We're in 2 Corinthians chapter number 8, we look at verse number 7, it says, therefore
as ye abound in everything in faith and utterance and knowledge and in all diligence and in
your love to us, see that ye abound in disgrace also, I speak not by commandment but by occasion
of the forwardness of others and to prove the sincerity of your love.
And I want you to focus on verse number 7 where it says, therefore as ye abound in everything
in faith and utterance.
Now what does the Bible mean when it talks about utterance?
It's the ability to communicate.
It's the ability to be able to convey a specific message or to get across a message to someone
that you're speaking to.
And the Bible tells us there that we ought to grow in our ability to communicate, especially
as Christians.
Why is that?
Because our main ministry as Christians is the ability to preach the gospel.
What is that?
Communicating the words of God, the wonderful words of life to someone who is lost, get
them to understand that they're sinners, what the penalty for sin is, that Christ died
for them, resurrected, and to believe on him for eternal salvation.
And that's important, okay?
Why?
Because this is the gospel or the ministry of reconciliation is a matter of life or death,
eternal life or eternal death.
It means the souls of man hang in the balance in regards to this ministry.
So it's very important that we understand that we grow in this area.
So the title of the sermon this evening is How to Preach the Gospel.
Now, somebody in here might be thinking, well, I already know how to do that, you know?
Tell me about something else.
I want to hear something controversial.
Well, you know, sometimes we just need to go back to the basics.
And sometimes we need to hear that which has already been reiterated many times in order
for us to refresh ourselves in a specific doctrine to learn something else.
Or guess what?
Maybe you already know it, but maybe you're going to learn something new tonight, okay?
That's another weapon that you can add to your artillery when you go out there to preach
the gospel.
And look, maybe there's someone in here who doesn't know how to do this and they need
a sermon like this.
And so we have all, in our church, we have an entire spectrum of different believers
that are growing at different rates and different paces.
And we need to make sure that we reiterate this constantly.
We understand how it is to go sowing.
And let me say this, our church is a sowing church.
So that's why we need to preach on this is because that's what our church does.
That's the main ministry of our church is preaching the gospel, is going out there and
sowing and winning people to Christ.
It's the most important thing that our church does outside of these walls.
It's not a fellowship.
It's not an activity.
It's not a field trip.
It's sowing.
That's the most important thing.
Now, go with me if you would to 1 Peter chapter 3.
I'm going to read to you from Romans chapter number 1 and verse number 14 where it says,
I am a debtor both to the Greeks and to the barbarians, both to the wise and to the unwise.
So as much as in me is, I am ready to preach the gospel to you that are at Rome also.
For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation
to everyone that believeth, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.
So what is the Bible telling us here about Paul?
He specifically said, hey, I'm ready to give you the gospel.
I'm ready to win souls.
I am ready at the drop of a hat to preach the gospel to those of you who are at Rome.
And look, that's the kind of attitude we as soul winners need to have, that we would know
the gospel and know how to present the gospel in such a way that we can give it at any time.
Not just at a church soul winning time, but when we're at our jobs on break with our families
in a setting that wouldn't be considered a church sanctioned soul winning time, we need
to always be ready to preach the gospel.
And I'm not talking about just talking to people about Jesus, okay?
And I'm not talking about giving your testimony.
Well, let me just tell you what God has done in my life.
You know, what you're referring to is the fact that he's saved and you're telling them
how to get saved, then I'm all for it.
But this whole thing was like, well, I used to be a drug addict and now I'm not.
God can do that to you too.
Look, I'm not denying that, but that's not the gospel.
That's not preaching the word of God.
That's not giving them the words of eternal life.
That's not the ministry of reconciliation.
That's the ministry of testification, amen, where you're just bragging about, you know,
what God has done in your life.
That's not what they need to hear.
And that's not how they're going to get saved.
They're going to get saved by you giving them the gospel of Jesus Christ, teaching
them what's the only way, what's the only way they can get to heaven.
So on and so forth.
Look at first Peter chapter three and verse 15.
Well, she's chasing a rabbit there, but Paul said this, I'm ready.
Hey, can you say tonight that you're ready to preach the gospel?
You know, if there's someone who is a lost sinner who came to you and said, hey, brother
so and so, sister so and so, what must I do to be saved?
Would you be able to, with the Bible in hand, to be able to communicate clearly what the
Bible says about salvation and get them saved?
If your answer is not a resounding yes, then you know what, you need this sermon.
You need to learn these things.
Look at the Bible says in verse 15, it says, but sanctify the Lord God in your hearts and
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.
Does it say with pride and arrogance?
No.
Does it say with pompous attitude?
No, the Bible says with meekness and fear.
So when we're out there giving the gospel, knocking on doors, just remember this, we're
their guests.
When we're there to knock on our door, we're supposed to be fearful and meek.
Why is that?
Because their soul is hanging in the balance.
But the main thrust of that verse in verse 15 is that we're ready always to give an answer.
Okay?
It's like, well, you know, just come to church.
And I'll tell you all about it.
Now there comes a point even in our Christian lives, you know, when we're babes in Christ
that maybe that's all you can do.
You know, maybe you can't give the gospel clearly.
You can tell someone you're kind of messy with your gospel.
But at the end of the day, you need to learn how to preach the gospel.
You need to learn how to win people to Christ.
Okay?
But go with me if you want to 2 Timothy chapter number two.
This is all introduction here, 2 Timothy chapter number two.
And look, this is why this morning I preached a sermon on the doctrine of perfect hatred.
Amen?
Well, today we're talking, this evening we're talking about the doctrine of perfect love.
Because the greatest expression of love that we can give to someone is this matter of giving
them the gospel.
To go to a complete stranger that we've never met in our life, that we've never known before,
and take time out of our day, out of our resources, and go to them and give them the gospel, that's
the greatest expression of love.
For our church to go out there and give people the gospel is the greatest expression of love.
As Jesus Christ was sent by the Father, so sinned are you, said Jesus Christ.
So what did Jesus come to do?
The Bible says he came to seek and to save that which is lost, and that ought to be our
agenda as well.
Look what the Bible says in 2 Timothy chapter two, verse 23.
But foolish and unlearned questions avoid, knowing that they do gender stripes.
So when we're off sowing, you're not out debating.
You're not out there arguing.
You're not out there to prove that you're right and they're wrong and to make them feel
like the lowest dung in the world, because the Bible says that we're supposed to avoid
those things.
Now look, you know the Bible.
You have the right doctrine.
You believe correctly.
But do we need to shove that down their throats?
Is that going to help any?
No.
In fact, look what the Bible goes on to say, verse 24.
And the servant of the Lord must not strive but be gentle unto all men apt to teach patience.
He said, well, hold on a second.
I see you striving behind the pulpit.
Yeah, but I'm not sowing right now, okay?
This is church.
This is for the believers.
And at this point, I'm striving to make sure that we keep the gospel right in our church.
But when we're out there talking to strangers, people who are not saved, you know what the
Bible tells us?
That we're to be gentle unto all men, apt to teach patience.
What does gentle mean?
Well, when I pick up my daughter who's nine months old, I have to be very gentle with
her.
Why?
Because she's frail.
She's just a baby, okay?
So in like manner, spiritually speaking, when we go out to talk to people, that's how we
need to care for people as well in a spiritual way.
And that is more so in regards to our words, how gentle we are with our words.
It says, apt to teach.
He said, well, hold on a second.
Why does it say apt to teach?
Well, because the Bible says to go ye therefore and teach all nations, right?
And what does that talk about?
Teaching them the gospel.
Teaching them that they deserve hell, that they're sinners, but that Christ died for
and was buried for three days and three nights and resurrected on that third day.
It goes on to say meekness instructing those that oppose themselves if God, peradventure,
will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth and that they may recover themselves
out of the snare of the devil who are taken captive by him at his will.
So it goes without saying that we are given this ministry of reconciliation, that every
single person in our church is responsible to know how to preach the gospel, to be a
soul winner.
