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That is where Jesus Christ starts recruiting his disciples.
And he specifically says to his disciples, when he recruits them, he says,
Follow me and I'll make you fishers of men.
And that is actually in the land of Naphtali that he does that.
And I believe that this prophecy in Genesis 49 is sort of alluding to that.
Because when Jesus comes to the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali,
it says that it's a fulfillment of a prophecy in Isaiah.
So there are clearly some Old Testament prophecies that are pointing to that important event,
which we could really call the beginning of soul winning, if you think about it.
It's really where soul winning started.
Because Jesus comes on the scene and he starts to recruit the disciples.
And he tells them, Follow me and I'll make you fishers of men.
And then he's going to send them out two by two.
And they're going to go throughout all the towns and villages preaching the gospel.
And so that's where soul winning starts.
Because when we say soul winning today, what are we talking about?
We're simply talking about going out two by two and just preaching the gospel to whoever will listen.
Going out into the highways and hedges, knocking doors, going out in public places,
and just finding people to just one on one talk to them and give them the gospel.
And this is not a new thing.
This didn't start in the 20th century or the 21st century.
This is something that just goes back to Jesus and his disciples and him sending them out to go give the gospel.
And so that is a significant event in Matthew chapter four.
And it makes reference to the land of Naphtali.
And then let's look at what Genesis 49 gives as the blessing for Naphtali.
Again, a tribe that we know very little about and there's not much to go on.
But look what the Bible says in verse 21.
And we talked about this morning how each of the tribes sometimes will have an animal associated with it.
Like Judah has a lion.
Issachar is the ass.
You know, sorry, Issachar.
But Dan was associated with the serpent.
Benjamin is associated with the wolf.
Well, Naphtali has a spirit animal too, if you will, because it says in verse 21,
Naphtali is a hind let loose.
He giveth goodly words.
Now, what is a hind?
Well, I think that this is no coincidence that Naphtali is associated with the hind
when the significance of Naphtali is going to be that that's where soul winning gets kicked off in the New Testament.
Because if you actually study the hind in the Bible, let me give you some examples.
You don't have to turn to these.
But when we talk about hinds in the Bible, we talk about their feet more than any other part of their body.
So listen to these verses.
2 Samuel 22, 34.
He maketh my feet like hinds feet, and setteth me upon my high places.
Same thing in Psalm 18, 33.
He maketh my feet like hinds feet, and setteth me upon my high places.
Habakkuk chapter 3, verse 19.
The Lord God is my strength, and He will make my feet like hinds feet, and He will make me to walk upon my high places.
So actually, three different books of the Bible refer to our feet as Christians or believers or preachers of God's word,
our feet being made like unto hinds feet.
Now, what is a hind?
Well, this is an animal similar like a deer or a heart or a roebuck or something.
You know, it's like a swift-moving mammal that would be leaping through the mountains.
And so when he says God made my feet like hinds feet and made me to walk on high places,
it's because this is an animal that would live in the mountains, right?
And so it would be seen jumping and leaping and moving very swiftly, very quickly upon the mountains, okay?
So that's the picture that we get from the hind, all right?
The other association with the hind in the Bible, besides just being a swift-footed animal that leaps through the mountains
and goes in high places, is that it talks about the hind as being one that is prolific, it's reproductive, okay?
Listen to what the Bible says in Job 39.1.
Knowest thou the time when the wild goats of the rock bring forth, or canst thou mark when the hinds do calf?
So it's referring to the hinds giving birth to their calves and their reproduction.
Not only that, Psalm 29.9 says, the voice of the Lord makes the hinds to calf and discovereth the forest,
and in His temple doth everyone speak of His glory.
So think about this, the hind, what are we getting so far?
The swiftness of foot, the leaping upon the mountains, and also giving birth.
That's what the Bible says about hinds.
That's what this animal represents.
What a perfect animal to represent soul winning.
Because when it comes to soul winning, it's the feet of soul winning that are always emphasized.
Because the Bible says, for example, in Isaiah 52.7, how beautiful upon the mountains,
how beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of Him that bringeth good tidings,
that publisheth peace, that bringeth good tidings of good.
And when this is quoted in the New Testament, of course, it's how beautiful are the feet of those that preach the gospel,
that bring glad tidings of good things.
Why? Because the word gospel literally means good news.
And so preaching glad tidings, preaching the gospel, preaching good news upon the mountains,
how beautiful are the feet of Him that preaches the gospel.
And that's why when the Bible talks about the whole armor of God, it says have your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace.
So soul winning always is associated with the feet because we are to go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.
And not to just let people come to us or wait for them to visit the church.
We're to go out into the world and seek and save that which is lost.
And so it's our feet that take us to that door, that take us to that lost person so that we can preach the gospel.
And the Bible uses these illustrations about hinds or roebucks or deer because God wants us to be swift to preach the gospel.
Now the Bible talks about some people that are swift to run to mischief or swift to go shed blood.
But you know, we should be swift-footed to go preach the gospel.
What does that mean?
Well, it means that we should have a sense of urgency and understand the fact that people are dying and going to hell and they need the gospel.
We've got to get to them.
We don't want to be lazy or lackadaisical or apathetic like, you know, whoever's going to get saved is going to get saved anyway.
And you know, we'll get out there every once in a while and just kind of preach the gospel so that we can take part in God's plan.
But it's all kind of foreordained anyway.
You know, that's not true.
That's not true.
You know, we are to go out there and be pulling people out of the fire.
And so we should be swift to preach the gospel, meaning that we're zealous, we're excited, we're motivated.
And we have a sense of urgency of, hey, this is something we need to do because souls are at stake and people's eternities are hanging in the balance.
Let's get out there and do it.
Not just like a bunch of Jehovah's Witnesses, you know, walking down the street so slow like you'd have to take a video of them and speed it up to see if they're even moving sometimes.
