So I want you to look at the passage there in 2 Corinthians chapter 5 and look at verse
number 20.
Verse number 20, it says,
Now then we are ambassadors for Christ,
As though God did beseech you by us,
We pray you in Christ's stead,
Be ye reconciled to God.
The title for the sermon this morning is Ambassadors for Christ.
I will be preaching through Jeremiah this afternoon.
Now I've often heard a lot of preaching that we're ambassadors for Christ.
I'm sure if you've been in church in any length of time you've often heard, you know, that
we need to remember that we're ambassadors and of course an ambassador is someone that
represents another nation, another country, and we need to keep that in mind as we live
our Christian lives and serve God.
I'm sure you heard similar things like this, that we need to just keep in mind the back
of our heads that we're representing God.
And that's great, you know, I think that's a great principle to live by, but quite often
during these sermons that I've heard preached, I'm not trying to take any preacher, but they
miss the main point of what it means to be an ambassador for Christ.
So let's backtrack a little bit there in verse number 18, 2 Corinthians 5, 18, it says,
And all things are of God, who have reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and have given
to us the ministry of reconciliation.
Okay, so God has given us this ministry to reconcile people to God, right?
Let's keep going, verse number 19, to wit, that means to witness, we're called to be
witnesses.
Hey, we are the true Jehovah witnesses, okay, whether it's a witness of God, were to wit
that God was in Christ, look at reconciling the word unto himself, not imputing their
trespasses unto them, and have committed unto us the word of reconciliation.
So see, we're given this task, we're given this ministry to reconcile the lost to God.
And then it says in verse number 20, now then, we are ambassadors for Christ.
And so, as I told you, quite often, you hear the preaching, you know, make sure you're
careful how you live, and you know, live godly and you live righteously because you represent
heaven.
And I'm all for that preaching.
But then to ignore the fact that the main reason this is written, the context, the purpose
of this is because we're meant to witness of God, we're meant to witness of the gospel
where to be soul winners, that's what it means to be an ambassador for Christ.
And so we're up to part five of the soul winning series.
And you know, I told this sermon, ambassadors for Christ, and I just wanted to bring that
thought to you, you know, in order for you to be an ambassador for Christ, you have to
be a soul winner.
If you're not soul winning, if that's not in your practice, if you're not used to giving
the gospel to people, you're not acting as an ambassador.
Okay, so this is this is a role that God has given us.
It's not optional.
You know, God says, well, if you want to be an ambassador, you know, if you want the Ministry
of Reconciliation, no, we've been given, it's already been given to us.
So either we're doing the ministry or we're not doing the ministry, and that's between
you and God.
It's not between you and me.
You know, I don't think bad of you if soul winning is not your thing, but that's between
you and God.
And that's something you need to sort out because we see very clearly here that God
commands us to be soul winners.
Now, if you're not sure what an ambassador is, I think most people know, I just took
a quick dictionary definition just so we understand it.
An ambassador means a diplomatic official of the highest rank, sent by one sovereign
or state to another as its resident representative, okay.
So this is what's wonderful.
When you go door to door soul winner, you're just preaching the gospel to a family friend
or someone that you know, you are taking on the highest rank of heaven.
You know, you are representing God, you are there on the earth representing God, you're
representing the state of heaven, you're representing God himself and you're there
too.
What are you doing there?
You're trying to reconcile that person to God.
You know, one of the main roles or one of the main purpose for an ambassador, you know,
especially when we talk about the nations, you know, if Russia sent an ambassador to
Australia for example, one of the main purposes is their job is to work for peace.
They're trying to keep peaceful relationships between the two nations.
That's exactly what we're trying to do.
We're trying to bring peace to man.
You know, God does not promise us peace on this earth.
In fact, Jesus Christ said he sends a sword, okay.
But one thing that we can do, one of our purposes is to bring peace between a man and his creator,
that they know they can stand right and justified before God should they believe in the Lord
Jesus Christ, all right.
So this has to do with, you know, when we talk about ourselves being ambassadors, keep
in mind that we are a representative of God, you are taking on the highest rank, okay,
as you go and proclaim his word.
So shouldn't that, you know, just that thought, shouldn't that cause you to consider the way
I conduct myself is super important?
Because, you know, if a Russian ambassador, as I said, sent his ambassador to Australia
and he's sloppy, you know, he's, you know, hard to get along with, you know, all he cares
about is his nation, he's got no interest in the nation that he's going to, you know,
or he's spying on the nation, or he's not following the rules of the nation that he's
living in, don't you think he's going to be a lousy ambassador and not actually cause
peace?
In fact, you know, being a lousy ambassador might very well cause war, okay.
So you know, if we're ambassadors, we have to be mindful, we're there to bring peace
between man and God, and if we don't act in the proper way, we might cause further conflicts
between that person and God.
