Father, thank you for this opportunity to come and to hear your word preached.
Please bless the message.
Please let it bring glory to you.
Open our hearts and our ears and help us keep distractions to a minimum.
In Jesus' name we pray, amen.
Amen.
All right, we're there in Romans chapter number 10, and I'd like you to look down at verse
number 8.
Romans chapter number 10, I'd like you to look down at verse number 8.
The Bible says,
But what saith it?
The word, I want you to notice that word there, word, the word is nigh thee.
The word nigh means it's near to you.
And he says, Thy word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth.
I want you to notice the word mouth.
And in fact, if you don't mind underlining in your Bible or writing in your Bible, I'd
like you to take a pen and circle that word mouth.
He says, The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth and in thy heart.
If you don't mind writing your Bible, I'd like you to circle that word heart.
That is, notice this phrase, the word of faith which we preach.
This morning I want to preach a very specific sermon and it's going to be more of a lesson
than preaching.
I don't know that I'll be doing a lot of yelling or anything like that, but I want to talk
about a very specific subject, something that's very important for our church specifically
and for churches like ours.
And it's a subject that there's a lot of controversy in as far as a lot of people believe a lot
of different things.
And I want to talk about this idea of the sinner's prayer.
And I want to teach you about the sinner's prayer and our position about the sinner's
prayer.
And you may be wondering, well, what is the sinner's prayer?
The sinner's prayer is a term that it's used to refer to the moment that someone gets saved,
what they do when they believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, the fact that they call upon
him to save them, the fact that they pray and ask to be saved.
And there's basically two extremes.
Even in our movement, our type of churches today, there are two extremes that are both
incorrect when it comes to the sinner's prayer.
And I want to explain to you both of those and explain to you our position.
And I want to start off here in this passage by showing you that in the Bible there is
this connection.
The book of Romans is a book that explains salvation, it explains the theology of salvation.
In Romans 10 we're learning specifically about how someone gets saved and the process that
they go through or the steps they have to go through.
And here we're told, hey, the word is nigh these, the word, you're close to the word.
He says, even in thy mouth and in thine heart, that is, and notice the word he's referring
to, he says, the word of faith which we preach.
Look at verse 9, you know these verses, that if thou shalt confess with thy, do me a favor,
circle this word, mouth, that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and
shalt believe in thine, circle this word, heart, that God has raised them from the dead.
The Bible says, thou shalt be saved.
The Bible tells us that the way you get saved is by confessing with your mouth and believing
in your heart and thou shalt be saved.
Look at verse 10, for with the heart, can you circle that word heart, for with the heart
man believeth unto righteousness and with the, circle this word, mouth, confession is
made unto salvation.
Are you seeing a theme here?
Every time he brings up the word mouth, he brings up the word heart.
Every time he brings up the word heart, he brings up the word mouth.
Now look at verse number 11, for the scripture saith, whosoever believeth, you see that phrase
there, whosoever believeth, now that's what we believe.
Salvation is believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.
And salvation is available to anybody.
It says, whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed, for there is no difference
between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call, is that word
call upon him.
Now notice verse 13, in verse 11, it said for the scripture saith, whosoever believeth,
did you see that?
Notice verse 13, for here's another whosoever, whosoever shall call, do you see that?
In verse 11, we're told whosoever believeth, in verse 13, we're told whosoever shall call
upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
In verse 8, we're told that it's even in thy mouth and we're also told that it's in thine
heart.
In verse 9, we're told that if you confess with your mouth and that if you believe in
your heart, thou shalt be saved.
In verse 10, we're told that with the heart man believeth unto righteousness and with
the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
See in the Bible, there is a connection in scripture between your mouth and your heart.
And what the Bible is teaching us that when someone believes, then they must also call
upon the name of the Lord in order to be saved.
It says for there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek, for the same Lord over
all is rich unto all that call upon him, for whosoever shall call upon the name of the
Lord shall be saved.
And there are two extremes in regards to this idea of calling upon the Lord and about calling
upon the sinner's prayer.
Like I said, this morning is going to be a little more Bible study, more of teaching.
But I want to try to explain to you our position here at Ready Baptist Church, what we believe
about it.
And I will say this.
This is a complicated subject sometimes because sometimes when you're out soul winning, not
every situation is exactly the same.
And sometimes you have different situations that may be a little different.
So I'm going to do my best to give you specifics and I may just speak in generalities for some
of it.
But let me give you the two extremes.
The first extreme that we completely disagree with is emphasizing the prayer above believing.
Emphasizing the prayer above believing.
See the Bible teaches that in order for someone to get saved, they have to believe and yes,
they do have to call.
But notice what the Bible says.
You're there in Romans 10.
Look at verse number 14.
Notice what it says.
How then, now the question is being asked, how is this going to happen?
How then shall they call?
He just got done, you know, in verses 8 through 13 saying, whosoever shall call, whosoever
believeth, you do it with your mouth, you confess with your mouth, you believe in your
heart.
Now he asked the question, he says, how then shall they call on him in whom they have not
noticed believed?
Now how do you call?
You confess with your mouth.
How do you believe?
You believe in your heart.
But notice what he says in verse 14.
He says, you can't get to the point where you call on the Lord to save you until you
believe on the Lord.
He says, how shall they call on him in whom they have not believed?
And then notice what he says.
And how shall they believe in him in whom they have not heard?
And how shall they hear without a preacher?
See, the Bible says that the preacher, and the preacher here is not talking about the
pastor.
The preacher is you.
The preacher is me.
His job is to go out and preach the gospel.
And he says, when the preacher shows up and he preaches the gospel, he explains the gospel
and they hear the gospel, once they hear the gospel then they have the opportunity to believe
on the gospel.
Now not everyone who hears will believe, but many who do hear will believe.
And he says if they hear, they believe, and then he says if they believe, they will call.
See, today we have people, and often it's referred to as the one, two, three, repeat
after me crowd.
And honestly, sometimes our crowd, and not us here at Valley Baptist Church, but churches
like ours, and we might be called this, although we're not like this, we might be referred
to as, oh, you're one of those one, two, three, repeat after me.
And here's the point.
Sometimes that criticism is actually due to us.
Because today we have a group of people who think the goal of salvation is to walk up
to someone and to get them to pray a prayer.
I remember my brother-in-law, my young brother-in-law, when my wife had first gone saved, we brought
her brother to a church and we had one of the youth pastors talk to him.
And you know, at that time we thought, you know, people know how to give the gospel and
things like that.
And we talked to him later on, you know, and we're asked him, hey, do you know for sure
that today are you on your way to heaven?
And he said, yeah, you know, I'm on my way to heaven.
And my wife asked him, he said, well, what are you trusting in to get you to heaven?
