just said, I want to be baptized.
And I said, well, you know, before you get baptized, let's make sure that you're saved.
And I was able to give him the gospel, pray with him.
He got saved.
You know, God will bring opportunities like that.
And I think if you're a prepared person, he'll send you more people like that because he
knows you're not going to mess it up.
He'll send you people because he knows you know what to do when they get there.
When we talk about opportunities to present the gospel, here is a good rule of thumb also.
If you're ever alone with someone, give them the gospel.
Any time you're alone with someone, give them the gospel.
I remember one time I went to this really liberal, watered down type Baptist church.
And I remember the pastor talking about how every Saturday morning he goes golfing with
his neighbor.
They go golfing together, the two of them.
And here's what he said.
I'm still waiting for an opportunity to give them the gospel.
I mean, you're going golfing with them once a week.
That's your opportunity.
But I guess he's waiting for this guy to bring it up or something.
That's ridiculous.
If you're alone with somebody, that's your opportunity.
And I hope that the next time you're alone with an unsaved person, you remember me saying
that, and it makes you think, hey, I need to do this.
And it prompts you.
Because you know what?
Somebody said that to me.
And I remember every time I was alone with somebody after that, that phrase would always
pop in my mind.
If you're alone with someone, give them the gospel.
And it's a great rule of thumb.
Because you know what?
It's a lot better to give people the gospel one on one than in a group.
And this is why door to door is such a great way to do it.
Because you more often than not are talking to people one on one.
So you get people in a big group, a big crowded place, or in a church environment.
People don't listen the same as when it's one on one.
One on one is the best.
And you know what?
Sometimes I've successfully walked up to a group of people and talked to three or four
people.
But you know, it takes a lot more boldness, and it takes a lot more skill.
And you know what?
All it takes is one of those people to throw a monkey wrench into the whole thing and start
being obnoxious and ruin it.
Thankfully, thank God, sometimes you get in a situation where everybody wants to hear
it or where the scorner just kind of walks away.
And you can keep giving the gospel to that group.
But one on one is the best.
Are you ready to preach the gospel?
Do you know what you're doing?
You know, tonight obviously it's not really within the scope of one sermon to give you
all the tools and preparation for going soul winning.
But I just want you to think about that.
Now I've done a ton of sermons in the past, and they were usually like a part one and
a part two.
You know, soul winning tips one, soul winning tips two, soul winning instruction one.
If you go to our church website and just type in on the sermon page soul winning, like 20
sermons will come up that are how to instructional type sermons.
Why?
It's something that we care about, something that matters, it's important.
It's the main thing.
It's the big thing that we do around here.
It's what our church is all about.
You know, they want to say that our church is all about hate or it's all about no, no,
it's about soul winning.
But that it's about the whole Bible.
But I would say if there's the one thing that that characterized our church more than anything
else, it's the soul winning.
I mean, I think that's the most important distinctive of faithful word Baptist Church.
Because you really wanted to set it apart from other churches.
You know, the thing I'd put out there first is the soul winning, number one.
I think that's a good thing to keep as a main distinctive of our church.
Now, there are other things that characterize our church, but soul winning is a big one.
So how do we do soul winning?
Well, let me just give you some tips first of all, okay?
If you were to train for an athletic competition, if you were to learn how to play basketball,
if you were to learn how to play baseball, you know, there'd be some training involved,
there'd be some practice involved, some exercise involved.
And you know what?
That stuff is all vanity and meaningless compared to soul winning.
They do it to win a corruptible crown.
We do it to win an incorruptible.
And so you have to think of it as something that you're going to put a little work into.
You know, God wants us to do good works.
The Bible says that we're not saved by works, but it says we are his workmanship created
in Christ Jesus unto good works that God has before ordained that we should walk in
them.
So go into soul winning and go into learning how to be a soul winner with an attitude of
let's get to work.
I'm ready to work at this thing.
Now one of the things that I would recommend right away is to memorize the soul winning
verses.
Memorize the soul winning verses.
Now listen, don't use this as an excuse, not well I'm going to do everything on Pastor
Anderson's list before I go out there.
You know, you get out there as a silent partner, that's the best way to learn.
And here's your preparation for being a silent partner.
Are you breathing?
Okay, you be a silent partner.
Seriously, I mean, being a silent partner, you just stand there, you know.
Now hopefully you're praying in your mind and in your heart that people will be receptive.
Hopefully you're giving fellowship and encouragement to whoever you're with.
Hopefully you're petting the dog and doing whatever to get rid of distractions.
But honestly, if you're breathing, it's time for you to show up at a soul winning time
and get out there and be a silent partner.
You know, you say, well I don't know if I can do three hours or whatever.
Hey, show up on Wednesday night.
Let's go to Little India and do, you know, one hour in Tempe.
Show up on the other nights that are the shorter soul winning times.
You know, they're all different times that are available for you.
Show up and be a silent partner.
The best way to learn is by getting out there and doing it, okay?
Because it's just like anything else.
You don't learn how to be an electrician or a plumber sitting in a classroom.
You learn by getting out there and wearing the tool belt and doing the work and being
a grunt.
You start out as a helper, right?
Well, you're an apprentice.
You're a helper.
You're a silent partner.