You know, why?
Because they don't have the gospel.
They don't have the good news.
They have lies.
They have garbage.
They have nothing good to say.
They have nothing right.
And you can tell that they're going through the motions and that their heart's not really in what they're doing because when you see them go down the street, they're just kind of like.
And they'll have like 12 people in a group.
And then like 10 of them will wait by the curb.
And then like two people will go up to the door like.
And then they finally get up there and, you know, they're just they're going through the motions, my friend.
You know, they're not.
And I don't blame them because they got nothing to say that's worth hearing.
Hey, we got something to say.
We've got the truth.
We've got the gospel.
You know, let's get out there and let's shake ourselves and let's move and let's go out there and win people to Christ.
And let's go sorting like it really matters because it really does and not be just kind of apathetic or going through the motions or just kind of dragging through.
Now, look, hey, sometimes you're tired and you're dragging and you drag yourself out there.
Praise God.
But I'm saying maybe not a literal swiftness is always going to apply, but just a swiftness in our mentality that says, hey, this matters.
Let's get out there.
Let's do it.
Let's not be apathetic or or kind of just, you know, ambivalent about it.
Let's get out there like we really care and run to those doors spiritually.
Want to be swift to preach the gospel.
We want to bring the good news.
Isn't it interesting?
Are you still there in Genesis 49?
Let's look at that key verse in Genesis 49 21.
Naphtali is a hind let loose.
Think about those two words, let loose.
I mean, it's like turn me loose.
I'm going soul winning, right?
He's a hind let loose.
It's like you can't hold him back because he's just getting out there and he's leaping, he's jumping.
You know, God wants us to be zealous about soul winning.
He wants us to be fired up and moving, spring in our step.
Let's get out there and do it.
He's a hind let loose again, referring to the speed.
But then it says he giveth goodly words.
He giveth goodly words and goodly in the Bible.
That's kind of a archaic word that we might not really use very much.
But if you look up the word goodly, it basically means beautiful.
That would be the modern equivalent when you look up mentions of goodly.
And let me tell you something.
The gospel is good news and the gospel is a beautiful message.
And it's like the Bible said, how beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel and bring glad ties of good things.
And so goodly words is what we're preaching because the gospel story is a beautiful story.
And the word of God is the most beautiful literature that's ever been given in the history of mankind.
And so I believe that this is no coincidence that Genesis 49 has this prophecy about Naphtali that seems to allude to or imply soul winning because of the reference to the animal that leaps on the mountains, the swiftness and the goodly words that are being spoken or being preached.
Now, I want to point out too what you probably already picked up on when we were in Psalm 29.
The voice of the Lord maketh the hinds to calve.
What's the symbolism there?
The voice of the Lord is what makes the hinds give birth.
Well, here's the thing.
We're the hinds if we're soul winning, right?
So if we go out and preach the gospel, if we go soul winning, we're that hind.
We're that animal that's leaping on the mountains.
We're the one.
And when we win someone to Christ, that's like a spiritual birth that's taking place, right?
Because when someone gets saved, they're born again.
And the Apostle Paul talked about people that he had won to Christ as his sons in the faith.
He said, Onesimus is my son in the faith.
Titus is my son in the faith.
Timothy is my son in the faith.
And so when we go out soul winning, we're basically bringing forth spiritual fruit.
And we're actually bringing forth new life as people are born again.
They're dead in their trespasses and sins.
They believe on Jesus Christ.
And that's a new birth that takes place that we're a part of when we're out there soul winning.
And it happens through the word of God.
Okay, that's why when we go soul winning, we need to use the Bible.
We need to preach the word of God.
Now you say, Pastor Anderson, that's so obvious.
Why do you even say that?
Well, you know, I wish someone would have explained that to me when I was a teenager
because I had never been trained in soul winning as a teenager.
And I tried to win my friends to Christ and I failed miserably every time.
Okay.
I got saved as a six year old boy, but I didn't really grow up around soul winning itself.
My parents would witness to people from time to time.
And, you know, the churches that we went to wouldn't encourage us to witness to people,
but we didn't go to any kind of an aggressive soul winning church where you really got trained in the nuts and bolts of it.
Okay.
And I knew about, I was familiar with the Romans road and everything, but I, you know, I was a teenager.
I didn't know what I was doing.
And there were different times when I'd get around some teenage friends and my heart's pounding
and I'm nervous because I knew they're not saved and I want to give them the gospel.
But when you're a teenager, you're kind of shy, you're self-conscious.
I didn't know what I was doing.
And so I remember just being super nervous and my heart's pounding and I'm just like, I'm going to talk to this person about the gospel, you know?
And, you know, I brought up the gospel and I witnessed to my friends and I never was able to win any of them to the Lord, even though I tried.
But it was really just because I didn't know what I was doing because I didn't have a Bible in my hand.
I didn't turn to the verses.
I didn't recite the verses.
I sort of just explained in my own words just kind of a vague gospel presentation, just kind of explaining it in my own words,
just because I was just trying to be kind of cool about it and make it real conversational.
And so I just kind of said some stuff.
And it was funny because even though it was such a weak and anemic gospel presentation that I would give,
I remember just thinking that it was just the greatest thing in the world.
I remember just I would give like some two minute little gospel to somebody.
And I just remember going home and just be like, whoa, yeah, like because I was just like, I did it, you know?
And, you know, it was kind of a small victory just to even open my mouth and say something about Jesus to my public school friends.
So it kind of felt like a victory.
And I'm sure some of you could relate with how I felt just kind of getting to first base of at least trying.
But I didn't really know what I was doing.
You know, then when I turned 17, I actually got into a soul winning church.
And so I was able to get out with some experienced guys.
And I still remember the first time I ever went soul winning.
And I went out with a guy that was probably about maybe 30.
And he was the pastor's brother-in-law.