And he said, well, I said those one words, and it's like wrong answer, you know.
Saying words, okay, we're not Catholics, okay.
Saying a prayer, repeating a chant doesn't save you, okay.
Believing in your heart is what saves you.
You must believe, what must I do to be saved?
You believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.
But today we have soul winners who think the goal is to go out and I just, you know, give
them one real quick verse, give another real quick verse, ready to go, let's pray, here,
repeat after me.
But listen to me, the emphasis on the prayer above believing is an incorrect method of
preaching the gospel.
We need to make sure when we go out and preach the gospel to people that we are communicating
the gospel clearly.
We need to make sure that people actually believe the gospel before we leave them through
a prayer.
We need to make sure they understand it.
This is why, and listen to me, I'm trying to help our church family today and I'm trying
to help you and I hope you will open your ears and listen and receive some instruction.
This is why forcing the gospel onto people that don't want to hear it is a huge waste
of time.
I grew up in Baptist churches where you were just told like, you know what, when they open
that door, they're going to have to run you off to get rid of you.
I mean, you put your foot in that door and you just start preaching and you just start
saying and you just start yelling and make them, you know, like slam the door in your
face.
Listen, that's not the method of soul winning that I teach at Verity Baptist Church.
And if you're doing that, please stop.
If you're doing that, you know, you say, at Verity Baptist Church, I teach our soul winners,
you ask people, are you interested in hearing this?
Would you like to hear it?
And here's the thing, if the answer is no, we don't want to waste our time with them.
We want to move on.
Jesus equated soul winning to fishing.
He said, come after me and I will make you fishers of men.
And he said, you know, it's like you're fishing.
Now here's the thing, when you go out on a lake to fish, guess what you're not, you're
not trying to catch every fish in that lake.
Now if you could catch every fish, that'd be great.
But sometimes you're just looking for that right catch.
And when we're out soul winning, we're looking for that right catch.
We're looking for that person who's actually interested in hearing the gospel.
They actually, because look, if they want to hear it, there's a likelihood that they
might believe.
And if they believe, they will call upon the name of the Lord and they will be saved.
But just, because here's what you need to understand.
Some people aren't going to ever slam the door in your face.
And they don't want to hear it.
And they're not listening.
And they're actually upset, but they're smiling the whole time while you're sitting there
just preaching away and wasting your time.
Because this idea of just like forcing people to hear the gospel, it's a huge waste of time.
And here's why, because we're actually trying to get them to believe.
And in order for them to believe, they want to, they have to want to hear it.
They have to want to engage.
You know, this is why we need to make sure that we are presenting the gospel.
Your job as a soul winner, when you go out soul winning, is to preach the gospel, is
to explain the verses, is to read the verses, and to expound upon them.
There are steps, and let me give you some steps to becoming a thorough soul winner.
I want you to be helped by this.
And you're there in Romans 10.
Look at verse number 2 and notice what verse 2 says.
And I think verse 2 explains many soul winners today.
Romans chapter 10 and verse 2 says this, For I bear them record that they have a zeal of
God, but not according to knowledge.
They have a zeal, but look, we need a zeal, but we need knowledge.
We need to make sure people understand.
We need to make sure we understand.
And look, you can become a thorough soul winner.
And here's the thing, I want our church, right now we have somewhere between 40 and 50 people
going out every week.
I hope that number goes up.
I hope we have 75.
I hope we have 100.
But listen to me, I don't hope we have 100 soul winners out there who are doing a shallow
job at presenting the gospel and getting a bunch of people, quote unquote, say that
they pray prayers with that don't understand the gospel.
You know, that's not what we want.
What we want is people to explain the gospel thoroughly to become good and competent soul
winners.
And listen, there are some steps to becoming a thorough soul winner.
Let me give you some steps to becoming a thorough soul winner.
Step number 1, determine to prepare.
Determine to prepare.
You're there in Romans, but go over to the book of Proverbs just real quickly.
You might want to keep your place in Romans.
We're probably going to come back to it.
But go to Proverbs.
If you open your Bible just right in the center, you're more than likely following the book
of Psalms.
Right after Psalms, you've got the book of Proverbs.
Proverbs 24 and look at verse number 27.
Proverbs 24 and verse number 7.
You must determine to prepare to become a good soul winner.
Proverbs 24 and verse 27.
Notice what the Bible says.
Proverbs 24 and verse 27.
Prepare, notice the principle found in the Bible here.
Prepare thy work without and make it fit for thyself in the field and afterward build thine
house.
Here's what he's saying.
He said before you go and build the house, before you start building, he said before
you get to the job site, you see the word without, prepare thy work without?
Saying before you get to the job site, while you are without, he said why don't you plan
and prepare and make it fit for thyself in the field?
Make sure you got all the tools you need.
Make sure you got all the materials you need.
Make sure you got everything you need.
He says take some time to get ready and prepared and afterwards build thine house.
And you know what?
With soul winning it's the same thing.
Often times we have very shallow soul winning presentations because people do not take the
time to prepare before they go out in the field.
Before they get out there talking to someone, you must determine to prepare if you want
to be a good soul winner.
You don't have to turn here but Ezra chapter 7 and verse 6 talks about Ezra and it says
he was a ready scribe.
We are to be ready.
We are to prepare.
We are to get ready.
And you have to determine.
You say I want to be a soul winner.
I want to get people saved.
I want to lead people to Christ.
You must determine to prepare.
Now you are there in Proverbs.
Go to 1 Peter chapter number 3.
First Peter chapter number 3.
Now if you start at the end of the Bible, you got the book of Revelation.
If you are going backwards, you are going to go past Jude, first second and third John
into first and second Peter.
First Peter chapter 3.
So you are going backwards.
You got Revelation, Jude, first second and third John, first second Peter.
First Peter chapter 3.
Now while you turn there let me say, let me give you some things that you can do to prepare.
One thing you can do, something that our church has available and I have never been part of
any church that made something like this available ever.
I have been an independent formal Baptist my whole life.
I was in the United States Air Force and we traveled a lot.
And we went to a lot of, everywhere we went, we didn't skip church.
We found an independent formal Baptist church to go to.
Even if it was lame, even if it was boring, if they were King James only, they were right
on salvation, they were soul winning, we were there.
And we went to a lot of them.
And I never went, not one, I am not saying it doesn't exist, I am just saying I never
went to one where they provided training for soul winners.
But at Verity Baptist Church we have training for you.
And I don't know if you know this, but we have a DVD that our church made and Pastor
Anderson and Paul Winneberger helped us put it on a DVD called The Soul Winning Seminar.
And there are ten lessons in this DVD that take you from how to knock on a door to how
to bring a convert to church and everything in between, how to present the gospel.
And listen, some of you say, I want to be a soul winner.