But here are some tips though of things that you can do to fast track yourself to being
a talker.
You know, to being a soul winner in your personal everyday life and outdoor to door soul winning.
You need to memorize the Bible verses that you're going to use for soul winning.
Listen, even if you're going to show people from the Bible, memorize the verses anyway
because then you'll be able to preach it more smoothly without making mistakes.
Plus, sometimes you're not going to have your Bible with you and you might miss a primo
soul winning opportunity because you didn't have your Bible with you when you could have
just quoted it.
Romans 3.10, you know, as it is written, there's none righteous, no, not one.
Romans 3.23, for all of sin it comes short of the glory of God.
People have been soul winning for a long time.
I could call on probably half of this church to stand up and they could probably recite
all those verses.
Probably half the church right now could stand up and we could go around and have them each
recite and they could probably give us 10 or 15 soul winning verses off the top of my
head, off their head.
You know what that means?
They're ready to preach the gospel.
And that's where you want to be, my friend.
You want to get to that place where you have the soul winning verses memorized.
You say, hey, I'm thinking about starting to memorize the Bible a little bit.
Where should I start?
Memorize the plan of salvation.
That's where you start.
If you don't have Romans 3.10, Romans 3.23, Romans 5.8, Romans 6.23, Romans 10.9, Romans
10.13, Revelation 21.8, John 3.16, John 3.18, John 3.36, John 5.25, I'm not saying you can
use all of those.
You know, you're going to pick the ones that you want to use.
But you know what?
If you don't have those memorized, man, that's where you start.
The soul winning verses, the salvation verses.
Say well, I don't know what the salvation verses are.
Well, you know, one good place to start is that who's got the church invite?
Handy.
Hand me one.
See, these are some prepared people.
Look at all that.
Everybody's shoving an invite.
You know, on the back, you know, this is kind of a real basic abbreviated version.
It's real short just so that it could fit on the back of this little church invite.
But here's a great place to start with some verses to memorize.
Romans 3.23, Romans 6.23, Romans 10.9, Romans 10.13.
This is a few verses, but that's a start.
Okay, Revelation 21.8.
Then, you know, you could go online.
We have on the church website the basic soul winning demonstration video.
Just a 10 minute thing of just a basic going through the gospel with somebody and boom,
there you go.
There are the scriptures.
Memorize them.
Learn them.
Go out soul winning with somebody and write down every verse that they use.
There's your Bible memory list for the day.
Okay, so what are some tips for soul winning?
I think when it comes to soul winning, you know, and I don't have time tonight to go
into the whole nuts and bolts of presenting the plan of salvation.
Okay, I've done that in other sermons.
You can go out soul winning with somebody to see that done.
You can watch the basic soul winning demonstration where I do it.
And honestly, the way that I do it in the basic soul winning demonstration, I think
that that is a very effective way to do it.
That's why I do it that way.
And if I thought that there was a better way to do it, I'd do it a different way.
Now I don't think everybody should do it exactly the same.
Everybody's got their own personality, you know, and that's why God can use us all in
an individual way.
But I think that the way that I do it in that demonstration is a great place to start because
of the fact that it's been tried and true and proven for well over a decade, not just
by me but by many people who've used that exact method.
And that's not a method that I made up of my own, you know, mind.
I actually compiled that from years and years of going soul winning with other people and
I kind of took elements that I liked from different people and I formed and fashioned
that plan as a way that works for me and it's a way that's easy to teach to other people.
And frankly, it gets the job done and it's got the job done for over a decade, tried
and true and proven.
So that's a great way to do it is to get that demonstration.
But besides the nuts and bolts of actually explaining the plan of salvation, you know,
showing them that they're a sinner, talking about heaven and hell, talking about Jesus,
who he is, his death, burial and resurrection, the fact that salvation's by faith alone and
the fact that once we're saved we can never lose our salvation which, you know, what I
just said there I think is the basic skeleton of what you want to get across to somebody
when you're soul winning.
You know, proving each point from the Bible and elaborating on each point in your own
words.
But aside from that meat and potatoes of how to present the gospel, I think that the most
difficult part of soul winning is the very beginning and the very end.
I mean wouldn't you agree with that, those who go soul winning?
It's the very beginning and the very end because once you're into it, once you're out there
and you're going through the verses, you know, it's pretty easy just to kind of explain the
gospel, once you've done it before, once you have the verses down and you know where
to go next, that part's pretty easy.
I think that the part that is the most difficult is the very beginning and the very end.
That's what I want to talk about tonight is the hard part.
The rest you can get from the demonstration, the rest you can get from going out and doing
it, the rest you can get from the other 20 sermons I've done like this where I teach
it.
Tonight I just want to briefly, in the time that we have left, talk about the very beginning
and the very end.
Here's why the very beginning is so important because if you get this beginning down, you'll
not only be a door-to-door soul winner, you'll learn to be a soul winner in your personal
everyday life because if you can learn how to bring up the subject, that'll help you
because think about it, picture it, you're in the work truck, you're on a long drive
out to a job site, you and your co-worker, right?
Then you hear this voice remind you, hey, when you're alone with someone, give them
the gospel and you're like, oh man, I'm alone with somebody, I'm supposed to give
this guy the gospel.