And I was his silent partner.
And we went out for about like two and a half hours on a Saturday.
And we went to some apartment complexes.
It was pretty receptive.
And so I got to see this guy win a couple people to the Lord.
On my first time out soul winning, I got like two and a half hours in and I said, hey, let me get the next door.
Okay.
But I didn't really know what I was doing, but I just figured I wanted to get my feet a little bit wet.
And so I ended up just kind of inviting the person to church and then kind of, you know, passing it off to him.
But then that person that I invited, even though they didn't get saved or talked to us, they ended up coming to church the next day.
And then someone else won them to the Lord.
They got saved.
I was like, well, that's encouraging.
That's cool.
And I got to watch my soul winning partner actually lead some people to the Lord out in the field.
And, you know, after a few weeks of doing it, I started learning the ropes.
And eventually I got to where I was a talker out soul winning.
And I started seeing some people saved out soul winning.
And then I took those methods that I learned out going door to door.
And I started to use that same method that I used on door to door soul winning.
I started to use that on my friends where I'd actually pull out a Bible and actually go through like a plan of salvation that hits all the points and covers all the verses and have a thorough presentation that I could give.
And then I started seeing some friends at work saved, friends at school saved, relatives saved.
And I'd had zero success before going door to door.
I witnessed the people and I never was successful.
Whereas after I went door to door, what I learned out in the field that allowed me to have success in my personal life, winning people, the Lord.
Okay.
And I think part of the reason why I was failing was because I wasn't relying on the word of God.
Okay.
And now when I go soul winning, it's all about showing people verses and quoting those verses.
And that's the backbone of the gospel presentation.
Obviously we need to explain it.
It's not enough to just show people versus.
We need to explain and expound those things, but we want to make sure that we include at least four or five Bible verses minimum.
I typically use probably more like nine or 10 at least when I'm giving somebody the gospel.
But you've got to use the word of God because the word of God is powerful.
It's quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword.
And it's God's word that actually saves people because of the fact that there are a lot of verses like, for example, the parable of the sower.
The sower sows the word.
And the Bible says faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God.
And Acts 11 14, he shall tell the words whereby thou and all thy house shall be saved.
And so it's the voice of the Lord that makes the hinds to calf.
It's God's word that causes that new life to spring forth when we're out soul winning.
So if we just go out soul winning and we're just using our own words and using illustrations, but we're not actually using the Bible, we're not going to be able to win anybody to Christ.
You can't get saved without the word of God.
The word of God is that incorruptible seed that actually causes those to be born again.
And so it's critical that we use the word of God.
So if you would flip over to Matthew chapter four with that in mind, Matthew chapter number four where we started.
Matthew chapter four is a quote from Isaiah nine, and it starts in verse number one of Isaiah nine.
You don't have to turn to Isaiah nine.
You go over to Matthew four, but it says, nevertheless, the dimness shall not be as was in her vexation.
I'm reading you Isaiah nine.
When at the first he lightly afflicted the land of Zabulon and the land of Naphtali and afterward did more grievously afflict her by the way of the sea beyond Jordan in Galilee of the nations.
The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light.
They that dwell in the land of the shadow of death upon them at the light shine.
And then just a couple of verses later is that most famous verse, for unto us a child is born, and unto us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace.
So it's a strongly prophetic passage about Jesus, and it talks about the people in Naphtali and Zabulon.
They're in darkness, but then they see a great light.
Okay.
What is that great light?
Well, that's where Jesus Christ starts the soul winning ministry.
He recruits the disciples, and they win a whole bunch of people to Christ and do a lot of soul winning in that land of Naphtali.
Okay.
So look at Matthew Chapter four.
It says in verse 12, when Jesus had heard that John was cast into prison, he departed into Galilee, and leaving Nazareth, he came and dwelt in Capernaum, which is upon the sea coast in the borders of Zabulon and Naphtali.
And that's just a New Testament spelling of Naphtali.
That it might be fulfilled, which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, that's a New Testament spelling of Isaiah, the land of Zabulon and the land of Naphtali, by the way of the sea beyond Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles, the people which sat in darkness saw great light, and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death, light is sprung up.
And as we go on, it says that Jesus from that time began to preach and to say, repent for the kingdom of heaven as it had.
And Jesus walking by the sea of Galilee, so he's in the same area, the same region, Galilee of the Gentiles, saw two brethren, Simon called Peter and Andrew his brother, casting a net of the sea, for they were fishers, and he saith unto them, follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.
A little bit later, he picks up James and John, same thing, he's getting them and recruiting them so that they can go out and preach the gospel two by two and win people to Christ.
That's why these people are seeing a great light because Jesus is there, the word of God is being preached, disciples are being trained to go out and give the gospel to every creature.
And this is where it all starts. I mean, this is the start of soul winning.
Matthew chapter four, the disciples are being recruited and trained, and he told them right away what the mission is.
Follow me and I'll make you fishers of men.
If we are following Jesus, he will make us fishers of men.
You know, that's the purpose.
It's not just about following Jesus so that we can improve our lives and be godlier people.
And obviously that's important too, but he also wants to make us fishers of men.
He also wants us out there seeking and saving the lost.
He wants us to be that hind let loose to go out and run up and down the stairs of those apartment complexes to win people to Christ.
Yeah, leaping upon the high places of the third floor of the complex.
But I love what he says here, what he says, the people which sat in darkness saw a great light.
See, the unsaved today are in darkness.
And what does it mean to be in darkness?
This has to do with a lack of knowledge or a lack of understanding.
You know, if I'm in the dark about something, it means I don't know what's going on.
Hey, would you shed a little bit of light on the subject?
And we use that kind of language all the time to refer to ignorance, not knowing.
And let me tell you something, people out there do not know how to be saved.
It's not like everybody in America knows the gospel and knows how to be saved, but they just haven't done it yet.