That ought to be your objective.
One of the greatest objectives that you should have while you're in our church is to learn
how to go soul.
What a shame it would be if you spent months, yea, years in our church and you never went
anybody to Christ.
You know, well, that's just for the evangelists.
That's for the singles.
No, that's for everyone.
That's for every man, woman, boy, and girl.
It's their responsibility to go out there and know how to preach the gospel.
And you see, our church is the type of church where we want everyone to know how to have
utterance.
You know, it's not like the pastors are saying, well, you guys, you guys just need to know.
That's your gift.
You know, you have the gift of evangelism.
No, it doesn't work that way.
There is no such thing as the gift of evangelism.
The Bible says we're supposed to grow and abound in utterance and learn how to preach
the gospel.
So I'm going to give you five factors real quick that are essential for success in soul
winning.
And what I'm going to do is I'm going to basically explain to you how I preach the gospel, okay?
And look, you may do it differently, and that's perfectly fine.
Everyone varies in their manner of preaching the gospel.
But let me say this.
You need to have these essential aspects or this skeleton of the gospel.
You cannot do without any of these.
And I'm talking about, number one, teaching them that they're sinners.
You can't bypass that and just go straight to, you know, believing on the Lord Jesus
Christ.
If they don't understand that they're sinners, then there's no reason for them to get saved
in their eyes.
You know, we can't bypass the doctrine of hell.
Why just, you know, we saw a track yesterday, right, Marcos, by, you know, this Berean Baptist
church, the Spanish church, that doesn't want to even mention anything about hell in their
gospel track.
It's like, just save you from what?
Is hell a dirty word or something or what?
The words of the Lord are pure words.
That's the word that he chose to communicate the eternal damnation of a person who rejects
Christ.
We need to use that same terminology as well.
Now let me give you first and foremost, I'm getting ahead of myself, but let me give you
five factors that are essential for success in sowing.
This is not limited to other things such as, you know, being consistent going out sowing,
coming to church, reading your Bible.
We obviously understand those are important.
I'm just picking these specific things to say that this is what is essential.
This is exactly what you need.
First and foremost, it is essential that you're saved.
I don't know if anybody didn't know that or something, but he said, well, let's just lay
that down one more time.
Let's put another slab of concrete over that and just communicate that, hey, you need to
be saved in order to get people saved.
Why is that?
The Bible says in Matthew 7 verse 16, ye shall know them by their fruits.
Do men gather grapes of thorns or figs of thistles?
Even so, every good tree bringeth forth good fruit, but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil
fruit.
A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good
fruit.
Now, in context, this is actually referring to a false prophet.
If you want to know if a pastor is saved or not, just look on his fruit.
But you know what?
This does apply to an individual Christian in the sense that if he were to produce fruit,
it would be another saved person.
For example, you say, well, you know, I thought, you know, don't you guys believe that, you
know, we're not supposed to measure that by their fruits, but here's the thing.
Let's say we see a couple who, for some reason or whatever, can't have children, right?
Would we say that they're not real people?
It's like, well, you're not real people because you can't have children.
No, it just means that you're just not having children, okay?
For whatever reason.
It could be different reasons.
But I will say this.
If they were to have offspring, it would be people.
So if they could have children, they're not going to have a dog, right?
They're not going to have a rabbit.
They're not going to have some sort of animal.
They're going to produce another human being.
So likewise, a Christian, you know, obviously their fruit doesn't prove that they're saved,
but if they were to produce fruit, it's going to be another Christian.
Why?
Because they're saved.
And the Holy Spirit is the only one that can really testify to someone through a person
regarding the words of God.
That's the only way we can get someone saved.
So we need to recognize that unsaved people can't get anything.
What about Garrett Kirschway?
All that zoning he did.
Not one.
No, not one.
That guy's not even getting anything.
He's an unsaved false heretic that's not going to get any fruit whatsoever.
He's going to receive the fruit of his doings.
You know, he's going to receive his part in the lowest hell, but he didn't see anybody
saved.
Like, well, I thought you believed that the word of God is quick and powerful.
You know, it is, but the fact that remains is that no one can see anybody saved that
they're not saved themselves.
I'm not saying seeds can't get sown, but an unsaved, unregenerated person cannot see
someone saved.
Okay?
So that's number one.
So I'm just going to go ahead and assume that everyone in here is saved.
And if you're not, talk to one of us afterwards.
Let me know who you are so we can get you saved, amen?
But number two, it is essential that you are Spirit-filled.
Go to Romans chapter number eight.
Oh, this is cliche.
No, this is Bible.
And don't think that if you're just walking in the flesh, but you know your Bible, that
you're going to get anybody saved, because what?
Only Spirit-filled Christians can get people saved, okay?
Those who have the power of God in their lives can get people saved.
Oh, you sound very prideful and boastful and arrogant.
Are you trying to say that you're Spirit-filled?
Yes.
People recognize when they're Spirit-filled, okay?
And the way to confirm that you're Spirit-filled is that you're getting people saved.
Look what the Bible says in Romans eight, verse five, for they that are after the flesh
do mind the things of the flesh, but they that are after the Spirit the things of the
Spirit.
For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace, because
the carnal mind is enmity against God, for it is not subject to the law of God, neither
indeed can be.
So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.
You know, someone who's in the flesh is not thinking about spiritual things.
Someone who's in the flesh is not studying the Bible.
Someone who's in the flesh doesn't care about lost people.
That is produced by the fruit of the Spirit, which is love, when we go out there and preach
the gospel.
You got to make sure that before you go out, make it a habit to either in a group or silently
to yourself say, Lord, fill me with your power, fill me with your Spirit, help me to see someone
saved.
I cannot of myself do anything.
I need you.
You know, without Christ, we can do nothing.
I need your power upon my life.
And let me say this, we've had times, and I've witnessed this with other soul winners
and even myself, where the person that we're witnessing to will specifically say, you have
the right power.
Like I'm understanding everything that you're saying.
You know?
That's not charismatic.
That's it.
They recognize, and they recognize the power of God's word through a vessel that's being
filled with the Spirit.
So you got to be Spirit-filled, okay?
The Bible says in Acts 4, go to Ephesians chapter number 6, Acts chapter 4 verse 29
says, And now, Lord, behold their threatenings, and grant unto thy servants that with all
boldness they may speak thy word, by stretching forth thine hand to heal, and that signs and
wonders may be done by the name of thy holy child Jesus.
And when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together, and they
were all filled with the Holy Ghost.
And they spake the word of God with boldness.
You see, it takes boldness to preach the gospel.
How do you get boldness?
By being filled with the Spirit.
So don't give me this, oh, we're soul winners, but you're just doing track drops.
By the way, we do track drops, amen, if they don't answer the door.
But we're going over there with the agenda of giving in the gospel, and hopefully they
answer the door.
But people only, sometimes only, they call it soul winning, but they're just track winning.
That's all they're doing.
We ran into a group yesterday that's exactly what, Marcos asked, hey, you guys soul winning?
They're like, oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, that's what we're doing.
We catch up to them, and what do we see in all the apartment complex where we went?
Nothing but tracks on all the doors.
And don't tell me that you knocked on every single one of those doors, because we knocked
on those doors, and they answered.
It takes a spirit-filled Christian to actually go out there and preach the gospel, open your
mouth boldly.
Look what the Bible says in Ephesians 6, verse 19.
And for me, that utterance may be given unto me, that I may open my mouth boldly to make
known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in bonds, that therein
I may speak boldly as I ought to speak.
Look, if Paul's asking for prayer, to be filled with the Spirit, to have boldness, that means
we need it.
Because Paul's a great Christian, one of the greatest Christians of the New Testament.
If he's asking for prayer so he can be filled with the Spirit to preach the gospel, how
much more do we need it?
So that's number two.
The number three essential is that you need to use the King James Bible.