I mean I've been in that situation many times where that came into my head of a pastor that
I heard say that, when you're alone with someone.
So then it comes into your head and here's your question, how do I bring it up, right?
I mean it's awkward, I'm embarrassed, I'm nervous, I don't want it to just seem random,
it's just weird like, do you know for sure if you died today you'd go to heaven?
In the work truck you just kind of burst out with that, like whoa, where did that come
from?
Right?
I'm glad, okay, I asked him, okay, all right, remember the simulator, you know, so the question
is, how do you get it started, you know, how do you get it going?
It's like anything else, once you get into it, I mean it's like water skiing, right?
What's the hardest part?
You know, getting up, once you're up, you're woo, you know, but once you get up it's easy,
but it's getting up that's the challenge, okay?
So it's the same thing with soul, it's getting into it, it's getting the conversation started
and here's the thing, it's real similar door to door versus in your personal life, it's
really not that different.
Now one of the great things about door to door soul winning is that you're never going
to see these people again, that's what's so great about living in a city with four million
people because you can just totally make an idiot out of yourself and you're just like
never going to see them again, right?
Now with your friends and family and co-workers the stakes are a little higher because you
are going to deal with these people, some of them for the rest of your life, so therefore
it's great to go out door to door, get some experience on strangers, practice on strangers,
okay?
Then you'll be real comfortable and confident when you go to your loved ones because I remember
I gave the Gospel more to my loved ones in all of my failing years.
Then once I turned 17, got into soul winning church, went out door to door, I learned how
to do it from doing it hundreds of times.
Then I went back to friends and family and had success because I'd learned out there.
So what's a good way to bring up the conversation?
Well let's say you're out soul winning, okay?
We'll start with the door to door because I think that's the easier of the two is with
strangers door to door.
You go up, you knock on the door.
Now step one, don't knock like the police.
That's just, you're starting things off on a bad foot, but I've been with people from
our church who that's how they knock.
And here's the thing, if you're going to knock that way, if you're going to knock like the
police, just be sure you do like the police do and go, you know, just in case the shotgun
blast comes to the door, you better step out of the way.
So you know, don't knock like the police.
Okay you get a friendly knock, alright?
Or just something friendly, gentle knock, okay?
And don't do this, alright?
So just do a normal, friendly, gentle knock, okay?
Just you know, or, alright?
Is everybody getting this down?
No, I'm just kidding.
I'm just saying, look, you knock everyone, but just a friendly, gentle, not.
Faithful word back to church!
If you die today, you know, so you want to start out, start out, here's the thing, what's
your goal?
Ask yourself in your heart, you know, what's your goal when you go out sowing?
Because you know what my goal is?
To get people saved.
That's the goal.
So everything I'm doing is geared toward getting people saved, which involves not just trying
to make people mad or start out on a bad foot, okay?
So and honestly, I want everybody in the church to listen to what I'm saying, because I've
been soul winning with a lot of you, and some of these tips that I'm going to give in the
next, you know, ten minutes or so, some of these are for you, okay?
And if you're wondering, like, is he talking about me, yes, I am.
And these are things that I've observed, you know?
Number one, don't knock like the police.
Number two, when they open the door, smile, smile.
And I think one of the biggest mistakes that I see people making sometimes with this beginning
part is they start out being real rude and gruff.
And a lot of times it's just because you're nervous.
You know, when you're nervous, sometimes you come off as rude, but you come off as rude.
And you know what?
You can sometimes burn people where right away they start out with a bad impression.
You know, first impressions are pretty important.
And so I always try to smile real big when they open the door.
Because why am I there?
I'm not there to get in a fight.
I'm not there to call them out.
I'm there in love, right?
I mean, we're speaking the truth in love.
We're going forth and weeping bearing precious seed.
So we're not there to be adversarial.
We're there as a friend.
And in fact, we're bringing good news.
The Bible says, how beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel that bring
glad tidings of good things.
So isn't that something to smile about if you're bringing glad tidings of good things?
So look, I show up, friendly knock, and then I smile, okay?
Not a fake cheesy smile, not a cat that just ate Tweety Bird smile, but just a basic, friendly,
from the heart smile.
You know, hey, the joy of the Lord is our strength, the Bible says.
So you know, find a happy, joyful feeling in your heart and express it and smile.
And you know, people can tell whether you like them or not.
And people can tell whether you're just going through the motions or whether you actually
care and you actually are being friendly and whether it's genuine.
Make it real.
Say, well, I don't feel that way.
Well, then shame on you.
You should love people and want them to get saved and put a big smile on your face and
bring the gospel and then be glad about it, glad tidings.
So knock nicely, big smile, and look, tell them right away where you're from.
Because there's nothing more irritating than when somebody shows up at your door and they
beat around the bush and don't really tell you why they're there.
It's like, come on, you know, like, you know, somebody, the Jehovah's Witnesses are notorious
for this.
They knock on your door.
Hey, we just kind of wanted to talk about the times that we're living in.
It's like, what?
Who invited you over?
You know what I mean?
I don't remember looking for a new friend or anything, you know?
Who are you?
And then it's like, well, who are you guys?
Well, we just want to talk to you.
It's like, well, who are you?
What do you want?
Why are you here?