There are numerous people out there.
There are multitudes of people out there.
They don't know the gospel.
They're in darkness.
But if they knew how to be saved, they would get saved if they knew.
And, you know, just even right here in this area, yesterday we were in Cheney, and I knocked on that lady's door,
and we were talking about how it was just the most receptive door ever, okay?
And sometimes when you're out saluting, you get those people that are just so receptive, such a low-hanging fruit.
It's so easy to win them for Christ.
It's like they're just ready to get saved.
But isn't it amazing, when we got there, they weren't saved, and they didn't know the gospel.
As soon as we explained it to them, they received it.
Now, look, obviously every door is not going to be like that.
You know, we were just talking also yesterday at the park about how sometimes myself and many other people who've gone saluting a long time
will go months without getting anybody saved.
I personally have gone months without getting anyone saved before.
And it's not because I wasn't out trying.
It's not because I wasn't out saluting.
And people, you know, I'm sure some holier-than-thou somewhere is just like,
oh, that's because Pastor Anderson is so unspiritual.
You know, the holier-than-thou can say what they want.
But let me tell you something.
Going saluting is not always receptive.
It's not always going to yield results.
And I've been out there for months in an unreceptive area and had a dry spell of not getting a lot of people saved or even getting no one saved.
But then other times you're getting people saved every day.
You know, it's just the results vary.
But the bottom line is, if we stick with it, if we go forth weeping, bearing precious seed, we'll doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing our sheaves with us.
Not necessarily the first time or the first day or the first week, but if we keep going, we will see people saved.
We're going to get results.
And the thing is that, you know, you go through a lot of doors of people that are just totally not interested.
Okay.
People that might even be rude to you and they have zero interest, they can't get you off their doorstep fast enough.
Or you'll run into other people that maybe they'll talk to you, but they don't want to hear the gospel.
They want to argue.
Or they're so steeped in a false religion, you just can't get them off of whatever they're mixed up on, work salvation or whatever false religion they're in.
You know, you get out there and you run into a lot of people that are just not receptive.
They're not going to get saved.
Maybe they don't even want to listen.
They're confused.
They don't get it.
They don't believe it when they do fondly hear it.
But let me tell you something.
I live for those doors where that person is just ready and just receptive and just gets saved right on the spot.
I mean, those doors are awesome and they make it all worthwhile.
They make they make hundreds of unreceptive doors worthwhile.
You know, if you wait out so waiting for months and then you get that one door where that person is just receptive and just ready to get saved, then it's totally worth it.
Those doors are awesome and they're out there and there's literally millions of them in this world just waiting for us.
That's who we're looking for when we go out there.
Don't get discouraged.
Oh, you know, this Washington area or, you know, Portland or, you know, Spokane.
You know, it doesn't matter because we don't care about the 99 percent that maybe aren't going to listen or aren't going to get saved.
We're just looking for that one guy or just that one gal.
That's what we live for.
That's what gets us out there to do it.
And these people, they're not saved because they don't know the gospel.
The Bible says if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost, whom the God of this world has blinded the minds of them that believe not.
And so obviously, yeah, there are people out there who know the gospel and yet they're not saved.
And hopefully they will get saved in the future.
And hey, we want to talk to them, too.
And, you know, I don't mind going to the difficult doors and preaching to people and talking to people and trying to water that seed.
I don't mind planting a seed.
I don't mind watering a seed.
But man, isn't it great when you get to that door where the only person holding this person back is they just didn't know the gospel.
As soon as they hear it, they love it and they get saved.
Those are the best doors.
Hey, I'm happy to preach at every door.
But those are the doors that you kind of live for, you know, just that low hanging fruit.
We love it.
And you know what?
Just yesterday, right in this area, I had a door like that out so many.
And then today, again, I had another door like that where it was just one of those ones where it was just like an ideal, an ideal person to preach to where they were just received it gladly, received it readily.
What a blessing.
You know, it's exciting to run into those doors.
And whenever I run into those doors, I kind of have a mixed feeling because on the one hand, I love it.
I'm excited.
I'm rejoicing.
But then on the other hand, it makes me feel a little sad because I'm just like, man, how many people are out there like this that need us to get to them?
Are we going to get to them?
And that should motivate you to think about people that are sitting in darkness.
Let's let them see that great light.
Let's let the light shine of the gospel because if our gospel be hid, it's hid to them that are lost.
And the glorious light of the gospel needs to shine in so that they could see that great light.
It has to do with the knowledge of salvation because I'm telling you, there are people out there that if they knew the gospel, they would get saved.
I mean, there's 340 million people in America.
I would be one to bet this by at least a million people out there that are just super receptive if somebody would talk to them.
But you got it.
But let's say let's just make up a number.
Obviously, these numbers are just being kind of pulled out of thin air.
But let's just say there's a million people out there like that.
Right.
And there's 340 million people in America.
Hey, maybe you got to go through 339 people to get to that one person.
Right.
And but there's a million of them.
And you know what?
I got time to go through 339 people.
You know what I mean?
Who cares?
And you know what?
You need to get out and walk around anyway because sitting around is bad for you.
And whenever we're in an unreceptive soul-wanting area, I just tell people, hey, this is urban hiking.
We're hiking right now.
And I tell them this is a beautiful walk.
We're looking at the plants.
And you see cool stuff out of soul-wanting.
You see cool cars.
You see cool houses.
You're looking at all the garden plants.
There's interesting things to be seen out there.
You're outside.
It's a beautiful day.
It's 84 degrees, which is like winter in Phoenix.
And so you guys think it's hot.
But it's actually perfect.
And you're out there.
You're enjoying.
You know, so what if somebody doesn't want to hear the gospel?
So what if somebody shut the door on your face?
So what if somebody was rude or curt with you?
Who cares?
Because you know what?