This is foundational, I already know this, but this is fact.
You cannot win someone to Christ with a false perversion of the Bible.
I don't care if it has a new in front of the King James, I don't care if it's a K-J-B-er,
it needs to be a King James Bible.
The Bible says in 1 Peter 1-22, seeing that you have purified your souls and obeying the
truth of the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that you love one another
with a pure heart fervently, being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible
by the word of God, which liveth and abideth forever.
So that's, I know that's basic, but just, you know, we need to throw that out there
in case you didn't know, and to remind you that we only use the King James Bible here
to preach, to go sowing, to do anything with, it's only the King James Bible.
Now I'm not referring to other versions that are in a different language.
For example, obviously we're not throwing out the Reina Valera, no, the one we are throwing
out in the toilet is the 1960, amen.
Min los misiemros de centa, it's garbage.
It's a Bible of the devil, and every Spanish pastor could put that in their pipe and choke
on it.
I don't care what they think.
You know, hey, what's wrong with the 1909?
What's wrong with the 1602?
What's wrong with the 1569, amen?
You know, those are good versions of the Bible to use.
Why don't you stick with those and just trash the Spanish version of the new King James?
But the fact remains in English, we need to use the King James Bible, because it's the
only word of God.
It's alive, it's able to quicken the spirit, it's able to convict the soul, it's able to
pierce the heart, and help people to recognize that they need a savior, okay?
Now the number four essentials here, we're talking about essentials, is that you have
to have a gospel plan.
Now this goes back to, you know, not just giving your testimony.
In fact, I'm not saying trash your testimony, but when you're out sowing, trash your testimony,
okay?
Now you need a specific plan, and in our church, we specifically use the Romans Road, amen?
Now we did not come up with the Romans Road.
The Romans Road has been around for a long time, and in fact, the original person who
came up with this, coined the phrase Romans Road was Jack House, Pastor Jack House.
Now did they use the Romans Road in the Bible?
Well, I believe that they used a form of it, it may not have been called the Romans Road,
but they obviously preached the word of God, the same gospel that they had then is the
same gospel that we have now.
We just formatted it into the skeleton called the Romans Road that helps us and allows us
to have structure in our presentation, okay?
The Bible says, for I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ and
Him crucified.
2 Corinthians 11, 3 says, but I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve
through his septility, so your mind should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in
Christ.
Now number five, number five is not the most important, but I think as I observe the sowness
in our church, as I've gone sowing for the last 11 years, I think this is one that's
lacking a lot.
I've gone sowing with a lot of people who know the Bible, they have structure, they
have their spirit-filled people, but you know what, this is one thing that they often lack.
Take heed to this, don't wake up if you're sleeping right now, wake up, at least get
this one point.
It is essential that you learn how to read people, read people, okay?
What does that mean?
To read someone is the ability to perceive their body language, whether they're interested
or not, whether they're understanding or not, it's the ability to understand, to assess
the situation and the conversation, what direction it's going in, so that one, you don't waste
your time, or two, you don't get them to pray a prayer, but they don't understand anything
that you're saying.
In order to be an effective soul winner, you need to be able to read people.
Now go to Matthew chapter 16.
You see, there are times when people will agree with you on everything, but they're
just going along to get along, okay?
And you don't want to waste your time, your time is valuable.
I believe your time is valuable, my time is valuable, if there's someone out there who's
actually willing to listen to the entire gospel and give their 100% attention to it, I want
to talk to that person.
I don't want to talk to the kind person who's just kind of, everything's going in one year
and out the other, but not only that, I don't want to make someone, I don't want to believe
that someone is understanding what I'm saying if they really don't.
I want to be able to perceive according to their body language and what they're telling
me if they're understanding, if they're getting it, if they're being receptive towards what
I'm telling them.
Look at Matthew 16 verse 6, then Jesus said unto them, take heed and beware of the leaven
of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees.
And they reasoned among themselves saying, is it because we have taken no bread?
When Jesus perceived, he said unto them, O ye of little faith, why reason ye among yourselves,
because ye have brought no bread?
So what do we see here is that Jesus was able to perceive that they were being ignorant
of the spiritual truth that he was trying to convey to them.
He picked up on it really fast.
Look at Mark chapter 2, Mark chapter 2, I'm going to read to you from Luke chapter 20
verse 23, it says, and they washed him and sent forth spies which should feign themselves
just men, that they might take hold of his words, that so they might deliver him unto
the power and authority of the governor.
And they asked him, say, master, we know that thou sayest and teacheth rightly, neither
exceptest thou the person of any, but teacheth the way of God truly, is it lawful for us
to give tribute unto Caesar or no?
But he perceived, or what, craftiness, and said unto them, why tempt ye me?
You see, it's important to understand body language because you will run into people
that just want to waste your time.
False teachers and false prophets who act like they're sincere and they're genuine,
but they're just devils who want to waste your time.
But here's the thing, if you're ignorant, if you don't know how to read people, you'll
spend your entire day there giving them a whole bunch of scriptures that's going one
year and out the other, they don't care about what you say, they want to talk about that
the earth is flat, and all these other stupid doctrines, and you're just going to waste
your entire time.
But if you're able to perceive and understand that this person is not interested, you can
basically cut the conversation and move on to the next door.
You think that's basic, but you know what?
A lot of people lack discernment, just the ability to read someone.
Look what the Bible says in Mark chapter two, verse six, but there were certain of the scribes
sitting there and reasoning in their hearts, why doth this man thus speak blasphemies?
Who can forgive sins but God only?
And immediately when Jesus perceived in his spirit that they so reasoned within themselves,
he said unto them, why reezy need these things in your hearts?
And so, you know, this goes with the other point of just being spirit-filled.
Because when you're spirit-filled, you're able to perceive, I'm not talking about charismatic
weird stuff, I'm talking about the ability to perceive in your spirit if this person
is interested and wants to hear it or not, okay?
Now part of that just body language is, look, if the person is just like on their phone
while you're talking to them, don't just try to cram the gospel down, I'm trying to get
so that huge seed in there, you know, just get in that mustard seed, you know, when it
grows and just shove it down to the, no, just say, hey, do you got a couple more minutes?
I'm almost done here.
And if they say yes and they put away their phone, keep going.
If they say yes and they don't put away their phone, just say, well, you know what, there's
the track right there.
If you have any questions, you can give us a call, all right?
God bless you, have a good day.
And don't be mean either.
We're going to get into that just a little bit because here's the thing, we're going
to see that person again.
We saw a person yesterday that we saw, I haven't seen in months and he's like, Bruce, unfortunately,
I don't remember his name, I was like, hey, that's what you do when you don't remember
the name, just say, hey, you know.
Acts 23 verse 6 says, but when Paul perceived that one part were Sadducees and the other
Pharisees, he cried out in the council, men and brethren, I am a Pharisee, the son of
a Pharisee and of hope and resurrection of the dead, I am called in question.
Of course, because of that, he caused the Pharisees and the Sadducees to basically turn
against one another, but he had perception.
Don't be a blonde soul winner, sorry if there's any blonde, real blondes out there.
You know, you want to make sure that you're not an airhead soul winner, that you know
what's going on, paying attention to body language, paying attention to your surroundings,
paying attention if the person's paying attention or not, okay?
The Bible goes to Hebrews chapter number 5, Hebrews chapter number 5.
We want to make sure that we're able to read people, and look, the way that takes place
is number one, through experience, okay?
As you're always going out there preaching the gospel, you meet different people, you're
able to just get to know people, okay?
Some of it's, this part, you know, it takes time, experience, going out there with talking
to people, but number two, just pray and say, God, give me this sermon.
Help me to be spiritually mature, to pay attention, not to just, because sometimes
if you just learn the gospel, you just want to get through it completely, you know?
Even if the person's not paying attention, you're paying attention to yourself giving
the gospel, rather than paying attention to the person who's actually listening to you,
and that happens sometimes.