So you know, just tell, this is what I do.
I knock on the door.
Hi, I'm Pastor Steve Anderson.
Now I'm from Faithful Word Baptist Church.
I just wanted to give you an invitation to church.
Real straightforward, you know, right away you're giving them an invite.
And here's the thing.
By handing this to them, it's a nice icebreaker.
You'll realize this when you run out of these and you knock on the door and you're just
kind of like, hi, you know, and you don't really have.
It's nice to have something like, hey, I came to give this to you, okay?
So but, you know, you stick this in their hand and then right away that's a good way
to start the conversation.
Hi, I'm Pat.
And you're not the pastor.
You just say, hey, my name's Chris.
My name is John.
I'm from Faithful Word Baptist Church.
Just want to give you an invitation to church, okay?
Now there are a couple of ways that you can go from here.
The question that I like to ask at that point is, are you a Christian, okay?
Now the reason I like to ask are you a Christian is because of the fact that anybody who's
even halfway churched is going to say yes.
And if they say yes, then at least they're getting one question right.
Even if they're about to get the next ten questions wrong or whatever, you know, at
least it gives you a common ground with that person right away of just, hey, are you a
Christian?
Yeah, I'm a Christian.
Oh, okay, great.
Then right away there's a camaraderie.
You're not starting out adversarial right away, okay?
If they, most of the time in the United States of America, three-quarters of people when
you say are you a Christian are going to say yes.
Most people are going to say that, at least in Phoenix, Arizona.
So then I say, if they say yes, I'm a Christian, I say, well, if you were to die today, do
you know for sure that you'd go to heaven?
And if they say anything, listen carefully to this point, if they say anything other
than yes, I know 100% sure, then at that point I just say, well, can I show you how you can
be 100% sure?
So for example, I ask them, hey, how you doing?
I'm brother so-and-so from Faithful Baptist Church, just want to invite you to church,
are you a Christian?
Oh, great, okay.
Well, listen, more important than church is just if you were to die today, do you know
for sure you're going to heaven?
And what if they say this?
And I want you to interact with me tonight, okay?
Tell me, do I, well, okay, I don't want to get too complicated, I'm sorry, but if I say
to them, hey, are you 100% sure you're going to heaven?
You say yes or no whether this is 100% sure, okay?
Yeah, I'm pretty sure I'd go.
No.
Yeah, I think so.
No.
See what I, okay, so unless they say yes, I know for sure, then it's a no.
So if they say, yeah, I think I would, yeah, I'm pretty sure, yeah, probably, I think I
probably would, those are all no's.
So here's what you say to the no answer when you say, hey, do you know for sure you're
going to heaven?
And they say, I think so.
I say, well, could I show you from the Bible how you could be 100% sure?
Because that way it saves you asking them like a million questions because sometimes
you can badger people or be irritating to people by just grilling them with questions.
Are you a Christian?
Where do you go to church?
Do you know for sure you're going to heaven?
How do you know?
What does it take to get there?
You know, and asking too many.
Now look, you do have to ask a few questions to get things going, but you don't want to
go too many questions.
The fewer questions you get asked, the better.
So that's why I just go with, are you a Christian?
Are you 100% sure you're going to heaven?
Hey, can I show you from the Bible how you can be 100% sure?
It'll only take like 5, 10 minutes, okay?
Have you got just a few minutes?
And if they say yes, then I'm in.
Present the gospel.
And if they say, oh no, I'm busy, no thanks.
Then I say, okay, no problem, but let me leave you with one verse.
That way you're always planting a seed, even if you don't get to give the full plan.
I always just say, okay, well that's all right.
But let, and be friendly.
Don't be like, oh, so you don't really care whether you go to hell or not?
But I've been sowing with people, that's how they act.
That's, look, I've been sowing with people from this church where that's how they act.
If somebody says, no, it's like, really?
You have a video game controller in your hand, you know, and you're telling me how busy you
are?
But anyway, you know, don't just get all that, look, you can't re-raise these people, okay?
You can't get, don't you understand, you're going to go to hell, you know.
They don't understand.
Otherwise they wouldn't be blowing it off.
So just look, be nice.
It's their loss.
I say, look, can I show you?
They say, oh, no thanks, man, I'm busy, I don't, okay, no problem.
Let me just leave you with one quick verse.
Because by the fact I said no problem, now they're going to be more receptive to listening
to the one verse, because they're thinking like, oh, you know, this guy's not jamming
anything down my throat, he's totally ready to let me go, he just wants to leave me with
one quick verse.
And look, if you do it that way, like 90-some percent of people will always let you give
them the one verse.
Right?
Like 99%, if you're nice about it, and just say, hey, let me just leave you with one quick
verse.
You know, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever
believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life.
And then I just give a quick explanation of the verse.
I say, you know, it doesn't say whosoever goes to church or whosoever lives a good life,
it just says whosoever believeth.
Because being saved is based upon whether or not you believe on Jesus Christ, not based
on anything else.
And then I say this, after just a real quick explanation, not like entering into a big
long lengthy thing, but just a brief explanation, and then I say this, hey, are you sure you
don't have just a couple minutes?
I could just go through it with you, it'd only take a few.
And then if they say, nope, no, I'm good, then I say, alright, have a great day, see
you later.