It's all worth it when you get to that one person that's sitting in darkness
and the light shines and the light bulb comes on and they get saved.
It's totally worth it.
And so let's be swift to get out there and get the gospel to a lost and dying world.
You know, the people that are the most receptive to the gospel
are typically the people who are in a poor area
or maybe they're going through something difficult in their life or what have you.
You know, I have been soul winning now consistently since I was 17.
I told you, you know, until I was 17, I didn't have any success with it.
But once I turned 17, I got into a soul winning church.
I'm almost 41 now.
So I've pretty much been going soul winning for like 24 years,
just about every week for the last 24 years.
And the thing about that is that in general,
the soul winning over the last 24 years
has gotten progressively like a little bit less receptive.
So 24 years ago, soul winning was more receptive than it is right now.
And in fact, it was probably more receptive in the 1960s and 70s than it is now
from what you hear historically about the kind of results that they would get and everything like that.
And that's just because our country is kind of being de-Christianized.
And so people are starting to be more negative about Christianity,
a little more hostile to Christianity.
You know, it used to be, if you ask people, are you a Christian?
The vast majority of people would say yes.
They claim some kind of an affiliation.
Not necessarily that they're saved, but they'd name some denomination or some church.
You're getting more and more people that are just, no, I'm not a Christian.
You're getting a lot more atheists and agnostics
and just a de-Christianization of the nation that's going on right now.
And so it's gotten a little bit less receptive over the years as a general trend.
But you know what, it doesn't matter because we still get people saved.
It still works.
Oh, we used to get five saved.
Now we get three saved.
Hey, that's three saved.
Great.
Let's just get more manpower in the field.
Let's put in more hours.
We'll grow our churches and we'll get it done.
It is what it is.
If it's unreceptive, we'll get it done even faster because we'll just blow through those doors
and get to the guy or gal who actually wants to hear the gospel.
But I will say this, even though the general trend that I've noticed over the last 24 years
is that it has gotten a little bit less receptive as our country is de-Christianized,
there have been different kind of spikes where it kind of got a little more receptive again.
Even though the general trend is downward, you'll get these little spikes.
Let me tell you what those spikes are.
It's when things go badly in America.
For example, there was kind of an economic collapse around 2007, 2008.
Some of you might remember that and the housing bubble collapsed.
I bought my house in Arizona when I started Faith Board Baptist Church at the exact wrong time.
I bought it at the top of the market and I paid like $225,000 for my house back then
at the top of the market.
That was a steal because everything else was $250,000.
It was just a little house, an old house from the 1950s, old windows.
You could feel the air coming through the windows even when they were shut.
You know, 1,150 square foot house.
It's the same house I lived in until just two years ago.
I had this house and I paid $225,000 for it.
A couple years after I bought it, it was worth $85,000.
I bought it for $225,000 and it went to $85,000.
And then houses in my neighborhood were selling for like $49,000 and stuff.
And I'm just like, whoa.
That was a major economic hit that for sure Arizona was hit hard.
I'm pretty sure it was all of America that felt that in 2007, 2008.
And the offerings, I remember the offerings of our church around that time.
The offerings from 2007 to 2008, even though the church got bigger in 2008,
the offerings in 2008 were half what they were in 2007.
Just because everybody had less money, people didn't have jobs.
I mean, it was a rough time, right?
And you know what?
The soul winning got more receptive during that economic downturn.
During that collapse of the housing market, the soul winning got better.
Why?
Because that affliction or that time of trouble, it humbled people a little bit
and it made people a little bit less prideful and maybe ready to stop
and give God some glory and consider the things of God
and realize that maybe they didn't have all the answers and everything together.
And so they actually listened to the gospel more during that time.
I even noticed that a little bit also during COVID,
COVID was kind of a mixed bag because some people were just like,
get away from me, you're going to infect us all.
But some people were a little bit more receptive because they were kind of scared
because it was a little bit exaggerated of how bad it was.
Nobody really knew how bad it was when it first started.
And so therefore, a lot of people thought like, is this the end of the world?
Is this the tribulation?
Is this pestilence of the end times?
I don't know about you guys, but when I would go door to door,
people would bring that up to me.
They'd be like, hey, I got a question for you.
Is this the end times?
Is that what's happening?
And I'd be like, no, it's going to be a lot worse than this.
This is nothing.
But I felt like some people got a little more receptive during that time
because it was just kind of...
And I think if something really bad happened in America,
people would probably get more receptive.
This is going way back, but when 9-11 happened,
churches were packed that Sunday.
Everybody was in church that Sunday because they're seeking God
because they thought that the country was just under attack
and they didn't know if planes were going to be crashing into more buildings.
They don't know if more terrorist attacks are coming.
I remember walking in to church on the Sunday morning after September 11th
and the atmosphere was electric and the church was packed.
And the preaching was just on fire and it was intense.
There were even bars and stuff that had God bless America hanging on a banner.
You guys remember that, some of you?
People were getting right with God and seeking...
It only lasted a couple of weeks.
And then once people figured out, oh, it's just those two attacks,
okay, we can chill out.
But my point is afflictions, hard times can make people receptive to the gospel, right?
So the land of Naphtali had gone through some affliction is what it is
because back in Isaiah, where Matthew 4 is quoting from,
in Isaiah 9-1 it says,
Nevertheless the dimness shall not be such as was in her vexation,
when at the first he lightly afflicted the land of Zabulon and the land of Naphtali,
and afterward did more grievously afflict her by the way of the sea beyond Jordan in Galilee of the nations.
And then we roll right into that Matthew quote.
So he's talking about how these people had gone through grievous affliction
leading up to the gospel being preached there.