I mean, I think it's crazy, I'm not trying to hurt your feelings, but if you go to Verity
Baptist Church and you come out soul winning and you've never gone through this thing,
that's ridiculous.
I mean, that's a shame.
You need to go pop this in a DVD player and watch it today, all right, before you go soul
winning this afternoon, okay?
You need to put this DVD somewhere in your computer, you need to grab a notepad, you
need to grab a pen, you need to grab a highlighter, and you need to learn how to thoroughly give
the gospel and explain the gospel and go through the lessons and prepare.
You say, well, that's a lot of work.
Look, getting people saved is a lot of work.
And you know, people will often, here's what people have to say to me, they'll say, well,
I can't go soul winning because somebody's going to ask me a question that I'm not going
to be able to answer.
Are there in 1 Peter chapter 3, look at verse 15, notice what the Bible says, 1 Peter chapter
3 and verse 15, 1 Peter 3, 15, but sanctify the Lord God in your hearts and notice, be
ready.
Remember, Ezra was a ready scribe.
Be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that
is in you with meekness and fear.
You've been saved for a year, you've been saved for five years, you've been saved for
20 years, and you say, well, I can't go soul winning because they might ask me a question.
That's your fault.
You need to study to show thyself, approve them to God, a workman that need not be ashamed,
rightly dividing the word of truth.
You need to get, and the fact that you come to a church that gives you things, that helps
you with these things, hey, do some study, sit down, you're never going to have all the
answers, I don't have all the answers.
But look, you start going soul winning for a while, you realize most people ask the same
questions.
You talk to one Jehovah's Witness, you talk to all of them.
They're all going to tell you the same thing.
All the Mormons are going to tell you the same thing.
All the Catholics are going to tell you the same thing.
And it'll take time for you, and that's why we don't throw you to the wolves, we allow
you to be a silent partner, and you can go with several people and see how they do it
and see what they do.
But listen, if you're going to be a soul winner, you must determine to prepare.
My wife has a soul winning reference guide that she made, and you say, what's a soul
winning reference guide?
She made this reference guide, she made it available to the ladies, but I'm going to
make it available to everybody right now.
It's this guide, you know, it's laminated, and basically it has, you know, she just has
different things, common questions that were asked, and then a verse.
So here's what it says, Jesus died for our sins, 1 Corinthians 15, 3.
A lot of people don't believe that.
Jesus was born of a virgin, Matthew 1, 23.
Jesus got in the flesh, Philippians 2, 6, 1 Timothy 3, 16, John 1, 14.
Jesus never sinned, 2 Corinthians 5, 20.
Verses on the resurrection, verses on the Trinity, verses on salvation only through
Jesus Christ, verses on eternal security, verses on being sealed with the Holy Spirit,
verses on repentance of sins as works and the fact that God repented, verses on hell
is forever, verses on hell is beneath, verses on baptism, verses on going to church, verses
on women's clothing, praise God, verses on nakedness and modesty, verses on no women
preachers.
I didn't put this together, my wife did.
Verses on adultery and divorce and remarriage, sodomy and reprobates, alcohol, celebrating
holidays.
These are just questions that she was asked commonly, a lot of our soul winners are asked
She just put this together and put some verses, verses on New Testament believers did not
meet on the Sabbath day, verses on the cults, verses on other names than Jehovah, verses
on who are the 144,000, verses on only, there's only one God for the more.
I'm just saying, we have these resources for you, if you'll ask, we'll give them to you.
You know, you don't have to sit there and make excuse and excuse and say, well, I can't
go.
Determine to prepare, determine to sit down and spend some time and decide I want to be
a soul winner, I want to give the gospel, I don't want to be shallow and I'm going to
prepare to give the gospel.
So here's step one, how do you become a good soul winner?
Number one, you determine to prepare.
Number two, develop a plan.
Develop a plan.
The problem with most new soul winners is they have no plan.
They're shooting from the hip and they're hitting nothing.
It's like they knock on the door and it's like they don't even know what they're going
to say.
Hey, determine a plan.
What are you going to say when you open the door?
And by the way, the soul winning seminar will help you with developing a plan.
What are you going to say when they open the door?
What verses are you going to go through to explain the gospel?
What structure or outline are you going to present when you give the gospel?
And we try to teach you in our DVD a structure and a plan for how to thoroughly go through
and systematically present the gospel.
You may want to do it that way, you may not.
If you're brand new, I'd encourage you to follow our plan and once you get comfortable
with that, you know, you can expand, expound upon that.
Listen, you need a plan.
You can't just open the door and, you know, I'm going to start at Genesis 1 and see how
far we get.
You know, you got to determine, hey, what do I want to hit?
What do I want to explain?
How am I going to prove that?
How am I going to develop a structure, develop a plan?
So determine to prepare, develop a plan.
Number three, take time to practice.
Take time to practice.
And listen, I don't think that there's a lot of benefit in practicing like where you and
your buddy are going to get together and we're going to practice to give each other the gospel.
And here's why, because you're going to end up just sitting there and talking, you know,
and cutting up and just having a good time, all right?
If you're going to do that, just go soul winning, all right, you know, just go knock on doors.
You know, and by the way, going is the best practice, especially being the silent partner
and listening to other people.
And we have people going soul winning like every day around here so we can find you someone
to go with.
But listen, you know, when I say practice, here's what I mean, practice, this is what
you should practice.
Listen, practice turning to all the references.
Make sure you can actually get to the next reference.
You know, practice turning to the next reference while talking.
And make sure you can get there.
Because a lot of new soul winners, they're fumbling and they're dropping their Bible
and they're, you know, and look, it's not a big deal.
I dropped my Bible yesterday, you know, but here's the thing, you know, you don't know
where you're going.
It's like these long awkward silences.
You're like, you know, Ephesians, Philippians, person's like trying to help you find it,
you know.
Like, hey, you know, practice turning to the references that you're going to be turning
to.
Practice, hey, here's a good one, practice reading aloud all the verses that you'll be
turning to.
You're going to read them aloud to them, practice that.
Hey, practice, why don't you memorize all the verses you'll be turning to.
And memorize them, have them memorized.
And here's the thing, I still think you should read the, I think people should see the verses.
Oftentimes though, I'm like, I have the Bible, I'm showing them the verses as I'm quoting
it to them.
You know, take time to memorize the verses.
Take time to turn to the passages.
Practice reading them aloud.
Practice how you will explain all the verses that you'll be turning.
Ask yourself, how am I going to explain Romans 6, 23?
How am I going to explain Romans 10, 9?
How am I going to explain Ephesians 2, 8 and 9?
Whatever it is, just in your own mind, you know, go through and take time to prepare
and to plan and to practice.
Here's the fourth step to becoming a good soul winner.