You know, like sometimes I remember when I first learned to song lead, I was too focused
on my hand motions.
I wasn't paying attention to what I was reading, and I would like sing the same verse over
and over again sometimes, you know?
But that's why you've got to make preaching the gospel second nature, so that you don't
necessarily have to pay attention to how you're presenting.
You've got to down pack.
You can actually pay attention to see if they're paying attention, okay?
Look at Hebrews 5, 14 says, but strong meat belonging to them that are of full age, even
those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil, and
not just to discern both good and evil, but to discern people, okay?
This is important.
Please don't bypass this in your soul winning.
Please don't undermine this point in your personal soul winning.
You need to make sure that you're able to read people and understand if they want to
hear it or not.
You'll save yourself a lot of time, but you'll also become more effective.
Why?
Because once you see someone wince at something that you said, you know, okay, I think I need
to park it here for a little bit, maybe go over some extra scriptures in this regard
or whatever it may be, okay?
Now all right, that's over.
So now we're going to talk about how to preach the gospel.
This is very practical stuff, and you know, if you want to tune out, tune out, but you
know, there's some things in here that I think will help you, some illustrations that I personally
use that have worked for me for years, and so, and look, I haven't arrived as a soul
winner.
I'm not the best soul winner there is, but I believe I've experienced a lot of success
in my soul winning.
I've seen a lot of people saved, and it's not because of me.
It's because of the people that I've learned this from.
I attribute my success to others, okay?
And these others are people who learn from others as well, and so don't stick to one
aspect of, you know, your form of preaching the gospel.
Keep learning.
Grab an illustration from this person.
Grab a phrase from this person.
Constantly be growing and sharpening that sword so you can become a better effective
soul winner.
So let me start off with this.
Obviously, when you come to the door, we're going to get real practical here, okay?
This is what I do when I come to the door.
I knock seven times the first time.
Now, seven times sounds like a lot, but it's not a lot.
I go, and I go, that's it, but it's a strong stern knock.
I wait a couple seconds, okay, because obviously, you think about it, you knock on the door.
Someone hears, they're getting up, they're walking over, you've got to give them time
to walk over, and then, if they don't answer, I knock seven more times.
It's a strong sternly, okay?
Now, you may do this differently.
This is my preference.
I only knock twice, seven times, okay?
But I wait a little bit after the second knock to make sure that, you know, if they're coming
or not, or they've already peeked through the window, and they don't want to talk.
They saw who I was, and look, if you see them peeking through the window, and they don't
open the door, don't be persistent and knock on the window and say, hey, I know you're
in there.
Hey, how's it going in there?
Hello, I saw you in the window.
Don't do that.
It's their loss.
Just put the track there and move on to the next door.
Tip number two, don't keep knocking.
It's just like, because at that point, you're going to agitate the fire out of them.
Or they're going to come out and be like, didn't you get the first time that I didn't
want to come to the door?
Like, yeah, but I got the gospel, I need to get this person safe.
But what good is it if they don't want to listen to you?
You've already given them a bad taste in their mouth, you know, by the fact that you're just
being persistent in the sense that you're irritating them, you know?
What if they're asleep?
I need to wake them up.
Well, if they're asleep, they're probably not going to perceive much that you're telling
them, okay?
You know, I've knocked on doors with people, they're like, I have to work, you know, I
have to work, night shift, I just want to sleep.
And I'll ask them, I say, you know, I still ask them the question, but if they say no,
I just leave it at that, because this person's so drunken with sleep, he's probably not going
to get a whole lot.
Well, there's a person who's right next to them who's wide awake, who I'd rather talk
to, okay?
So and by the way, if that's not something you do, don't worry about it, you know?
You can throw that out.
This is the tips that I'm giving you.
So they answer the door, what do you say?
This is the introduction, okay?
Before I give you the introduction, just know this, your introduction, you should have a
sociable disposition.
What does that mean?
Be a nice person.
Don't be a jerk.
Don't be mean.
Step number one, put a smile on your face.
Show your teeth.
Okay?
Well, I'm just not that kind of person, but they don't know that, so you might as well
smile because that's the first impression that you're going to give them.
This is what I do when someone answers the door.
I'm as happy as the day is long because I'm, in my mind, this person's going to get saved.
In my mind, I want them to have the greatest experience of someone giving them the gospel
ever.
So what I do is when I answer the door, I say, hey, how's it going?
And they say, good, how are you?
I actually respond to that.
You know what I'm saying?
So if I say, hey, how's it going?
Good, how are you?
I say, good.
Thank you for asking.
My name is Bruce.
This is Jacob.
We're from Faithful War Baptist Church.
Just want to give you this invitation to our church.
Oh, thanks.
Yeah, not a problem.
We're located right here.
By the way, it's not bad to tell them where the church is.
You're making conversation.
I'm there to preach the gospel, brother.
So am I.
Is it bad to be nice to people?
Is that like wrong or something?
Is that sinful?
To be, you know, to have a social disposition.
You know, I want this person to like me, OK?
So I say, you know, it's over here on Tyler and I. Oh, I know where that's at.
Yeah, it's right on the corner.
So and then what I tell them is this.
So let me go into this before I jump into that.
So what does it mean to have a social disposition?
Be friendly and kind.
Look them in the eyes.
Look especially the men.
We need to make sure that we know how to look people in the eyes when we're talking to them.
Don't just have this like.
You know, if you do that at a door, they're going to think something's wrong with you.
They're going to think you have something to hide.
And here's a perfect place to practice.
This is in church.
When you shake someone's hand at church, look them in the eye, OK?
I'm not saying be weird about it like, hey, how's it going?
Where are you going?
Look them straight in the eye.
Do you have anything to hide?
No, it's good to look people in the eyes.
So look them in the eyes.
Remember that you're their guest.
You knock their door, you know?
And in actuality, you're not even their guest because you invited yourself, right?
So don't be rude.
Don't have this perception that you're going to put them in their place because you came
to their door.
You're at their doorstop.
Keep that in mind when you're going out there sowning.
You're at their doorstop.
You're not there to get into an argument.
In fact, I sometimes am very apologetic.
I don't apologize to them, but I try to be as fearful as I can because I'm there in their
territory, OK?
Remember that their soul is hanging in the balance.
That helps you to be nice.
This person could potentially die tomorrow, die today without Christ, and they can go
to hell.
That will help you to be nice.
And then remember that we're giving them the gospel, not interrogating them, OK?
Don't interrogate people.
Don't be a Calvinist, lordship, salvation, street preacher where you just all, you know,
turn to burn.
Don't interrogate people.
We want to ask questions not for the sake of making them look stupid.
We want to ask questions so that we can get the answers needed to template our gospel
presentation to them, OK?
So I say hi.
My name is Bruce.
This is Jacob.
We're from Faithful World Baptist Church.
I want to give you this invite to our church.
When I say this, do you go to church anywhere, OK?
Now, this phrase, do you go to church anywhere, is not a filler, OK?
So when you ask that, it shouldn't be like in your mind, it's like, ooh, and they're
just like.
Oh, OK.
Well, anyways, more important than that, don't do that.
This is the reason why I do that, OK?
When I say do you go to church anywhere, let's give some examples here.
I said, do you go to church anywhere?
And they'll say, well, yeah, I go to, you know, Santa Maria, Madre, Adios, Xico, Esto
Calotro, whatever, Catholic Church, OK?
Now, 99.9% of the people who say they come from a Catholic Church, Jehovah's Witness
Church, Mormon Church, they're not saved.
And I say 99.9% because potentially, they could be that 1% of someone who actually got
saved from a soul winner and they're possibly still attending a Catholic Church.
I've met people like that.
The majority of the time, we're talking to someone who's talking to us who's a Catholic,
they're not saved.
But the reason I want to know what church they go to is because automatically, I'm putting
in my mind, OK, now I'm going to format my gospel presentation to what they struggle
with in regards to salvation.