So it's almost like Jesus in his wisdom,
because obviously we know Jesus is God in the flesh,
and in his wisdom it's like the Lord allowed this area to go through hard times,
go through afflictions, so that when Jesus and his disciples would come on the scene,
and he would start that soul winning fire that would burn all around the world,
and the disciples would carry the gospel to the entire world in their lifetime,
he wanted to start with a receptive area.
You know what I mean?
Because when I take people out soul winning and they don't have a lot of experience,
I like to take them to a receptive area, right?
You don't want to take somebody soul winning and they've never done it,
and you take them to some super hardened, you know,
some rich neighborhood or something where nobody's interested,
because you kind of want them to see some success, right?
So it's like Jesus started soul winning
and started the soul winning movement that has carried on until this day, 2000 years later.
He started it in an area that has been specifically prepared.
The land of Naphtali had been prepared by going through some hard times
and going through afflictions so that they would have a fertile soul winning ground to get people saved.
And so that those people maybe would experience some dimness and some affliction and trials,
but then the gospel would come and they'd actually listen and be saved.
And you know, I can't count how many people who would tell me a testimony that,
you know, something bad happened in their life,
and that's what caused them to actually start seeking God or that's what made them receptive.
You know, there are many people, if they hadn't have gotten a certain disease
or perhaps maybe they had a child that was disabled or they got a DUI or they went to jail
or, you know, they got injured in some way, something happened and then that humbled them.
And now they were ready to hear the gospel.
And so God's going to allow circumstances like that to happen to prepare people.
And so if we will show up for soul winning, God's got people that he's prepared.
I mean, think about it.
Peter and Andrew and James and John, they showed up and God had already been working in an area.
He'd been bringing, I mean, he might have been bringing affliction to that area for decades.
And people are like, man, this isn't really that nice of a place to live or there's better parts of town.
Because remember, this is a despised area in many ways.
The areas that Jesus did his ministry were areas that were looked down upon.
Because think about it.
Our Savior grew up in Nazareth.
Is that a cool place to grow up?
Is that a great place?
Well, here's the thing.
Whenever Nathaniel is told that Jesus is a prophet from Nazareth, you know, he said, can any good thing come out of Nazareth?
Now think about what type of place would you say that about?
Like, think about some places where you'd be like, can any good thing come out of?
Call them out.
Yeah, that was a rough part of Marysville.
Look, he said Marysville.
Because we stopped in Marysville, California, and we were in kind of the wrong side of town for a minute.
And he's like, this place is horrible.
But you know, you're thinking of like kind of the ghetto places.
You know, you guys are naming like some super sinful places too.
But also you just think of like places that you, you know, if somebody said, hey, let's go out to eat in that part of town,
you'd be like, can any good restaurant be found in that part of town?
You're thinking like, man, the restaurants in that area are going to be super sketchy.
I remember one time my wife, you know, she's like, oh, we're going to go to this Thai restaurant.
And, you know, it's really highly rated on Google.
And I'm like, OK, let's do it.
And then she's, we pull up the parking lot and I'm like, there's nothing good in this parking lot.
Like I said, and I even quoted like, can any good thing come out of this?
I was thinking of the Bible verse and she's like, just trust me.
It's good.
I was like, this parking lot? No.
And I walked in the door and it was awesome.
And I was just like, you're right.
The moment I walked in, I could tell this is going to be good because they were serving the water in glass jars with a cucumber floating in it.
And I was like, this is this is for real.
OK, this is intense.
You know, because what janky restaurant gives you your glass of water in a mason jar with a cucumber floating in it?
It's just not going to happen down at, you know, Taco Bell or something or some janky Mexican restaurant or something, you know.
So the point is that when you think of the areas where Jesus grew up and where he started his ministry,
it's Galilee of the Gentiles and the Jews are looking down on those areas.
Oh, man, can any good thing come out of Nazareth?
Or they're saying like, you know, search and look, there arises no profit out of Galilee.
Are you a Galilean too?
What are you from Galilee?
It was like a negative thing, like a bad area.
So God actually afflicted that area and allowed that area to become kind of a messed up area because it's better soul winning.
And so I would submit to you that God is preparing areas and he's preparing people and not necessarily.
And I'm not saying we should only go soul winning in messed up, bad areas, but those are great place to start.
I always give preference to those areas.
You know, if you look at the soul winning marathons we put on, we go to the worst area in whatever town we go to.
We start there.
We look for the most economically depressed, messed up, shady part of town.
That's where we go soul winning first, but not even necessarily there.
Even in a middle class neighborhood, even in an upper class neighborhood,
God could still be preparing the hearts of people and getting people ready,
getting the Naphtali's of this world ready for us to preach the gospel to them.
And if we will just show up, we can be used by God.
And he's already gone ahead and prepared the hearts before us, before we even get there.
Okay.
You know, I was just out soul winning like two weeks ago in Phoenix.
And this was not a ghetto neighborhood.
This was like a little bit nicer of a neighborhood.
Wasn't great, but it was it was a pretty decent neighborhood.
And I knocked on the guy's door and he invited us in.
And we sat down on the sofa with him.
He's very nice, very receptive, and very attentive to the gospel.
I gave the guy the whole plan of salvation, went through everything with him at my leisure, sitting on the sofa,
won the guy to the Lord.
The guy got saved.
But, you know, after he got saved, we started to chat for a while and talk.
And after about five or 10 minutes of just kind of talking and just kind of sharing,
shooting the breeze with this guy, then he started to kind of break down and talk about some problems that were going on in his life and some things with his marriage and things.
And he even was crying, you know, and upset about these things and talking to me about these things.
And he just wanted to talk to me about it because it was just a hard thing he was going through.
And he wanted some advice.
He wanted some company.
And he wanted some advice.
He wanted some comfort.
I don't think it's a coincidence that this guy was super receptive to the gospel and he's at a low point in his life.
Sometimes God has to bring people to that low point so that they'll be receptive.