Encourage participation.
When you start giving the gospel, listen, presenting the gospel should not be a monologue.
Presenting the gospel is not the same as, you know, when I get up here and preach where
I basically do all the talking and you just have to listen.
And I don't take any questions.
And if you raise your hand, I'm just going to ignore it, all right, you know.
That's not, presenting the gospel should be a conversation.
If you study Jesus when he presented the gospel, he communicated with them.
He would ask them questions.
People would ask him questions.
He would often, you know, answer their question by asking a question.
And you know what?
You should learn to engage in active conversation.
And I'm a big believer in asking effective questions.
Ask questions while you're out soul winning.
Now don't ask questions for the sake of asking questions.
Now sometimes people hear me say like, you should be asking questions while you're soul winning.
And then they think, oh, asking questions makes me a good soul winner.
And you show up and you're like, what color is the sky?
You know, it's like, look, don't ask stupid questions, all right.
But use questions to help people.
And here's the thing, often before I tell someone something, I will ask them a question
and kind of help them get to that place.
And here's what I've noticed, if people have to think about something and they kind of get
to that place on their own, they will accept it more readily than if I just tell them.
So what are you talking about?
Here's what I'm talking about.
Instead of telling people like, you're a sinner, sometimes I'll show people like, hey, look,
the Bible says, as it is written, there is none righteous, no, not one.
For all have sinned and comes true to the glory of God.
And then I'll say, hey, do you agree with that, that you're a sinner?
You didn't think you were perfect, right?
Now did I just tell them that they're not perfect?
No.
Now are they not perfect?
No.
They're not perfect.
But I didn't tell them.
You didn't think you were a sinner.
You know, a lot of times when I'm talking about eternal security, instead of telling
people like, hey, you know what, once God gives it to you, he'll never take it away.
Now I will say that, but before I say that, I'll often just ask someone, now if God gives
you eternal life and he takes it away, did that last forever?
And I just let them think through that.
Well, no, I mean, if he takes it away, I guess it didn't last forever.
So can you take it away?
I guess not.
Yeah, you're absolutely right.
The Bible says that God will never take it away.
Look at this verse, Titus 1, 2, in hope of eternal life, which God that cannot lie promised
before the world began.
You see what I'm saying?
You can use questions effectively to help guide people to the place where you're trying
to bring them.
And instead of you just monologue, telling them, you know, here's step one, here, because
here's where the one, two, three, repeat after me crowd goes.
They think, Pastor Jimenez said, I got to go through all these eight verses.
So I'm just going to get through those verses as quickly as possible.
I'm going to read them.
I'm going to, you know, and then move on to the next one.
Let's pray.
No, ask them questions.
Make sure they understand.
Make sure, you know, instead of telling people, you know, you don't have to work for it.
You don't have to earn it.
I'll say, hey, look, but the Bible says salvation is a gift.
You know, do you have to work for a gift?
If I gave you a gift and I asked you to wash my car, is that a gift?
I'm not telling them.
I'm just asking them.
Is it?
Well, no.
Well, why not?
Because you're asking me to do something for it.
So if God told you, you have to get baptized in order to be saved, is that a gift?
I didn't tell them.
You don't have to be baptized.
I'm just asking them.
And a lot of times, people process that.
They might not understand.
You can show them verses.
You can explain.
You can give them, you know, the answers.
I'm just saying, engage with people.
Encourage participation.
Help them be a part of that.
Now, you know, let me give you some thoughts on questions just real quickly because I want
to make this clear.
When you're asking questions, be tactful.
Be tactful.
Remember we preached on people skills?
Okay.
Develop some people skills.
Be tactful.
All right.
Don't walk up to someone and say, do you know what this word means?
Sometimes people get offended when you ask them, do you know what this word means?
Of course I know what that word means, you know.
Sometimes though, if I want to bring attention to a word, I might say like, are you familiar
with the word grace?
No.
Are you familiar with the word wages?
Instead of, do you know what the, I'm an educator, but of course I know, slam the door, you know.
Just be tactful.
And here's the thing about questions, okay.
Allow them to answer.
Now we don't want awkward silence, but we do want to use pauses effectively.
I've noticed a lot of soul winners, here's where they mess up.
They ask a question and then they immediately give the answer.
You know.
Is salvation by works?
Well of course it's not.
It's like, well why do you ask a question if you're going to answer it?
Ask the question and just pause.
Let them think through that.
Let them process that.
Use questions effectively.
Many new soul winners are just not doing a good job at thoroughly explaining the gospel
because they are not taking the time to prepare.
They're not taking the time to develop a plan.
They're not taking the time to practice.
They're not taking time to allow people to participate in what they're doing.
Now let me, let me, let me answer a question because I actually got this question last
week.
We had a lot of soul winners from a lot of different churches here and I praise the Lord
for it.
But I went soul winning with several people and I was asked this same question by three
different people.
And I just figured if three people are asking the question, then it's good for me to answer
it.
And here's the question that I asked.
In our movement, and if you do this, I'm not mad at you.
I'm not even saying this is wrong for you to do, okay?
And I've had many people in our church do this and I don't think it's wrong.
I've never told someone like, don't do that.
But in our movement, this, there's, this thing has become real popular when someone doesn't
want to hear the gospel, you leave them with a verse.
And I never do that.
And I had three people last week when I was soul winning, I say like, I notice you never
leave people with a verse.
Is there a reason why you, why, why you don't do that?
And I'll tell you, I don't leave people with a verse and here's why.
Okay?
You don't have to turn there.
But in Acts 8, you have the story of Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch.
Remember the Ethiopian eunuch was reading the book of Isaiah and Philip asked him, he
said, understandest thou what thou readest?
And he said, how can I except some man should guide me?
And here's the thing.
The Bible says, but the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, for they
are foolishness unto him, neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned.
Look, unsaved people don't understand the Bible.
I don't care if you leave them with one verse or the entire Bible, they're not going to
get saved unless somebody comes alongside and explains it to them.
So instead of me leaving them with a verse, and I'm not saying it's wrong to do that.
If you do that, I'm not mad at you.
I'm just, you know, people ask me like, why don't you do that?
I'm just telling you why I don't do that.
Instead of me leaving with a verse, you know, what I'd rather do is say, hey, on the back
of this invitation, there's all the verses you need with the explanation.
Take some time to read it or go on our website.
There's a video where someone will actually read the verses to you and explain it.
And if you're interested, you know, then you can accept Jesus Christ as your savior.
I think that's more beneficial because leaving a verse to someone that doesn't understand
the gospel, I just don't think it's going to do much because, you know, understandest
that what I read is?
Well, how can I accept some man's academy?
The natural man does not understand the things of the Spirit of God.
They need someone to help them.