For example, if I meet a Catholic, OK, if they tell me to go to a Catholic Church, automatically
I know the thing they're going to struggle with just works in general.
They feel like you got to keep the commandments, get baptized.
So in my gospel presentation, I do have a section on works, right?
Well, I'm going to spend a little more time on that knowing that he's a Catholic.
If it's a Pentecostal person that I'm talking to, I'm going to spend some time, a good amount
of time on the deity of Christ to make sure they understand that.
So I tailor my gospel presentation based upon what they tell me what church they go to,
OK?
So I say, do you go to church?
And then once they tell me I go to this church, I say, OK.
Now don't say, oh, that's good because it's not good.
And they say, yeah, I go to, you know, the Satanist Church.
OK, cool.
Right on.
Well, that sounds, well, you know what, more important than obviously not paying attention
if they said that.
Now, if they say they go to a Christian church, yeah, I mean, let's just assume that they
go to the right church, OK?
And say, OK, good, great.
Well, you know what, more important than church, and this is what I say, more important than
church, and the reason why we're out here is to ask you a really important question.
And that question is, God forbid, if you were to die today, are you 100% sure that you would
go to heaven?
Now, when I asked them that, I actually asked them that very solemnly and caring.
You know, 100% sure that if you die today, you go to heaven?
No, it's, I say, are you 100% sure that if you die today, would you go to heaven?
Because I honestly want to know if they know.
And I honestly want to get them saved, OK?
Now, if they answer yes, give a positive response.
Don't go, no, you're not.
No.
I don't believe you.
You know, I like, some of the soul owners I've gone with, I like their response.
They go, OK, good.
Amen, that's great.
I'm really glad to hear that.
Because honestly, at the end of the day, we would hope that they would be saved, that
they're already saved.
It's great to meet safe people while we're out soul-winning.
That's a blessing.
So if they answer yes, give a positive response, and don't be abrasive with them, OK?
But this is what I would say.
So let's give an example.
Let's say if they said no, they don't know, OK?
Or I'm sorry, let's say that they say yes, obviously, we're not going to just take that
at face value and say, OK, well, God bless you, and just move on.
That's not a sufficient answer to know if they're saved or not.
But you don't want to be abrasive.
Don't say, well, what do you have to do to be saved?
So what would you say?
OK?
That's a little abrasive.
This is something that I use, and if you don't want to use this, then throw it out the window
and keep using what you're using.
This is what I say.
I say, OK, well, great.
I'm glad to hear that.
Well, can I ask you another question?
Let's say I was your friend, a close friend of yours, and I wanted to know how to get
to heaven.
What would you tell me?
Because at that point, now we cross the barrier of me being close friends with him, and now
he puts into his mind, whatever I tell this person is important, because this is what
I would tell a close friend or family member.
So I tell him, hey, if I was a close friend or a family member of yours, and I wanted
to know how to get to heaven, what would you say?
And obviously, there's a myriad of different answers that people have given to that.
They'll say, well, just keep God's commandments.
Be a good person.
Go to church.
Do good.
Please God.
Whatever.
If they say, believe on Christ, then respond positively again.
If they say, well, you just have to believe on Christ.
That's a great answer, amen.
But you need to follow up with the eternal security question.
So if they say, yeah, just believe on Christ, don't just cut it off and say, OK, great.
Well, there's the invite.
I hope you come one day, and that's it.
No, because we don't know.
Maybe they heard the right gospel.
They heard that phrase.
But they're probably not saved, because they believe you could lose your salvation.
So what you do is this.
You say, OK, can I ask you another question?
You say, let's say I believed on Christ, but I'm still living in sin.
I'm doing those things that are not pleasing unto the Lord, or I get out of church.
Let's say, as an extreme example, I kill someone.
Would you say that I'm saved still?
And more than likely, a lot of people are going to say, oh, no, no, you're not saved.
So at that point, you understand, OK, this person is not saved.
So it's not an interrogation.
They're fishing for answers to know what condition they're in.
So unless they give you a solid answer on eternal security, you need to roll into the
gospel.
Now, once they give me that answer, I very kindly and meekly say this.
Well, the Bible states something a little different.
And this is what I do, because obviously, that phrase is basically telling them, well,
you're wrong.
So this is what I do to kind of balance that out.
I'll say this.
Well, the Bible says something a little different.
In fact, there's only one thing you have to do to be saved.
And I'll do it with a smile on my face.
I'll say, there's only one thing you have to do, one thing you have to do to be saved.
And that kind of perks their attention, because in their mind, they think, well, there's a
lot of things you have to do to be saved, right?
And if someone comes in and says, well, hey, there's only one, that perks, and that has
worked for me many times, where they're like, okay, yeah, tell me, you know.
I want to know about that one thing.
Now, what they don't know is that it's not a one command of, you know, thou shall not
lie, thou shall not kill.
It's more like, that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and believe
in thy heart that God will raise them from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
Okay?
And I say, there's only one thing.
Can I share that with you?
Is that okay?
And typically, you know, let's give an example, like yesterday, we led a girl to the Lord.
She was open to that.
She said, yeah, sure.
Talk to me.
I roll into 1 John 5, 13, first and foremost.
Okay?
Now, go there in your Bible so we can look at it.
Go to 1 John, chapter 5, verse 13.
I can quote it.
Well, look down at your Bibles and look at it anyways.
The Bible says in 1 John 5, 13, these things have I written unto you that believe on the
name of the Son of God, that ye may, and this is what I do when I talk to them, that ye
may know.
So I kind of emphasize that no, that ye may know that ye have eternal life.
And that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.
So according to this verse, Brenda, or whoever I'm talking to, the Bible says you can know
for sure, without a shadow of a doubt, that you have eternal life, that you're saved,
that you're going to heaven, okay?
And then I say this.
Before I tell you about that one thing, there's a few things that you have to understand.
So I'm not being deceitful.
It's the honest truth.
There's only one thing she has to do to be saved, but there's a couple things she has
to understand.
At that point, I roll onto Romans 3, 23.
Now some people go to Romans 3, 10, they use different portions of scripture that tell
them that they're sinners.
This is just something that's always worked for me, and this is something that I've always
used, and I've never had a problem with this, so I'm just going to stick with it, you know?
And then, by the way, if Romans 3, 10 works for you when you first give that, then hey,
stick with that, amen?
As long as we get the point across that they understand that they're sinners, all right?
So I roll into Romans 3, 23, and I say, for all have sinned, the Bible says that for all
have sinned and come short of the glory of God.
Now when I go over these points, I ask very practical questions that often we would take
for granted that people know, and that actually eliminates a lot of confusion and just kind
of, you know, confusion towards the end of the gospel presentation.
So when I tell them, you know, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God,
I actually ask them, do you know what sin is?
Because you'd be surprised.
Some people don't know what it is, and if they don't know what it is, don't be a jerk
and say, really?
Are you serious?
And you say you go to Catholic church?
You know, don't get on them.
Be very patient and kind, long-suffering with them, and explain to them what it is.
Say, okay, well, you know, the Bible would, or say this, what would you say sin is?
Often they will say, well, you know, it's when you do something bad, okay?
You've heard that before, right?
It's when you do something bad that God doesn't like, and look, I don't disagree with them
when they say that.
I'm like, yeah, absolutely right.
In fact, the Bible would say, and then I quote them, 1 John 3, 4, whosoever committed sin
transgresseth also the law, for sin is the transgression of the law.
Now here, big surprise, okay?
Most people don't know what that means either.
For sin is the transgression of the law, they're just like, whew.
So I explained that.
I said that means when you break God's commandments, his rules, because the Bible's filled with
rules.
When you don't obey those rules, according to the Bible, you're sinning.
Therefore God has labeled the person who sins a what?
A sinner.
So I'm trying to put the cookie on the bottom shelf for these people to eliminate any confusion
at all of what I'm telling them, okay?