And even after we're saved, sometimes God has to humble us and bring us to low point so that we can maybe take another step of Christian growth or whatever.
But all that to say this, if we will be swift to preach the gospel,
if we will go out and do the soul-winning and show up, what's the hardest part about soul-winning is just showing up.
You know, if we were to show up, have the Word of God, and participate, I firmly believe that God is going to prepare the hearts of certain people.
And he might have even been causing a chain of events because God's all-knowing.
He could cause a chain of events that's maybe like a 10-year, 20-year, 30-year, 40-year chain of events.
And it's just like to bring us to this moment when I show up at this door and it's the perfect time in this person's life where they're ready and receptive and they get saved.
But you're going to miss that if you don't show up, if you don't participate.
And those doors are out there, those low-hanging fruits, you know, yesterday, today.
Now, look, maybe I'll go months without having such an easy salvation.
Hey, they're out there.
And even when it's not receptive, let's say you preach the gospel to somebody and they don't get saved.
You don't know, maybe that person is going to get saved later and you planted the seed and maybe three months from now somebody else will finish the job.
But we need to show up.
We need to be that hind let loose.
We need to be.
It's just some joke where I go out and think I'm getting all these people saved and really God's up in heaven like, no, no, these people are.
Look, if I sit there and pray before I go soloing, just like you pray and say, God, lead us to people that are receptive, guide us and direct us.
Lord, get us to that one person that wants to hear the gospel.
And then I go out and I find a person who's interested and wants to hear, and they listen to the whole plan of salvation as I thoroughly explain it.
And then I pray with them and lead them to Christ.
Well, like, like I really think that I'm just going around and just being part of some charade or just some kind of a, some kind of a facade of, of just pretend make-believe.
So it's like, how dumb is that?
Like, does God want people to get saved or not?
Like what kind of God do these people even if God's up in heaven and he wants people to get saved?
I'm down here on earth and I want to get people saved.
This is the tool that gets people saved.
OK, it's right here. It's in my hand.
So I've got the tool right here.
I want to get people saved. God wants me to get people saved.
I'm praying to the Lord.
Get me to that person. The Lord's working in people's lives and circumstances.
And what do you know?
I go out and spend a few hours or days or weeks or whatever.
I'm going to find that person and get them saved.
Why should that surprise us?
So these people that are critics, critics of soul winning, they're not making any sense.
They're bozos.
And, you know, there are obviously some fake soul winning things that are going on where people are just kind of doing a quick little one, two, three repeat after me.
And they're not really doing a good job.
But, you know, we know that we're doing a thorough job and that we're using the Bible.
We're explaining it thoroughly. We're preaching the gospel.
And so I'm not surprised that we see a lot of results.
And I don't believe for one second that all these people are just pretending or going through the motions.
I don't believe that for one second because I believe that I'm being led by the Holy Spirit.
I don't believe it's a coincidence that I knocked that door yesterday.
I don't believe it's a coincidence that I knocked that door today.
Hey, I believe that we're led to those doors.
I believe we're spirit led.
I mean, if we pray according to God's will, He hears us.
And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of Him.
And so if we're spirit led and we're out there soul winning, obviously, like I said, yeah, you're going to go through dry spells of weeks or even months.
But ultimately, He's going to lead you to people that He's prepared, that He's worked in their hearts to give you the maximum chance of success.
And you're going to eventually find that person that wants to get saved.
And that makes it all worth it.
And look, it never surprises me that we get people saved out there.
And you know what else doesn't surprise me?
It doesn't surprise me that most of them will never come to church.
Why?
Because I know human nature that human beings are not usually obedient to the Lord's commands in general.
And guess what?
Even if they're saved, human beings typically are not very obedient to the Lord.
Man, wouldn't it be great if this stupid doctrine that says that everybody who's saved like automatically lives for God?
Wouldn't that be great if that were true?
I mean, it'd be so awesome if I just believed on the Lord Jesus Christ and then it's just like I'm just on autopilot, just living for God.
Sounds great, but it's not real because the reality is every day we've got to deny self, take up the cross and follow Christ.
We've got to battle the flesh every day.
And guess what?
Most people are just given into the flesh.
That's why Jesus and his apostles won literally thousands of people to Christ.
Thousands upon thousands, even tens of thousands of people.
In three and a half years of full-time ministry, Jesus and his apostles won thousands of people to the Lord.
How many people were in the early church in Acts chapter 1?
A hundred and twenty total.
Oh, you claim you had, oh Jesus, you claim you had all these thousands of people saved.
John the Baptist?
Oh, so you baptized thousands, huh, John the Baptist?
Oh, Peter and James and John, big soul winners, thousands baptized, thousands saved.
Why is your church only running a hundred and twenty in Acts chapter 1? Huh?
But isn't that what they say now?
Why?
Why? Because they need to study the Bible a little more.
They forgot to read the Bible.
They forgot to read the part where John the Baptist, Jesus and the apostles had tens of thousands of people saved
and there are a hundred and twenty people in the early church in Acts chapter 1.
So it doesn't surprise me to look at the bulletin.
Where's the bulletin?
Somebody got a bulletin for me?
You know, so I look at the bulletin from Shur Foundation Baptist Church here in Spokane, the church plant,
and I'm looking at the praise report.
Salvation is for May 4.
Salvation is for June 7.
But in the...
Salvation is in 2022 for this church, 66.
But now it's seven because of the four.
All right.
Seventy salvation in 2022 thus far at the end of June.
Here we are.
Seventy people saved.
And the last Sunday morning's attendance was 21 in the morning.
And you know what I like about your church?
You had 21 in the morning and you had 21 at night.
I like that retention rate.
One hundred percent retention rate from the morning service to the evening service.
What other church can say that?
That's good stuff.
Okay.
And the thing is, it's a, well, if you won 66 people to the Lord, how come you're only, you know, you only had 21 in the service?