So, you know, I want to answer that question because I've never taught that.
It's not in my soul winning seminar.
And I don't think it's wrong to do that.
I don't think it's bad to do that.
I don't think you're a bad person if you do that.
I just don't see the benefit to it.
So you know, let me go ahead and say that.
But before I move on to the next extreme, I just want to make a few things clear.
We want to be thorough in our presentation.
We want to make sure you say, don't you believe that they should call upon?
Yes, let's pray with them.
Let's leave them through the prayer.
Let's go through that.
But you know what?
How shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed?
They must believe before they call.
And you know, I did a little bit of a survey, an internal survey within our church.
And I didn't ask everyone.
But I just asked certain people.
And the reason I asked these people is just because they happen to cross my path.
That's the only reason I asked them.
But I asked certain people who I know, who I've been soul winning with.
I've heard them give the gospel multiple times.
And I know they do a good job.
And I asked them, hey, how many salvations do you average?
And you know what I found?
The people who go soul winning consistently once a week, which listen to me, if you work
a full time job, I don't expect you to go more than once a week.
If you're a mom with four kids and you're homeschooling, I don't expect you to go more
than once a week.
You know, you're a young guy, you got nothing else to do.
Yeah, amen, let's do it.
You know, let's go.
But you know, but the people, here's what I found.
The people who I know, I've heard them give the gospel personally.
I know they're thorough.
And they go soul winning consistently once a week.
You know what I found?
All of them said the same thing.
They get one person saved every other week on average depending the area.
On average.
Now sometimes you walk up to three kids and they all get saved and praise the Lord.
You know, and sometimes you go three weeks without getting anybody saved because you're
in North of Thomas, you know, whatever.
But you know, on average, thorough soul winners get people saved once every other week.
You know, when I go soul winning, sometimes I've got busy seasons in my life.
When I go soul winning just once a week, I average about one every other, every, every
other week.
You know, yesterday I went soul winning with Brother Evan and I gave the gospel completely
to two people.
One got saved.
And I was tired afterwards because I went through the whole thing and explained all
of it to them, you know.
And here's the thing.
There's a lot of people who go soul winning, obviously Brother Stuckey goes soul winning
a lot.
You know, his average is going to be higher.
He does a really good job.
He's real thorough.
You know, he gets more people saved.
But listen to me.
If you're just always going out there, you're out there for ten minutes and you get five
people saved, there's a problem.
And what we have found at Verity Baptist Church is that generally the new soul winners are
like having real high numbers.
And you're probably not being as thorough as you need to be.
And I'm not mad at you.
I'm not upset with you.
I'm just trying to help you.
Let's slow down.
And let's walk through the steps.
You know, let's make sure.
Do you believe you're a sinner?
Do you believe your sin has condemned you to hell?
Do you believe there's a place called hell?
Do you believe in Jesus Christ and that he was born of a virgin?
That he lived a sinless life?
That he was God in the flesh?
Do you believe these things?
Do you believe that salvation is not of works, that you don't have to earn it?
Let's go through before.
Because here's the thing.
The goal is not to just get a bunch of people to pray a bunch of prayers.
We're not helping anybody in that.
So the first emphasis, the first extreme is an emphasis on the prayer above believing.
We don't agree with that.
We don't want to emphasize a prayer and say, let's try to get as many people to pray this
prayer with us.
No, no, no.
Let's be thorough.
And here's the thing.
I would much rather go through the gospel thoroughly and not pray with them than to
pray with someone that I'm not sure that they really understood it or believed it.
Now look, I know it's more fun to send the text message out or put the Facebook post
or come back and high five everyone.
Six people saved.
I know that's more fun.
But I'd much rather make sure that I didn't just give someone a false assurance of their
salvation and I left them with the gospel and maybe all I get to do right now is sow
and someone else is going to reap, but that's better than just rushing them through a prayer
just because I want to be able to say I got someone saved.
So the first extreme is an emphasis on the prayer above believing.
But here's the other extreme that I also disagree with and that's a de-emphasis of the prayer
because of believing.
Go to the book of Genesis with me just real quickly.
Today there is a movement and there's actually a guy online and I don't know what his name
is because he's not important.
But there's a guy online who preached an entire sermon against me because I teach Soul Winners
that they should lead people through the sinner's prayer.
And he's saying, he meant this as a heretic, he's adding works to salvation, all right.
And here's what they teach.
They say, they de-emphasize a prayer because of believing.
They say, no, salvation is just believe so no one has to pray.
Don't tell anyone to pray.
Don't ever tell anyone to call upon the name of the Lord.
Now look, I disagree with that too.
And to de-emphasize the prayer or de-emphasizing the calling on the name of the Lord goes against
Scripture because you know what, God emphasizes calling upon the name of the Lord.
Are you there in Genesis?
Look at Genesis chapter 4 and verse number 26, Genesis chapter 4 and verse number 26.
Notice what the Bible says.
In Genesis chapter 4 and verse number 26, Genesis 4 26 says, And to Seth to him also
there was born a son, and he called his name Enos, then began men to call upon the name
of the Lord.
Do you see that?
That's the first time we see that reference in the Bible.
And men are calling upon the name of the Lord.
You're there in Genesis 4, go to Genesis chapter 12, look at verse number 8.
Just a few pages over, Genesis chapter 12 and verse number 8.
In Genesis chapter 12 and verse number 8, say, Pastor Jimenez, why are you preaching
this sermon?
Because I want to make sure our soul winners know what they're doing.
I want to make sure you're not hurting the cause of Christ.
And I want to make sure when we stand up here and say we had X amount of people saved, we
actually had something close to that amount of people actually saved.
Genesis chapter 12, look at verse 8.
Notice what the Bible says.
Genesis 12 and verse 8, And he removed from thence unto a mountain on the east of Bethel,
this is Abraham, and pitched his tent, having Bethel on the west, and Haai on the east.
And there he built an altar unto the Lord, and, notice, called upon the name of the Lord.
Do you see that?
Go to Genesis 26, look at verse number 25, Genesis 26 and verse number 25.
You're there in Genesis 12, just a few pages over, Genesis 26 and verse 25.
Notice what it says, And he builded an altar there, and called upon the name of the Lord.
Talking about Isaac and pitched his tent there.
And there Isaac's servants digged a well.
So we see that in Genesis this idea is emphasized about calling upon the name of the Lord, calling
upon the name of the Lord, calling upon the name of the Lord.
Let me show you some more.
Go to Psalms 116, Psalm 116, now if you've kept your place in Proverbs, right before
Proverbs with Psalms, if you didn't keep your place, just open your Bible in the center,
you'll more than likely fall in the book of Psalms.
Psalm 116, look at verse number 13, Psalm 116 and verse number 13, Psalm 116 and verse
13, the Bible says, I will take the cup of salvation.