Big smile, no problem.
Not like, I've seen people literally, I've been out so many people, where literally,
they'll tell them like, oh, no thanks, you know, I don't have time, and they'll just
go.
And just literally walk, like, without even saying bye, you have to understand, our church
does a lot of soul winning.
Look at that map back there of what we've done.
And that represents, on that map, like three quarter of a million people, okay.
But not only that, there are areas in the surrounding areas that are close to our church
that we have knocked five or six times, whole giant neighborhoods that we've, we have knocked
the doors of over a million people, okay.
We knock a lot of doors.
And listen, these people that you're talking to that aren't interested today, we will be
back.
We're, oh, you're not through with me yet, buddy, I'll be back.
And look, we might not be back this week, but you know what, a year from now, two years
from now, three years from now, we will be back, because our church is only getting bigger.
And we're doing more soul winning, not less.
We will be back.
And so therefore, you don't want to just burn these people, because we're going to come
back, and we're going to water that seed that was planted.
So leave on a high note if you can, okay.
So basically, you leave them with one verse, hey, are you sure?
I can't just go through it, it'll only take a few minutes.
And if they're adamant, then move on.
Now you say, well, why do you even ask people, why don't you just give the gospel to everybody?
And here's the thing, that's how I did it when I first started.
But you know what I realized?
I was wasting a lot of time with people who didn't care what I had to say, and they would
just glaze over.
And then I'm spending 10 minutes talking to somebody who's like, yeah, uh-huh, yeah, and
they're not listening.
And it's like, my time and my energy and my breath is more valuable than that.
I don't want to just write people off if they're not interested, I want to plant a seed, and
I want to move on to the guy who wants to hear it.
Because you know what, there are plenty of people that'll say, sure, yeah, I would like
to know.
Let's go to that person.
And the other people, we're not just writing them off, we're planting a seed, because that's
what they're ready for right now.
They don't want to hear the whole thing.
We'll plant a seed and move on.
Does everybody understand that?
I mean, look, soul winning is easy.
It's not hard.
You know, one of the biggest things when people go out soul winning for the first time as
a silent partner, they walk away like, whoa, that was way easier than I thought.
I can do this.
It's just people are scared to get out and try.
But once you get out there and try, you'll see it's not that hard.
It's pretty easy.
Okay, so let's back up and do an alternative scenario.
That's if they say that they don't know for sure.
And remember, if they say, yeah, I'm pretty sure, what is that answer?
No, they're not sure.
So let's say, let's back up and let's say you ask them, hey, do you know for sure?
And they say, yup, I know for sure I'm going to heaven.
Then the next question is, well, what do you believe it takes to get there?
What do you believe it takes to get there?
Because here's the thing, some people will say, oh, I know I'm going to heaven.
Oh, well, they're saved then.
No, not necessarily.
Because a lot of times people will say that and then you'll say, oh, what do you think
it takes to get there?
And they'll say, live a good life.
Or well, I've sheltered 11 animals.
You know, I've rescued 11 cats.
I mean, that's got to secure my place in heaven.
So people will give other answers.
So you ask them, friendly, nice, not like, well, how do you know that you're going to
heaven?
That's what makes you think you're going.
You know, actually being nice is what I'm talking, you know.
The Bible says, let your speech be all way with grace, seasoned with salt.
You know, be ready to preach the gospel in love, speak the truth in love.
So basically, if they say that they know for sure, you ask them, well, how do you, what
makes you, no, that was a bad example, sorry.
You say to them, what do you think it takes to get there?
What do you think a person has to do to get into heaven?
You know, however you want to ask that question.
And then if they say, let's do another kind of interactive.
Is this a, we're going to have three choices on this one.
Is this right, wrong, or nah, of an answer.
Everybody got it?
Right, wrong, or nah, alright.
So what do you believe a person has to do to get to heaven?
Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
Yeah, that's great, right?
Well, you know, it's all through faith.
You know, it's believing in Jesus.
You know, well, hey, whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
Okay, what about this answer?
Well, you know, I live a good life.
Well, I got baptized in a Baptist church.
Well, my dad's a pastor.
You know, so these are all wrong answers.
Okay.
Now, what about this answer?
Oh, I asked Jesus, just ask Jesus into your heart.
I wouldn't say that that's necessarily wrong in the sense that even though it's not really
using the right terminology, even though they're not really saying it using biblical terms,
does that really just mean that that person's not saved?
No, because there are a lot of people who are saved who will say that.
What if I say, what if they say this?
Oh, you know, you just, it's just a relationship with Jesus.
Nah, because you know what, even though technically if you really boiled that answer down, it's
a wrong answer, but a lot of people who do believe salvation is by faith alone will use
these terms just because they picked them up in their big mega church fun center.
You know, they picked it up through Christian TV or whatever where they'll give these answers
like, you know, well, you know, you just have to, you know, accept Jesus or something.
They'll just give kind of a vague.
So those answers are kind of like, you don't really know where they're coming from yet,
right?
So what if they say, well, you just have to repent of your sins.
But if they say like, accept Christ, ask Jesus into my heart, personal relationship, even
though those aren't the answers that you'd really want to hear, those are kind of like,
you don't really know what they mean by that.