But here's the thing.
Our church obviously has been around a lot longer.
We're in a giant city and everything.
So we'll win in a year's time.
We'll win a couple thousand people to the Lord.
And our church will be running like 300 or maybe 350 on a Sunday morning.
It's like, yeah, but you won, you know, in the last however many years.
In fact, I was looking at all the facts and figures of our church.
Our church has been around for 16 years.
And if you include all of the missions trips, you know, going to Africa and winning hundreds and hundreds of people,
the Lord in Africa, the Caribbean, South America, and the day in, day out soul winning of our church in Phoenix.
For the last 16 years, our church has had more than 45,000 people saved through one-on-one soul winning.
One-on-one.
That's not talking about preaching to big crowds or anything.
That's one-on-one.
But in a typical year of just day in, day out soul winning in Phoenix, you know, we'll win about 2,000 people to the Lord.
But our church is running only 300.
Right?
And here you guys had a whole bunch of people saved, but did they all come to church?
Of course not.
But the people who bring this up, they're just showing their ignorance about the way the world actually works.
That's all they're showing.
When they say like, well, you know, if you guys had 70 saved, you know, all 70 of them better be in church.
They're just showing their ignorance about human nature, the Christian life, how the world works.
It's so supremely ignorant, I can't even.
Because it's just so ridiculous.
Because think about all the times that we don't do what we're supposed to do.
And we've been saved for years.
And there are a bunch of times when we don't do what we're supposed to do.
But then we expect somebody who got saved five minutes ago to just be in church and just be out.
People are shy, especially in today's age, they do everything online.
Asking them to actually get out of the house and show up somewhere, that's asking a lot for a lot of people nowadays.
Okay?
And there are a million reasons why they're not all going to necessarily come to church.
Or maybe they're going to church somewhere else.
Some people are already in church, but they're not saved.
We went them to Christ and they keep going to the same church that they were already going to.
Or they go to the church with someone else.
So let me tell you something.
You guys are a great church here because you're a soul winning church.
And you guys have such a high level of soul winning participation that even if you're a small church, you pack a big punch.
Because if you think about it, you could have an old IFB church that's running 200, which is a really good sized church.
The average, like the median church size in America, I believe, is about 85.
Okay?
So you could have an old IFB church that's a big church running 200, 300, 400 people.
But how many people do they have out soul winning?
You probably have more people out soul winning in this small church.
And so a church that's only running 20, 30 people can still be a soul winning powerhouse because Jesus had 12 disciples and they were a powerhouse.
And so don't get discouraged and don't get this attitude that says, oh man, you know, this area is not receptive or whatever.
Let me tell you something.
God is preparing people in every area.
You could go to the most unreceptive area and you'll still get one saved.
You could go to a super rich area and you're like, oh, everybody's so rich, nobody's going to get saved.
You'll get the teenager saved.
Because, you know, maybe their parents are rich, but they're a teenager and they're not, you know, necessarily feeling that rich.
I've been in a super rich area and won a teenager to the Lord a bunch of times.
Just get out there and do it.
You know, and this area, it can be done because we just had four people saved today.
Am I right?
So as a team out there.
So don't worry about how many people you get saved.
Just worry about being consistent and God will put you in the right place at the right time and you'll get the people saved that he's preparing.
But if you don't show up, though, he could send all the affliction.
I wonder how many areas God afflicted and then the soul winners never showed up.
You know, you think about like Japan after World War II, after they'd just been kind of being crushed and been brought to their knees and had their cities nuked and everything.
At the end of World War II.
And there was a call out for missionaries to come bring the gospel to Japan.
Hey, we need a thousand missionaries to come over here and evangelize Japan.
I mean, if there was ever going to be a time when Japan would have been receptive to the gospel, that's when it would have been.
But, you know, were a thousand Christian missionaries sent in with the gospel?
No.
And so Japan to this day is super heathen.
And if we were to go there today, it would be a super unreceptive place.
So just because God sends the affliction doesn't mean the soul winning is going to happen.
Somebody's got to show up and do it.
And so God is at work.
His Spirit is at work.
We need to show up so that God can bring salvation to the lost.
Let's bow our heads in a word of prayer.
Father, we thank you so much for the privilege of being your ambassadors as we go out soul winning, Lord, and that we can preach the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ.
Help us to show up and be in our place and do our part, Lord.
And Lord, we thank you that you are doing your part.
And Lord, if America needs to be afflicted to get receptive, Lord, then so be it, because, Lord, we want people to be saved.
And so please prepare people for us so that when we show up to our soul winning time,
you'll lead us to those ones that you've been working and preparing like you did in the land of Naphtali so many years ago, Lord.
I pray that you do it again here in Spokane, Washington, and elsewhere.
And in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
We need number 259.
Jesus Saves. Sing it out on the first.
We have heard the joyful sound, Jesus saves, Jesus saves.
Red-nilled dying all around, Jesus saves, Jesus saves.
There in the streets of every land,
I must tease and part the ways,
On which is the Lord's command,
Jesus saves, Jesus saves.
One and all, the monthly kind,
Jesus saves, Jesus saves.
Hell will stand in his modern light,
Jesus saves, Jesus saves.
Take the island on the sea,
And go back the ocean days,
We're talking or to believe,
Jesus saves, Jesus saves.
One and all, the mouth will strive,
Jesus saves, Jesus saves.
By his death and endless life,
Jesus saves, Jesus saves.
Sing it softly through the blue,
When the heart prefers to praise,
Singing a triumph o'er the blue,
Jesus saves, Jesus saves.
Give the man his mighty voice,
Jesus saves, Jesus saves.
Let the nations now rejoice,
Jesus saves, Jesus saves.
Thou's salvation born and freed,
High in the stills and deepest seas,
Thou's song of dreams only read,
Jesus saves, Jesus saves.
Amen.