You see the word salvation there?
Notice the emphasis is on salvation, notice what it says.
I will take the cup of salvation and call upon the name of the Lord.
When you take the cup of salvation, how do you do that?
By calling upon the name of the Lord.
Look at the same Psalm, verse 17, notice what it says in verse 17, Psalm 116, verse 17,
I will offer thee the sacrifice of thanksgiving and will call upon the name of the Lord.
Go to Zephaniah chapter 3, if you start at the end of the Old Testament, you got Malachi,
you go backwards, you're going to go past Malachi, past Zechariah, past Haggai, into
Zephaniah.
So you got Malachi, Zechariah, Haggai, Zephaniah, Zephaniah chapter 3 and look at verse number
9, Zephaniah chapter 3 and verse number 9, notice what the Bible says, Zephaniah chapter
3 and verse 9, for then will I turn to the people a pure language, why is he going to
turn to the people a pure language that they may all call upon the name of the Lord.
You see that?
There's an emphasis in scripture upon calling upon the name of the Lord.
Go to the book of Acts, let's look at a couple in the New Testament, Acts 22, look at verse
number 16, Acts 22 and verse number 16.
Now when you get to Acts 22, you got Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts, Acts 22 and verse
16.
When you get to Acts 22, put a bookmark or a ribbon or something there because we're
going to leave Acts and we're going to come back to it, okay?
Acts 22, look at verse number 16, notice what the Bible says, Acts 22 and verse 16, the
Bible says, and now why terriest thou?
This is Ananias talking to Saul, he's saying, what are you waiting for?
He said, why terriest thou, arise and be baptized, notice and wash away thy sins.
Now, he's not saying be baptized and wash away thy sins because notice it says and be
baptized, comma, new thought and wash away thy sins, notice, calling upon the name of
the Lord, which the Bible says, for whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall
be saved, all right?
So he's telling him wash away your sins and he's telling him to call on the name of the
Lord.
Of course, we saw Romans 10, 13, for whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall
be saved.
Go to 1 Corinthians 1, look at verse 2, just let me show you one more, 1 Corinthians 1,
2, we saw Romans 10, 13, for whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved,
but look at 1 Corinthians 1, 2, notice what the Bible says, 1 Corinthians 1, 2, this is
Paul writing to the church at Corinth, he says unto the church of God, which is at Corinth,
to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints with all that in every
place, notice, call upon the name of, now this one doesn't say the Lord, it says call
upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord.
And by the way, on the Old Testament it was called upon the name of the Lord, you know,
capital L, capital O, capital R, capital D, talking about Jehovah.
Here we're told call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, why is that?
Because Jesus Christ is Jehovah, because Jesus Christ is God, and I know it's a different
Lord there, but it's the same, you're calling on the same person.
And he says unto the church of God, which is at Corinth, to them that are sanctified
in Jesus Christ, called to be saints, how do you get called to be saints?
With all that in every place, everyone that does this is called to be saints, those that
call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours.
So here's the thing, you can't de-emphasize calling upon the name of the Lord when God
puts an emphasis upon calling upon the name of the Lord.
We can't just ignore all these verses in scripture, all of, you know, a big chunk of Romans 10
when he's saying, with the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession
is made unto salvation.
You can't ignore, you know, that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and
shall believe in thine heart, you can't ignore those passages.
We can't de-emphasize because we go, you know, we want to fight so hard against work,
salvation, and we say, you don't have to do anything to be saved, you don't even have
to ask for it.
Just believe.
Now look, don't misunderstand me, you do need to just believe.
Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.
But let me explain something to you, all right?
Go to John chapter number four, just real quickly.
See salvation has to be believed and if you believe it, you will receive it.
If you believe it, you will receive it.
It has to be believed and received.
And that happens at the same time, it happens at the same moment.
If you believe, you will receive.
If you don't receive it, it's because you don't believe.
That's the only reason someone would not receive salvation is if they just simply don't believe
it.
Are there in John, are you there in John four?
Look at verse number seven, notice how Jesus gives the gospel to the woman at the well,
John chapter seven.
Because here's what people say, they'll say, if you tell people they have to call upon
the Lord, you're adding works to salvation.
You're making them earn it.
You're making them work for it.
Because you're asking them to pray.
But look at, you're telling them they have to ask.
But notice what Jesus said.
John four seven, there cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water.
Jesus saith unto her, give me to drink.
For his disciples were gone away unto the city to buy meat.
Then saith the woman of Samaria unto him, how is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink
of me, which am a woman of Samaria?
For the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans.
Look at verse 10.
Jesus answered and said unto her, if thou knewest, notice this phrase, the gift of God.
Now what's the gift of God?
The gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord, that's what the Bible says.
And in fact, later in the passage, he explains to her, eternal security.
Jesus preached eternal security before he got someone saved.
But notice what he says in verse 10.
Jesus answered and said unto her, if thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that
sayeth to thee, give me to drink, notice what he says, thou wouldest have asked of him.
See he says, look, if you knew the gift, you would have asked for the gift.
And then he says, and he, talking about himself, would have sold it to thee.
Is that what it says?
Well you're earning it if you ask for it.
And he would have paid it to thee, is that what it says?
No, he would have given it thee, living water.
See you can't say, well if you ask for it, you're adding works.
No, no, if you ask for it, it's still a gift.
It's still given.
It's still free.
You're not earning it.
And I mean, how ridiculous is it to say, hey, I have a gift, anyone who wants it can have
it, just ask me and I'll give it to you.
And you're like, no, you're asking too much.
I'm not going to work for your free gift.
Look, he said, if thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is to say, to thee, give me
to drink, thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee, living water.
Can you get to Acts chapter 9, you're there in John, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts.
Acts chapter 9, look at verse 1.
See calling on the Lord, or asking to be saved, is not works.
He says, if you knew the gift, you would have asked, and I would have given it to you.
You can't say it's works to ask.
Work means you're earning it.
In the Bible, you got this, the opposite of works is grace.
What's grace?
Unmerited favor.
It means I'm getting something I don't deserve.
I'm getting something I did not earn.
I'm getting something that I did not work for.
That's the opposite.
Work means you're earning it.
How do you earn something?
By laboring, by doing something to earn it.
Asking is not earning it.
You know, you're not working when you're asking.
So this idea that, well, if you ask for it, you're adding works, that's ridiculous.
And if that's true, then Jesus was teaching a false doctrine, and a false gospel.
Because he said, if you knew the gift, you would have asked for it, and I would have
given it thee.
All right?
Are you there in Acts 9?
Look at verse 1.
Here we have the salvation of Saul, before he was Paul, when he got saved.