So don't just write those people off, okay, as just for sure not saved.
But if they say something like, it's by faith, it's not of works, it's whosoever believeth,
it's, you know, then those are great answers.
It's all by his grace that we're saved, you know, it's not our works.
I mean, that's the answer you want to hear, okay.
So here's the thing.
If they give you a wrong answer, now remember, what's the wrong answer?
That's something that's just explicitly works-based.
Oh, it's baptism, oh, it's living a good life, it's doing works.
Then at that point, you say, well, listen, can I show you how the Bible says?
Because at that point, you know they're not saved, they give you that answer.
Just say, well, can I just take a couple minutes and show you how the Bible says we can know
for sure, right?
Then basically, because they said something wrong, you know, you don't want to just go
like, but basically, you just want to tell them, well, hey, can I just take a couple
minutes and show you what the Bible says we must do to be saved?
By emphasizing the word Bible, you're kind of contrasting like what the Bible's saying
versus what you're saying, okay.
So that's what I would say to that, okay.
Now let's say they give you either a right answer, right, a right answer or a nah answer.
Then the next step is to ask them this, well, do you think that there's anything that you
could ever do to lose your salvation?
Now this is a great question because believe it or not, you'll run into people who give
you not even a nah answer, they actually give you the right answer and then they'll
just completely blow this question.
You'll ask them, hey, what do you have to do to be saved?
Oh, just believe on Jesus Christ, it's all faith.
And you're thinking like, yes, they're saved, praise God, hallelujah, brother.
But then you're like, hey, do you think there's anything you could ever do to lose your salvation?
And they're like, oh, well, you can't live however you want, I mean, you got to obey
the commandments.
I mean, you got to go to church, you're like, you just said it was my faith, what are you
doing?
Because people sometimes will just say it's by faith because they know that's the right
answer because they've heard it.
But that's not really what they believe.
They think that you actually have to do works, go to church, repent of all your sins, continually
ask forgiveness every time you mess up to not lose it or whatever.
So that's why that question of do you think there's anything you could ever do to lose
your salvation is a great indicator.
Because if they say it's belief, it's faith, and then they say, nope, there's nothing you
can do to lose it, I mean, that person is, I mean, you're 99.9% sure that that person's
saved at that point because they're nailing it.
I mean, they've got it, they get it, you know, it's just you believe in Christ, you're saved,
it's done.
I mean, that's great.
At that point, then you don't just go, well, good.
At that point, you should be happy and rejoice with that person.
So instead of just like, okay, good, because I was just making sure, I just want to make
sure, all right, okay.
Here's my reaction when somebody nails it and says it's by faith or they give a meh
answer but then they're like, well, no, you can't lose it, it's all through Jesus.
I say that's exactly what we believe, great, man, it's so good to run into somebody who's
saved.
It's encouraging.
Great to meet you, you know, let me tell you about our church and be real friendly and
excited and rejoice with them because you know what, it's sincere when I do it because
I'm happy to run into people that are saved.
It's real encouraging when you knock a bunch of doors, you know, I've seen some people
come back a little deflated from soul, like everybody was already saved.
It's like, well, great, good.
Because here's the thing, even if everybody's saved, it's not like you've wasted your time
because you know what you've taught these people, saved people are out soul winning,
why aren't you?
That's the kind of silent sermon that you're giving them.
Because you know what, as soon as you shut that door and they go back in their house,
they're going to think to themselves, why wasn't I out doing that, why doesn't our church
do that?
It's a great testimony to the saved.
So basically, you know, that's how you get into it with somebody with the gospel.
Now let's back up further, okay?
And let's say the person basically, you get to the door and you ask them, do you know
for sure if you died today, you'd go to heaven, and they say, no I don't, okay?
Then basically, at that point, you just say, can I show you from the Bible how you can
be 100% sure, just take a few minutes.
Okay, let's back up even further.
Are you a Christian?
No.
Right?
What do you do then?
You know, hey, are you a Christian?
No, I'm not, I'm an atheist.
I've seen some people just, well, what do you do with that?
See ya.
Well, that's the perfect person we want to talk to, you know, why not?
So here's what I always tell them, because a lot of people are like, well, what do you
do if they say they're not a Christian?
I mean, they're a Muslim, they're a Hindu, they're an atheist, what do you tell them?
You know, what I say at that point is I say this, I say, well, you know, what we're doing
is we're showing people from the Bible, if they'll let us, how to know 100% sure you're
going to heaven.
The Bible talks about heaven and hell.
We want you to go to heaven, it'll take five, ten minutes, just want to show you what the
Bible says it takes to get to heaven, going to show you what the Bible says.
That's a good way to do it.
Now, a lot of people who are really staunch-type atheists will just say, well, I don't believe
the Bible.
Or even a staunch Hindu or Muslim will say, well, I'm Hindu, you know, I'm a Muslim, I
don't believe the Bible.
So then a lot of people are kind of like, well, where do I go then?
I mean, if they don't believe the Bible, what do I do?
Here's a method that I've used, and this has actually worked, and I have one atheist to
Christ using this method.
I've had this work many times to give atheists the Gospel, and I've even had it work sometimes
where they actually got saved.