And then I tell them, for example, the Bible says, thou shall not bear false witness, which
is lying.
Now I'll be honest with you, I tell them, I've lied before.
Don't tell them, so have you lied first.
How about you, did you lie?
I just tell them this, I've lied before, and I look guilty when I tell them, because I'm
quite honest with you, I have lied before, and I'm not happy about that.
And I tell them, I'm like, I've lied before.
Have you lied?
And if you're talking to a sincere person who wants to know the truth, they'll be honest
with you and say, yeah.
And I say, yeah, and you know what, to be honest with you, we've done worse things than
just lie.
I mean, wouldn't you agree with that?
We've sinned with our mouths, with our thoughts, with our actions.
That's just one of the things that we've done, right?
So then I point them back to Romans 3.23, and I say, now, wouldn't that confirm what
the Bible says, that for all have sinned?
Because who in this world has not told a lie?
And they're like, yeah, no one's perfect, exactly, no one's perfect.
And then I'll go to Romans 3.10 through 12, most of the time I just quote verse 12, and
I'll say, they're all gone out of the way, they're together become unprofitable, there's
none that doeth good, none that don't.
And I'll tell them, because sometimes people think that it's good works to get you to heaven
being a good person, but the Bible says there's none that doeth good, none that don't.
And why is that?
Well, because we've all sinned.
And then at that point, I tell them, would you agree that you're a sinner, okay?
And 98% of the time, they agree, like, yeah, no one's perfect.
And I tell them, I say, I agree with you, because I'm not perfect, I know you're not
perfect, no one's perfect.
So it just confirms what the Bible says, okay?
Now, if they blow their top, or excuse me, if they say no, they don't believe they're
sinners, don't blow your top.
Like what, I mean, it's right there.
Just read it.
I mean, God says it, you don't believe God?
You know, be gentle, because there's some sort of mental roadblock that they have that
they don't understand.
And often when people say no, they're actually saying, well, I've done a lot of good things,
you know?
And I'll take them to Ecclesiastes 720, where the Bible says, for there's none, there's
none adjustment upon earth that doeth good and sineth not, okay?
So I'm not saying you're not doing any good, I'm just saying that you've sinned just like
everyone else, and because of that, we're considered sinners, you understand that?
And they'll typically, at that point, they'll agree, okay?
So getting past that point, now, point number two, I tell them, now, you have to understand
that there's a penalty for our sin.
And when I talk to people, I like to interact with them a lot, I like to ask them a lot
of questions to make sure they're understanding, it's part of the body reading language, body
reading aspect of the gospel presentation.
And I'll ask them, do you know what a penalty is?
And children, teenagers, sometimes they'll just say, yeah, it's like something that you
get for doing something bad.
I'm fine with that answer, because they understand the concept.
Then I quote to them, or I show them, Romans 623, for the wages of sin is death.
I explain to them what a wage is, it's an earning.
And then I tell them, the Bible says here that what we earn because of our sin is death.
Now, you and I both understand that we're both gonna die one day.
But what the Bible's referring to here is actually, death is actually referring to a
place called hell.
So according to the Bible, if you're to die today, your soul would actually go to hell
forever.
Do you understand that?
And they'll say, yes, I understand that.
Now, then I take them to Revelation 20, verse 14 through 15.
As I'm turning there, because I'm the kind of person that doesn't like any dead time.
You know, I don't like going, okay.
And then, yeah, let's see here.
You know, I don't like that.
But what I do is I actually say, as I'm going to Revelation 20, 14 through 15, I say, what
would you describe hell as being?
You know, as I'm going to, and they'll say, fire, it's where the devil's gonna go.
I'll say, yeah, absolutely, you're absolutely right.
And hopefully by that time, I got the scripture, okay.
Revelation 20, verse 14 says, in death and hell were cast into the lake of fire.
This is the second death.
And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.
Now, I don't go into detail what the first and second death are.
You may, and that's fine if you want to do that.
I just simply explain to them, what would you say the lake of fire is?
And 98% of the people I talk to will say, it's hell.
You know, and I'll say, you got it right.
And in fact, the Bible even gives us a list of people who are going to go to hell.
Look what it says in Revelation 21, 8.
And then I'll read, but the fearful and unbelieving and the abominable and murderers and whoremongers
and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burneth
with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.
And I'll tell them, you know, we often think that hell is meant for like the worst of people,
right, murderers and rapists, and it is, but the Bible says there that even liars go to hell.
And I'll tell them, you remember that first point we were talking about?
Why we're sinners?
Because we've even lied.
So according to this verse, what do we deserve because we've sinned, even told that one lie?
And they'll say, hell.
Yeah, exactly.
Now, here's the thing.
A lot of soul owners get stuck on this point.
I've noticed this a lot where I've heard a lot of people say, yeah, I just couldn't get
them past the fact that they deserve hell.
They didn't want to admit that.
And I don't know what it is.
Maybe it's just a way it's being explained.
I'm not quite sure.
But I've had people tell me that as well.
They'll say, well, I don't believe I deserve it.
I think the girl yesterday said the same thing.
She said, well, I don't believe I deserve it.
This is what I do.
You can use this if you don't want to use it.
If you think it's a horrible idea, then throw it out.
Use whatever you want to use.
When they say, I don't deserve it, I very meekly ask them, may I ask for a valid reason
as to why you think you don't deserve hell?
And the majority of the time, they'll say, because I'm a good person.
I've done good things.
I go to church.
Just list off all the things that people think that are good that'll get them to heaven.
But I'll do it at that point, and this has worked every single time that I've used this
to get them over this hump.
I'll quote to them, once again, Ecclesiastes 7.20, which is, remember what we mentioned.
There's not a just man upon earth that doeth good and sinneth not.
And they'll say yes.
And I'll tell them this.
Let me give you an illustration to further explain why we deserve hell, because you say
you've done good works.
You've done good things.
I say, what if a murderer, what if a person kills somebody in a state where the death
penalty is still being applied to the person, and this person was standing before the judge
because he murdered someone.
And he tells the judge, judge, I don't think I deserve the death penalty, because I've
done a lot of good in my life that you're not, that you're kind of overlooking.
You know, I've helped my mom pay the bills.
I'm working on his job.
You know, I do all these things that are good.
You know what the judge would say?
I'm not judging you based upon the good that you've done in your life.
I'm judging you based upon the crime that you've committed.
And at that point, the light bulb typically goes off in their mind, and they'll go, oh,
yeah, okay.
And I tell them, see, God's not judging you based upon the supposed good that you've done.
He's actually judging you, according to Revelation 21, 8, based upon the sins that you've done.
You're going there to pay for your sins, not because you've done good works or anything
of that matter.
And at that point, I tell them, so now do you believe that you deserve hell?
And sometimes humbly, they'll just say, yes, okay, I agree with that.
And I say, hey, me too.
I deserve it too.
And that's being truthful.
You know, I say, hey, I deserve it too.
Everyone deserves it.
But then immediately, I hop into, but do you believe that God loves you?
And they'll often say, you know, obviously, they'll say, yeah, I believe that.
So do you believe that he wants you to go to hell?
They'll say no.
Okay.
Now, obviously, we can't go through every single answer that a person would give during
a gospel presentation, because it does vary, so I'm very, I'm generalizing here based upon
that person who may have some mental, you know, roadblocks that they may hit and how
to overcome those things.
Now, as you're flipping to Romans chapter five, verse number eight, go with me there,
if you would.
As I'm flipping there, again, I don't like that time.
So what I do, I said, yeah, absolutely, God loves you, he doesn't want you to go to hell.
As I'm flipping there, I say, in fact, he came up with a solution wherewith you can
escape hell.
That's what I tell him.
And I'll begin quoting Romans chapter five, verse number eight.
And I'll show it to them.
It says, but God commended his love toward us, and that while we're yet sinners, Christ
died for us.