Notice Acts 9, let's start at verse 1 to get the context.
I know this is more of a teaching sermon, and you guys rather I get up here and scream
about SpongeBob SquarePants and Duck Dynasty, but, you know, let's just stay with me.
All right?
Look at it.
Acts 9, 1.
And Saul, yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord,
went unto the high priest, and desired of him letters to Damascus, to the synagogue,
that if he found any of this way, whether they were men or women, he might bring them
bound unto Jerusalem.
And as he journeyed, he came near Damascus, and suddenly there shined right about him
a light from heaven, and he fell on the earth and heard a voice saying, Saul, Saul, why
persecute is thou me?
And he said, who art thou, Lord?
And he said, I am Jesus, whom thou persecute is that it is hard for thee to kick against
the pricks.
And he, trembling and astonished, said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?
And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what
thou must do.
And the men which journeyed with him stood speechless, hearing a voice, but seeing no
man.
And Saul arose from the earth.
Now don't miss this.
When his eyes were opened, he saw no man, but they led him by the hand and brought him
to Damascus, and he was three days without sight, all right?
So Saul has this Damascus road experience.
Jesus appears to him.
He's blind.
He talks with Jesus, and then the Bible tells us that he goes, he asks Jesus, what do you
want me to do?
He says, go to Damascus.
And when he goes, notice verse 9, he was there three days without sight.
How long was Saul at Damascus?
Three days.
Neither did eat nor drink.
Look at verse 10.
And there was a certain disciple at Damascus named Ananias.
And to him said the Lord in a vision, Ananias, and he said, behold, I am here, Lord.
Now if you keep reading, you know, you don't get a lot of details as to what Ananias said
to Saul.
But in Acts 22, can you make your way to Acts 22?
You're there in Acts 9.
Look at Acts 22.
In Acts 22, we have Saul giving his salvation testimony.
He's talking about what happened and how he got saved.
And Saul tells us, or Paul tells us, what Ananias said to him when Ananias came to him
three days after the Damascus Road experience.
Acts 22, look at verse 16.
Notice what the Bible says.
And now, why tear us now?
Is Ananias talking to Saul?
He said, what are you waiting for, Saul?
You've already been here for three days, Saul.
You've already been sitting around for three days, Saul.
Why tear us now?
Arise and be baptized and wash away thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord.
Now listen to me.
When did Saul get saved?
He did not get saved on Damascus Road.
I know 99% of Christians disagree with that.
Salvation is not an experience where there was a bright light and I got all tingly and
I heard a voice.
That's not salvation.
Now that happened to Saul.
But that's not salvation.
You and I didn't get saved that way.
You know how you and I got saved?
We called upon the name of the Lord by believing on him and in faith asking him to save us.
You know how Saul got saved?
The exact same way.
Three days later when Ananias shows up and he tells him, wash away thy sins, calling
on the name of the Lord.
Now listen, for three days, you think if you were to ask Saul during those three days,
do you believe in Jesus, he would have said no.
He just talked to him.
But just because he understood it, just because he understood, oh wow, Jesus is real.
Oh wow, he actually resurrected.
Just because he understood it doesn't mean he was saved.
He needed a soul winner to not just leave him with the verse at the door, but actually
come back and follow up with him and say, hey, call upon the name of the Lord to wash
away your sins.
Wash away thy sins.
And then he called upon the name of the Lord and he got saved.
And go to Romans chapter 10 just real quickly.
I'm treading lightly because I want to make sure you don't misunderstand what I'm saying
here.
I want to make sure you understand what I'm saying.
Romans chapter 10 and verse number 13, the Bible says, for whosoever shall call upon
the name of the Lord shall be saved, how then shall they call on him in whom they have not
believed?
And how shall they believe in him in whom they have not heard?
And how shall they hear without a preacher?
Now I want to give you a real quick illustration, and then I'm going to try to answer some of
the nitty-gritty questions and get into some specific details about this.
But before I can answer that, let me just explain something to you real quickly.
I asked a couple of guys to help me.
If I asked you to help me, come on up here real quickly.
And I want you, I'm just going to give you a visual illustration, all right?
I've got, I've got Brother Al.
Come up here and stand right here.
And Brother Vladi, come up here and stand right there.
I've got Brother Al, and I've got Brother Vladi, all right?
Now in this illustration, I know this is hard to imagine, but Brother Al represents God,
all right?
Now he's not God, but he represents God.
This is not as hard to, to imagine.
Brother Vladi represents a sinner, and that's a little easier to get, all right?
Now here's the thing though, all right?
Forget about God and forget about sinners.
If I walk up to Vladi and I say, hey Vladi, Al has a gift he wants to give you.
That gift is free.
You don't have to earn it, you don't have to work for it.
And in fact, Al said that if he gave you that gift, he'd never take it away.
And you know, he'll give it to anyone who wants it, all right Vladi?
So here's the thing, Vladi, do you believe me when I tell you that Al has a gift he wants
to give you?
Yes.
Do you believe me when I tell you that he's not going to charge you for it or ask you
to do anything for it?
It's a free gift?
Yes.
Do you believe me when it's, when, when he says that he'll never take it away from you?
Yes.
All right, well you're good to go.
Now hold on a second.
Does Vladi, is Vladi in possession of the gift?
Yes or no?
No.
Now look, he acknowledges it.
He believes, he says he believes it.
I'm not God, I can't see his heart.
But does he have the gift yet?
No.
So here's the thing though, Vladi, Al said anyone who asks him for the gift, he'll give
it to them.
Would you like to ask him for the gift?
Would you like to receive it?
Yeah?
Now I know you don't know how to talk to Al.
Don't worry.
He's a scary guy, right?
But I'm going to help you, all right?
Let me help you, okay?
You just repeat what I'm saying.
Al?
Al.
Can I have the gift?
Now hold on a second.
Does he have not, does he possess the gift now?
Yes.
See, it's, you have to receive it.
And here's how God says you receive it, you ask for it.
You call upon him.
See the problem with this idea that, oh no, no, no, I just tell, I just tell, I just,
you know, make sure that they understand that they believe it.
And then I even tell them, don't acknowledge Al.
Don't look at him.
Okay?
Here's the problem with that.
I'm not God.
They don't ask me for the gift.
At some point, and you guys did a good job.
Thank you.
Give him a round of applause.
And integrate.
But listen to me, at some, don't clap so long.
At some point in salvation, the sinner has to acknowledge God and ask God to save.
Now listen to me.
Listen to me very carefully.
I'm not saying that has to happen with me.
I'm not saying that has to happen with the soul winner.
I'm not saying that has to happen publicly.
That can happen in their heart.
That can happen in their mind.
That can happen, you know, in a private setting.
But there has to be a point where they in faith ask God to save them.