Here's what I always say to the person who just staunchly, especially with an atheist,
who will just kind of staunchly say, well, look, I don't believe the Bible.
Here's what I'll say.
I'll say, well, listen, why don't we just pretend for a minute that the Bible's true?
And then I'll show you what the Bible says, it'll only take a few minutes, and then you
can decide whether or not you believe it.
Because that way you're kind of appealing, because these atheists, they think they're
really smart, don't they?
We know that they're fools, but they think they're real smart, so you kind of appeal
to, yeah, I'll decide, you know, you kind of appeal to that by saying, look, let's just
pretend for a minute that it's true, because the Bible is one of the most influential books
in the world, so I mean, even an atheist should know something about the Bible just to be
an intelligent person.
And so we can just pretend for a couple minutes that it's true, and I'll just show you, it'll
take five, ten minutes, and then you decide, once you've seen what it says, you decide
whether or not you believe it.
And I've had a lot of them say, okay, I'll look at it, and sometimes they get saved.
It works.
You know, somebody taught, I didn't make that up, somebody taught me that, and I've been
using it ever since, over a decade ago, and it does work.
And then what'll happen is you'll start showing them the Bible verses, and you'll get a couple
verses in, and then they start hitting you with some science or falsely so-called, and
here's what you say, well, wait a minute, remember, we're pretending.
Seriously, I'm not kidding, this works, because, you know, they'll start trying to, well, wait,
but how do you know?
You know, you get three verses in, and it's like, well, how do you know the Bible's even
true?
We're pretending it's true.
Remember?
And then they'll be like, oh, yeah, that's right.
I'm like, look, people have been sowing with me and seeing me do it, and it works.
I just say, well, no, remember, we're just going to pretend for a few minutes that it's
true.
Let me just show you what it says.
Then you decide whether or not you believe it.
So you know, you can give the guy, you know, I'm a staunch Hindu, well, let me just show
you what the Bible says for a minute.
You know, just take a look at what the Bible says, and then you can decide, you know, whether
you want to stick with Hinduism or go with this, you know.
You don't want to just, I was born a Hindu, I'm just going to say, you know, look at both,
and then decide.
So that's how you get things started.
Okay, now let's quickly adapt, I don't think we're going to have time to how to finish
things.
We'll talk about that at a different sermon.
But how do you start it in your personal life, right?
Because you know, you're not exactly knocking the door of your coworker that's in the passenger
seat, right?
So how do I adapt these principles to everyday soul winning, to the Thanksgiving get together
with family that I haven't seen in years, to the neighbor, you know, the coworker, whoever,
repairman, whatever.
How do you bring it up in your personal life?
Well, once you get it started, it goes exactly the same.
But here's a good way to get it started.
A question like this is very casual, very easy, there's nothing awkward or weird about
saying, hey, so and so, are you a Christian?
I mean, that's a great way to start the conversation.
You know, you're not going to say like, you know, you're riding in the work truck.
Hey, I'm from Faithful Word Baptist Church, you know, I work with you every day.
What you're going to say though, is just go straight to the, like, let's say I'm working
with Trent, you know, hey, Trent, are you a Christian?
I mean, is that just a crazy weird question to ask somebody?
I mean, I've never felt embarrassed or awkward asking that question, just like, hey, Trent,
are you a Christian?
Or hey, Ramon, do you go to church?
I mean, those are pretty reasonable, that's the kind of stuff you ask people, like, hey,
are you married?
Hey, what do you do for a living?
Hey, do you have kids?
Hey, are you from around here?
I mean, those are just real easy openers.
So it's really not any different than that, just to say, hey, Ramon, do you go to church
at all?
You know, let's say, let's say Ramon is, you know, working on something at my house or
something, you know, he's fixing stuff at my house, he's a repairman that's been called
a repairman, and we're kind of shooting the breeze, and we're alone, you know, so I'm
thinking, hey, I need to give this guy the gospel.
Just hey, Ramon, do you go to church at all?
Totally natural as rain way to start the conversation.
So are you a Christian, or do you go to church, I think are great ways to bring it up.
And I think that in everyday life, I think do you go to church is probably the easiest.
Just say, do you go to church?
That's probably the best.
Door to door, I like, are you a Christian?
But just everyday life, just hey, do you go to church is a great way to say, it's not
that hard, folks.
You just ask them, hey, do you go to church?
It's a normal, easy, comfortable question to ask.
And if they say, yeah, I go to church, oh, what church do you go to?
They tell you what church they go to?
Well, hey, more important than that, do you know for sure if you die today, you go to
heaven?
And then boom, you're right into it.
You're into the door to door.
Same deal.
Just do you go to church?
Oh, what church do you go to?
Oh, okay, I go to a Baptist church.
I go to Faith Forward Baptist.
And then, hey, more important than that, though, do you know for sure if you're going to heaven?
Or let's say they say, oh, no, man, I don't go to church.
You can still say, well, hey, more important than church, though, do you know for sure
that you're going to heaven when you die?
Have you ever thought about that?
You know, and here's the thing, I wouldn't even, if I'm in a car with somebody driving
on a long drive, at that point I wouldn't even ask them, do you want me to show you?
If they're under my sink working on the sink, I don't ask them, do you want me to show you?