Now, at this point, I begin to explain the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ,
even starting from when he first came.
And I'll tell them this, 2,000 years ago, God the Father sent God the Son.
Now, look, if you want to go into many five verses, 10 verses, and explain it in Trinity,
you can do that.
I'm not against you for doing that.
I don't do that.
I don't, unless I'm talking to a Pentecostal guy, they'll remember it.
But at that point, I already knew I was going to those verses, because I had formatted my
gospel presentation to that person.
But I tell them, I said, God the Father sent God the Son.
Now, this is the important thing about reading people, because if they wince at it, when
I say that, that shows me that there's something there that they're not telling me that they
believe that's obviously contrary to God's word.
So what I'll do, if they wince at anything like that, I'll say, do you believe that?
Do you believe that Jesus Christ is God, that he's the Son of God?
If they say no, then I'll park it there, and we'll go through those scriptures.
But I'll say, God the Father sent God the Son to this world.
He was born of a virgin.
He was a righteous man.
And the Bible tells us that he was tempted in all points as we are, yet without sin.
Jesus Christ did not sin one time.
He kept all of God's commandments perfectly.
He was a perfect man.
We would say that he was an innocent man.
And I'll briefly describe, I'll talk about the miracles that he did, and how he preached
the word of God, and then ultimately the religious leaders of that day ended up crucifying and
murdering him.
Then I'll explain, now even though they're the ones who delivered him up, he actually
gave his life for us.
He became our substitute.
Now I'm very strategic when I say these words, what I'm about to say.
He's our substitute, okay?
And I'll say this, do you know what a substitute is?
And they'll say, yeah.
And I'll say, what is a substitute teacher?
And a teenager will say, well, someone who takes the place of others.
Yeah, exactly.
So if Jesus Christ was our substitute, what did he do?
He took our place, exactly.
And I'm sowing a seed there.
Don't think I'm being redundant.
Just hang in there.
I know this seems a little thorough, but this actually helps, okay?
Because a lot of people even struggle with sometimes eternal security towards the end,
because they're not matching up the blocks, okay?
And I'm gonna explain what I mean in just a moment.
So I explain that and I say, you know, he was crucified on the cross.
And I'll explain to him how when he was on the cross, he bore our sins upon himself.
He took all our sins.
And let me say this, I spent a good amount of time on that point.
And let me explain why.
Because that's why they have a hard time understanding the eternal security, because they have a
hard time understanding that God forgave them of all their sins, that Jesus Christ took
all their sins.
So I'll set them up.
I'll say, do you believe that God knows everything?
And they'll say yes.
You think he knows the sins that you're gonna do in the future?
They'll say yes.
I'll say, so when he died, he actually died for your past sins.
He died for your present sins.
And he even died for the future sins that you're gonna do, okay?
I said, do you believe that?
And they'll tell me yes.
Then I'll say this, but not only that, he died for the small sins, as well as the big
sins.
Now, I recommend you use this, because it works all the time.
I'll say big, small sins and big sins, and I'll say, what would you say is a small sin?
And 99% of the time, they'll say, lying?
Yeah, exactly.
But even the big sins, what would you say is a big sin?
99% of the time, they'll say, murder.
And I'll even do this.
It's very key.
I'll say, yeah.
Or like, suicide.
I'll say, yeah.
So he died for that entire spectrum of sins, okay?
Small sins, big sins, past sins, future sins.
And if needed, I'll go to Romans chapter four, and I'll show them that in the scriptures,
okay?
You can write that down, Romans chapter four, verse six through eight.
For the sake of time, I'm not gonna read it, okay?
Let's see here.
So I'll talk about how he died, and I will say that he went to hell, because I honestly
believe that that's a good thing to teach them and tell them, to help them to understand
that Jesus Christ paid for our sins.
And to be quite honest with you, I've never met one person, not one, who was like, heresy!
Except for Baptists, who believe in Abraham's bosom, okay?
But most unsaved people, they just nod their head, and they're like, they don't wince
at it, it doesn't bother them.
To them, it makes logical sense, amen?
So then I tell him, he was in hell for three days and three nights, and on the third day,
he rose again.
I'll quote 1 Corinthians five, three, or excuse me, 15, three through four, okay?
Talk about the death, burial, and resurrection.
Now at that point, I'll say this, do you believe that Jesus Christ died on the cross for your
sins?
And they'll say, yes.
Do you believe that he resurrected on the third day?
Yes.
Do you believe that he died for the whole world, right?
And they'll say, yes.
But do you believe the whole world's going to heaven?
And they'll say, no.
Yeah, of course not, because we just read in Revelation 21, eight, the list of people
who are going to go to hell.
So now I ask them, so now the question remains, what's the difference?
Because if he died for everyone, why isn't everyone going to heaven?
And then I'll take them back to Romans 6, 23, where it says, for the wages of sin is
death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
And I'll say, hey, the gift of God is eternal life.
Does it say through baptism?
Does it say through good works?
And they'll say no to all these.
Does it say through his commandments?
No, it says through Jesus Christ.
So let me show you how that looks like, and I'll take them to Acts chapter 16, verse 30
through 31.
And I'll read them.
And brought them out and said, sirs, what must I do to be saved?
And believe it or not, I explained what that means to be saved.
I said, when the Bible says saved, it means to be rescued.
Okay?
God, he wants to know what he has to do to be rescued from where?
From hell.
Okay?
Jesus Christ is the savior of the world.
He came to seek and to save that which is lost.
So this guy's asking, what must I do to be saved, you know, by Jesus Christ from hell?
Very important question, I thought.
Look at the response.
And they said, believe, and I'll typically do this, I'll have them read belief.
I'll say, what does it say?
And they'll say, believe.
Yeah.
And I'll finish on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved in thy house.
So according to that verse, what's the only thing you have to do to be saved?
And they'll say, just believe.
Yeah.
I'll say, just believe.
Isn't that easy?
They'll say, yeah.
Easier.
Believing on Christ or keeping God's commandments?
They'll say, believe.
Yeah, exactly.
Now, depending on their receptiveness, if they're understanding, I'll often take them
to John chapter 3, verse 15, and John chapter 3, verse 36.
Very good verses to use, especially verse 36, where it talks about the two types of
people in this world, those who believe, you know, they have everlasting life.
Those who don't believe on Christ shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on
him.
But I will say this, is that I will explain to them what believe means.
I said, now, when the Bible says believe, it actually means to trust in Jesus.
And this is especially important with Catholics, because they'll tell you, yeah, believe, you
just got to believe.
But what they mean is just believe He exists.
And what I'll explain to them there is I'll say, hey, believe means to trust, okay?
So according to the Bible, we have to trust 100 percent in Christ to go to heaven, nothing
else.
Do you understand that?
And just to confirm that they understand, I said, what if I told you, hey, I'm going
to heaven because I'm a good person?
Who am I trusting in?
They'll say yourself.
Yeah.
What if I said, hey, I'm going to heaven because I keep God's commandments?
Who am I trusted in?
Yourself.
But what if I said, I'm going to heaven because I trust in Jesus?
Who am I trusting in?
They'll say, Jesus.
I'm putting the cookie on the bottom shelf for them to set them up to help them to understand
these very basic truths, okay?
So at that point, if I, I just asked them this, so according to what we just went over,
what do you have to do to be saved?
They'll say, just believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
Good answer.
If they give that answer, we can move on, okay?
And the last point, I'll say this, this is what I said, I said, this is the last point
that I'm going to give you and I'm done, okay?
And I'll say this, I'll take them to Ephesians chapter two, verse eight through nine.
And the last point is this, is that once you believe on Christ, you're saved and you're
saved forever.
You can never lose your salvation.
We would say once you're saved, you're always saved.
And what that means is that even after you get saved, even if you do the worst sins,
you will never lose your salvation, okay?
I'll explain that to them.
And I'll read Ephesians two, verse eight through nine where it says, for by grace are you saved
through faith and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works that any
man should boast.