Where they in faith call upon God to save.
Where they say, please forgive me my sins.
Please give me their life.
Where they're called, whether it happens verbally, whether it happens in their mind, whether
it happens in their heart, there has to be an acknowledging of God.
You can't teach people, no, don't pray, don't ask for salvation, don't call upon
the name of the Lord as long as you believe.
Because here's the thing, if they believe, they will call.
How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed?
And if they do believe, if they hear it, and they believe it, they will call.
And they will ask.
And listen, and let me give you some specific examples, because I want to make sure you
don't leave here thinking like Pastor Jim Mattis is preaching heresy.
And if you have any questions, just come ask me.
I won't be mad at you, all right?
But listen, you know, let me give you an example.
I went, I've not told you before, where I was giving the gospel to a Catholic lady.
And she told me she was Catholic.
She told me, you know, I asked her, do you know for sure if you have to, you go to heaven?
And she said, you know, I believe, you know, that you have to do the sacraments, you have
to do this, you hear me, her husband.
So I went through the gospel with her.
And I was just going through and explaining to her and I was saying, look, you know, the
Bible says it's not of works.
And I was asking her, do you believe that?
She's like, well, yeah, I mean, it says there's not of works.
Do you believe, you know, the Bible says it's a gift.
The Bible says you don't have to earn it.
The Bible says this.
And I was, and she was agreeing with me.
She was nodding her head.
She was saying, yeah, you know, I'm asking, do you agree with that?
Do you believe that?
Yeah, yeah, you believe that.
I said, okay, well, you know, would you like to pray and ask you to save you?
And she's like, sure.
And I'm like, okay, well, let me lead you through the prayer.
And whenever I lead people through the prayer, I like preach the gospel to them again in
the prayer.
You know, I'm like, Jesus, Jesus, I know I'm a sinner, I know I'm a sinner, I deserve
to go to hell.
And when I got to the point where I said, I'm not trusting in my works, here's what
she said to me.
I'm not going to say that.
Well, you know what, then she didn't believe.
Now she said to me, she believed.
I said, do you believe that?
Well, yeah, I mean, I believe that, I believe that.
But see, there is a pulling of the trigger when you're actually calling upon God and
actually telling him.
There is a seriousness there that God calls for.
And whether it's a thief on the cross saying, remember me when thou enters into thy kingdom.
Whether it's the Ethiopian eunuch saying, I believe that Jesus Christ is the son of
God.
Whatever it is, there has to be a point where the sinner acknowledges God and says, here's
what I believe.
I believe that I'm on my way to hell and I need you to save me.
And it's not based on me.
Now look, they can do that in their heart.
They can do that in their mind.
They don't have to do it with me.
They don't have to do it with you.
I've been out soul winning before where I was giving the gospel to a young man and he
had his friends there with him.
And I got to the end of the thing and I thought, I believe this guy really, he was tracking
with me and he was getting it.
And I thought, this guy gets it.
And I said, you know, if you believe these things, why don't we pray right now?
You can call upon the name of the Lord to save you.
And he like looked at his friends and he's like, oh, I don't know if I want to do that.
You know, because he was embarrassed of his friends and I'm like, you know, that's fine,
whatever.
But you know, here's what I didn't say to him.
I didn't say, well, you believe it, you're good to go.
Check him off on my list.
You know what I said to him?
I said, well, hey, listen, I'm no one special, you don't have to pray with me.
But if I were you, I'd get in that house and close that door if you don't want to do it
in front of your friends and ask Jesus to save you.
Because you have to call upon the name of the Lord to be saved.
You have to actually acknowledge God.
I'm not the one that saved, not just enough telling me you believe it, you got to tell him.
Now look, when my wife got saved, several weeks ago I preached a sermon about how our
testimony, how we met.
When my wife got saved, I gave her the gospel like a million times.
And you know what, when she actually got saved, I wasn't there.
She didn't pray with me.
I don't even think she prayed out loud.
She just did it in her mind.
But there was a point when she said, I'm rejecting atheism.
I'm placing my faith and trust on Jesus Christ.
And she called upon God.
It happened in her mind, it happened in her heart, but she got saved.
And this idea that the emphasize of prayer, look, you say, well, does the prayer save
you?
No, believing in your heart saves you.
If you believe, you will call.
And if you don't ever actually acknowledge God, because here's, listen to me, here's
the problem.
A lot of you and a lot of you people listening online are going around talking to Catholics
and Hindus and Jehovah's Witnesses and Mormons and you're asking them, do you believe that?
Do you believe that?
High five, you're good to go.
And here's what you don't understand.
They're just adding that belief to everything else they believe.
And they're not actually crossing the line where they're saying, I'm rejecting Mormonism,
I'm rejecting Catholicism, I'm rejecting all these false gods, and I'm placing my faith
in Jesus Christ.
And that's why God says, for whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
So we got this two extremes.
One is an over emphasis on the prayer and not emphasizing belief, not emphasizing a
thorough presentation.
And then you've got this other emphasis that says, let's de-emphasize the prayer.
But look, you can't de-emphasize what God emphasizes.
God says that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth, the Lord Jesus shall believe in thy
heart.
And I do think that to the best of our abilities, we should try to help people do it verbally
because I think that's something clear that we can all acknowledge.
And obviously, could somebody be lying to us?
Absolutely.
But to the best of our ability, we want to try to be thorough and explain the gospel
to people.
Go to 1 Corinthians chapter 9, 1 Corinthians chapter 9, and let me just give a couple of
thoughts because I've got to answer questions for the haters online.
We're going to think, well, in the Bible there was people who, you know, believed on Jesus,
but they were embarrassed to say anything in front of the Pharisees.
So they didn't even say, here's what you don't understand.
You don't have, for salvation, you don't have to confess Him before men.
You know what we call that?
Baptism.
Baptism is a public profession of what happened in your heart.
And when the Bible talks about people believing in their hearts, but they were embarrassed
to tell the Pharisees, those people were saved.
But guess what?
Those people lost rewards in heaven because they were ashamed of Jesus.
And if they did not, if you deny Him here in front of people, then yeah, He will deny
you in heaven.
Not about the fact that you're going to go to hell, He's just going to say, no, that
guy doesn't get rewards.
No, that guy wasn't with it.
No, that guy didn't stand up with us.
Do you understand that?
You can, look, Paul said, for I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ.
But there are some people who, they believe the gospel, but they're too ashamed or embarrassed
to preach it to anyone.
So that's not what we're talking about.
That's why, we're not Catholics.
You don't have to come and confess to me or confess to any other man, but there does have
to be a point where you acknowledge God in the matter.
Where you call upon the name of the Lord to be saved.
Where you call upon Jesus Christ.
So let me, let me just say that, but let me end, let me end with this.