The reason I ask that is at the door is because I've got a whole bunch of other doors to go
to if they say no.
If I'm on that long drive, if I'm on that airplane flight sitting next to the person
strapped in, they're not going anywhere.
It's not, hey, do you want me to take five minutes?
It's just, turn to Romans 3.23, you know, I mean, it's just, you're there, you do it,
you just basically, at that point you just say, hey, do you know for sure you're going
to heaven?
No, I'm not sure.
Oh, well, listen, the Bible says we can know for sure, you know, for example, 1 John 5.13
says, these things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God,
that you may know that you have eternal life and that you may believe on the name of the
Son of God.
So the Bible says we can know.
Here's why we can know.
And then you go into it, you know, and explain it and go through, you know.
Here's why it's so important that it's through believing.
Because back in Romans 3.23 it says, for all have sinned.
And you know, you just go through the whole thing, your sinner, everything, you know,
it's outside the scope of this sermon.
But honestly, it's really not any different in personal life and door to door.
I want to leave you with this one last thought, okay?
If you want to be effective, this is the best tip I can give you for winning people to Christ
in your personal life.
Friends, family, co-workers, loved ones.
This is the number one tip that I give people.
Is that when you give the Gospel to somebody that's a friend, co-worker, loved one, somebody
that you know, do it the same way that you do it door to door.
That's the best tip.
Because a lot of times what people do is when it's someone that they know, they treat it
totally different.
And what they do is they just kind of get into dialogue or a discussion that can sometimes
easily degenerate into an argument or a debate.
And they kind of go back and forth and just kind of do like a chit-chat style of just
kind of a give and take chit-chat.
It doesn't work.
You know, the way to effectively, because then you get on rabbit trails and then they're
going to take the conversation all these other places.
You want to keep it focused like a laser beam on the Gospel, on salvation, in a logical
A, B, C, D. Not A, H, G, Z, Y, you know, aliens, you know, evolution, outer space, you know,
just all over the place.
You want to just stay with the theme.
And the best way to do it is honestly go out there door to door, get good at it, then fire
up the conversation with your friends, co-workers, loved ones, and do it the same way.
Just boom, you're at the door now.
Go through it the same way.
That's the best tip that I've seen.
That's why if you really love the people that you come into contact with, you know, go out
there and get the experience, get the preparation, and you will be effective and you can win
those people, Lord, that you really care about.
You know, people that you really know, people that you see every day at work and family.
I mean, look, we love the strangers out soul-willing that we talk to, but who do we love more?
Our parents, right?
Our brother, our sister, our cousin, our co-workers that we work with every day.
Look, we have more love for them because we know them more.
They're more important to us.
It's like when people talk about where we want to send people to start the next church,
you know, I'm thinking like California, you know, I'm thinking areas around me.
I'm from California.
You know, when they want to start a church really far away, I'm like, oh yeah, that would work.
But honestly, my heart is for like Phoenix, Arizona, you know, California, that's where
I'm from.
And you know what?
We love the people that are close to us because we know them and we care about them.
But honestly, if you're going to be effective, you need to get out there and learn how to
do it.
And there are so many great people in our church that can show you how to do it.
And don't just go soul-willing with one person.
Go soul-willing with like 10 different people in our church.
See the different styles.
Some people you're going to walk away saying, you know what, that might work for that person
but not my style.
Some people you're going to be like, that didn't even work for that person.
No, I'm just kidding.
Just kidding.
But you know, you're going to look at it.
Some people you're going to look at it and say, you know, not really my style.
But hey, you can still pick up a pointer or two.
And then, you know, you'll find some people where you're like, wow, this person's doing
a great job.
I could do this.
Check out the demo.
Go soul-willing with me personally.
Go with other people in the church.
Learn how to do it.
Memorize the verses.
Roll up the sleeves.
And then get out there and win those people that you love unto the Lord.
You can do it.
It's possible.
Souls are hanging in the balance between heaven and hell.
And God is committed unto us, the ministry of reconciliation.
And he chose tracts to do it.
What did he choose?
He chose the foolishness of preaching to save them that would believe.
And preaching is opening your mouth and proclaiming the Gospel.
And every man, woman, boy, and girl needs to preach the Gospel one-on-one out there
in the highways and hedges and amongst friends and family.
Let's borrow this and have a word of prayer.
Father, we thank you so much, Lord, for soul-winning.
It's such a blessed ministry.
It's such an exciting thing to be a part of, Lord.
And it's what makes Faith Forward Baptist Church an exciting church.
Just the people that are constantly being saved.
People are getting baptized.
People are hearing the Gospel.
The streets are being covered.
The map's being shaded in.
And we're doing the work that you called us to do, Lord.
Please just equip the saints, Lord.
I pray that this sermon would have helped equip the saints a little bit.
And I pray that this sermon would have just kind of opened people's minds a little bit
to the fact that, you know what?
Maybe this is something I can do.
Maybe this isn't just for the loud mouths.
You know, maybe I can go out and do this and be used.
And Lord, I know that you can use anybody in this building who's saved.
And so I pray that you would just stir in the hearts of your people and help them to
have the discipline to memorize the verses and show up at the soul-winning time and get
out there and do the work.
And in Jesus' name we pray, amen.