And I'll say, look, we are saved through faith, faith is just believing.
And it says there that it's not of yourself, what does that mean?
It's not through your own effort, you don't maintain your salvation, you don't have to
do any work to get salvation.
It's not of yourself.
And then he says it is the gift of God.
And then we go through the illustration about the gift, okay?
I'm pretty sure everyone's already familiar with the whole gift illustration using the
Bible, et cetera, okay?
So I'll tell them, look, a gift is something that's free.
And I'll say, who pays for the gift?
The gift of the giver or the one receiving, they'll say the giver, obviously, yeah.
So if Jesus Christ, if God is offering you a gift, who's the one paying for it?
99% of the time, they'll say Jesus.
How?
They'll say him dying for us, okay?
And I'll explain to them it's not of works.
Then I go to Titus 1, 2, and I'll explain to them of hope of eternal life, which God,
that cannot lie, promised before the world began.
Now, this is my last point and I'm done, okay?
Then I'll tell them this, I say, I'm gonna take you to one last verse and I'm done, okay?
But I'll tell them this, I said, but before I finish, I just wanna review with you real
quick just to confirm that you understand everything that I explained to you.
Now, if they're like, well, I gotta go, you know, I gotta go, I'll say, you sure you don't
got a couple more minutes?
If they say no, then I'll say, okay, and I'll leave them the track because here's the thing,
if they're telling me they have to go at this point, they probably weren't even listening
throughout the entire time, you know, because at this point, we're getting to the climax
of them getting saved.
They wanna know, they don't care what's going on, they're gonna listen to what's going on.
So don't try to use this car salesman thing where it's just like, just give me 35.6 seconds.
I'm almost done.
If they're doing that, it means they don't wanna listen.
It probably means that they haven't been listening the whole time, okay?
And I'll simply review with them, I said, do you believe that you're a sinner?
Yes.
Do you believe you deserve hell?
Yes.
Do you believe that Jesus Christ died for you and that you're resurrected?
Yes.
What's the only thing you have to do to be saved?
Believe.
And after you believe, you know, can you ever lose your salvation?
No.
Okay.
And I'll say this, let's say you get saved today.
Now this has helped me more than anything.
So let's say you get saved today.
And let's say in 10 years from now, God forbid, I'm gonna give you an extreme example, I'll
tell them.
Let's say 10 years from now, you go commit some really bad sins.
Let me give you an example of that.
You rob a bank.
That's a pretty bad sin, right?
And they'll agree, they're like, yeah, it's pretty bad.
Yeah, let's say you even kill someone.
That's a really bad sin.
Wouldn't you agree?
Yeah.
And I'll tell them, let's say you commit suicide.
That's a really bad sin.
Right?
Wouldn't you agree?
And they'll say yes.
I said, now let me ask you a question.
Do you believe that Jesus died for those sins?
And they'll pause and they'll think, they'll say, yeah, I believe he died for those.
So if he died for those sins, and you trusted in him 10 years earlier, where does your soul
go?
You see, I'm not trying to trick them.
We're not interrogating people so they can give us a wrong answer.
We're trying to aid them to help them to understand and give the right answer.
So I'll tell them, if Jesus died for those sins and you've already trusted him 10 years
later, I mean, this is real easy, right?
Where does your soul go?
And they'll say, heaven.
And I'll say, yeah, exactly.
And why is that?
They'll say, because I trusted in him and he died for all my sins.
Exactly.
And more often, they'll say, because it's a gift and I can never lose it.
Listen to that extent, perceive if they understand it, perceive the answer they give you, and
at that point, you can confirm if they understand it or not, okay?
Now, do we honestly know if they get saved or not?
No.
But based upon the thoroughness of our presentation, based upon our faith in the word of God, I
can honestly say that when I give this gospel to someone, when I go through these steps,
and I perceive that they understand everything, I have faith that that person will get saved.
At that point, I'll take them to Romans chapter number 10, and I'll explain to them, this
is what you have to do to be saved, that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord
Jesus, and believe in thy heart that God had raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
So according to the Bible, in order to be saved, you have to confess with your mouth
that which you believe in your heart.
And this last point, I actually picked up from people in our church, and really, I picked
it up from when I went to the trip to Mexico.
I wasn't doing it wrong before, but this is just a better way, okay?
And I picked it up in Mexico, and what it is, is this, upon reading them that verse,
I tell them, I say, I would like to assist you in telling God what you already believe
in your heart.
Is that okay?
And they'll say, sure, okay.
And I'll tell them this, I said, my words are not magical, there's nothing special about
my words, I'm just giving you a template to use to tell God what you already believe in
your heart, all right?
So let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer, and then we'll pray, and they'll get
saved, okay?
If you need a prayer, just use the prayer that's in the back of the track there, that
can help you out right there, okay?
And so at that point, you know, and you say, well, what if they say they don't want to
pray, right?
Haven't you run into someone like that?
Like, no, I'm good.
This is not a time to get frustrated and get all mad and be like, oh, why not?
I mean, you're going to hell.
This is what I do when they tell me no.
I'll very kindly, meekly tell them, well, you know, the Bible says that now's the appointed
time, and today is the day of salvation, because in all reality, you don't know if you have
tomorrow to live.
And if you die before you actually decide to trust Christ as your savior, according
to the Bible, you'll go to hell.
Do you understand that?
And if they say yes, and they still don't want to pray, then I say, okay, well, there's
the invite, hope you come by and visit us soon.
Because at that point, I don't believe that they understood anything that I said.
Why is that?
Because someone who actually believes all this, they're going to confess it.
You know, someone who believes, all you have to do is confess with your mouth the Lord
Jesus and believe in that heart, they got to raise it from the dead, they will confess
it.
So if they tell you no, don't say, well, just just repeat, just close your eyes right now.
Just repeat after me.
Don't do that.
You're just fooling yourself.
Just so you can raise your hand and say you got someone saved.
It's not about that.
Okay.
You know, that's just you're just glorying, trying to glorify yourself is what you're
trying to do, if that's what you're doing.
You know, if they say no, use that.
And if they still say no after that, say, okay, well, thank you for your time.
There's the invitation.
If you ever have a question, stop on by, right?
And move on to the next.
Don't get flustered.
Don't get frustrated.
Don't get mad.
In fact, when I walk away, I'm grieved.
I'm like, man, that stinks.
That person could have gotten saved.
I didn't even get saved, but hey, there's a next door.
Let's go talk to someone else, okay?
Don't say, okay, let's just pray.
Hey, I told you I didn't want to pray.
Okay, let's pray.
You know, don't do anything to manipulate them into wanting to pray with you.
And look, some people will do it just to get you off their back.
But what good is that to you?
What good is that to them?
Nothing.
At least, you know, you sowed a fat seed in there.
A good amount that maybe later it will germinate, another sower will come and confirm that and
get them saved.
Hey, let's just work with that.
But don't try to manipulate a situation to try to get someone to pray if they don't understand
anything, okay?
So that's basically it, you know?
Just take the points that I gave and if your gospel presentation already works for you,
amen, take some of the tools that maybe I've used today to use in your gospel presentation.
If it doesn't work for you, stick with what you got.
This has worked for me multitudes of times, I've never had a problem with this.
And look, I'm still growing in this area, so I want to go with people and learn more
things.
Because I want to be effective, so I want to be ready to preach the gospel to them that
are in El Mani.
Amen?
Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer.
Father, we thank you so much for your word.
Thank you for the ready soul winner that came to us.
Someone was studying, someone was preparing.
Somebody had the heart, someone was filled with the Spirit, and prepared themselves diligently
to come give us the gospel.
And thank you so much for that person, I pray that we help to return that favor to someone
who's out there who's lost, and I pray, God, that you'd help us to take these principles
and these teachings to heart, to win many people to Christ, please continue to use our
church.
And in Jesus' name we pray, amen.
Amen.