And so we need to be mindful, you know, no matter if that person gets saved or if they
don't get saved, that, you know, we've just acted well as an ambassador for Jesus Christ,
okay.
So we've got several things that we want to look at when it comes to how we conduct ourselves
when we go door-to-door soul winning.
Can you please turn to Ephesians chapter 6, please.
Ephesians chapter 6 and verse number 14.
While you're turning there, I'm going to read to you from 1 Peter 3.15, which 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.
So we are called to be always ready or ready always to give an answer to every man that
asks for the hope that is in you, okay.
The first point that I have in order for us to be, you know, productive ambassadors
is to be prepared.
We have to be prepared to give an answer.
You know, the gospel should be something that's at the front of your mind.
You know, I've said it before, when you're soul winning every week, you're constantly
prepared.
You're keeping the gospel at the front of your mind.
And when you have that at the front of your mind, you're going to be better equipped should
an opportunity presents itself, you know, not even door-to-door ministry, just opportunity
at the workplace, amongst your friends, amongst your family.
If you've got that at the front of your mind, when the opportunity presents itself and you're
alone with someone, you're going to be more able to be able to give that person the gospel
and give a good presentation.
Whereas if you've been out of practice for several weeks, out of several months, you
know, you're not going to be so in tune when that opportunity presents itself because you've
not been sharp, okay.
So this is something we need to remember, that as ambassadors, we need to be prepared
to go into the battle, right.
I'll keep using the example of Russia, okay.
But if Russia were to send an ambassador, don't you think he's done the homework about
Australia?
Don't you think he realises some of the history between the two nations?
He understands the trade agreements that might exist between nations.
You know, he's got Australia, even though he cares about Russia more than Australia,
but he's still thinking about Australia.
He's thinking, how can I be an effective ambassador here?
Well, the same thing, brethren.
If we keep the gospel at the front of our mind, we're going to be able to be better,
we're going to be sharp and effective when the opportunity presents itself to cause somebody
to, you know, to bring them to peace between themselves and their Creator.
And so we need to keep ourselves prepared.
You're in Ephesians chapter 6, verse number 14, Ephesians 6, 14.
It says, Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate
of righteousness.
Verse number 15, And your feet shard with the preparation of the gospel of peace.
Say, what's the ambassador's job again?
To bring peace between the nations.
We're called to bring the gospel of peace.
We're called to be there prepared, the preparation.
We need to be prepared, brethren.
Okay.
Now, if you've not gone soul winning, the best thing you can do is prepare yourself.
You know, get yourself, you know, get your plan, your presentation plan together.
Make sure you know how you're going to present things.
Make sure you know where to start.
You know how to end.
You know, if you've got your, you know, I've gone through seven passages of the Bible when
I gave my plan, my presentation plan.
You know, make sure you have those verses memorized because sometimes people won't allow
you to open the Bible.
But if they don't allow you to open the Bible, if you're prepared and you've got those verses
memorized, you're still able to quote the Bible.
Okay.
You're still able to give them the gospel even if they don't allow you to open the book.
All right.
So you've got your plan and, you know, how else can you prepare?
Well, you don't have to speak yet.
You know, that's why we have the silent partner.
That's why we go two by two so somebody can be silent, you know, someone that's inexperienced
or someone that's not comfortable.
Or maybe English is not even your first language and you know you're going to struggle at the
door.
But you know what?
If English is not your first language and you have another language, God can use you
as well.
I mean, Brother Ramzan, you've got someone say what language do you have to speak yesterday?
Assyrian.
Okay.
So we have the gift of tongues operating right now, right?
I mean, if you've got another language, praise God, you know, English might not be your first
language.
It might be the hardest language you can communicate with, but you don't know.
You might come across somebody that does speak your language and you can step in, you know,
being fluent in that language and help that person, you know, but the point is you're
prepared.
Okay.
And if you go to someone's door and you knock on someone's door and you're not prepared,
you're not going to be very effective.
Okay.
You're not going to be a very good ambassador.
Okay.
Prepare yourself.
I prepare myself.
Number one, pray.
Ask God to give you the Holy Spirit of God.
Ask Him to give you boldness.
Ask Him to give you wisdom.
Okay.
Number two, know your plan.
Number three, know your verses.
Memorize your verses.
And number four, if you've not gone soul winning, become a silent partner.
Learn the ropes.
I promise you, if you go as a silent partner after several weeks, you're going to be itching
to speak.
You're going to get to the point where you're like, yeah, I'm tired of not saying anything.
I want to take the next door.
It's going to happen.
At some point, it's going to happen.
I promise you that.
Okay.
We need to be prepared when we give the gospel to people.
Can you now please turn to Mark chapter six, Mark chapter six for me, verse number seven.
And Sebastian, could you get me a cup of water, please?
You turn to Mark chapter six, verse number seven.
The next thing I want to talk about is the method, the method by which we go and preach
the gospel, especially in light of our door to door ministry that we have in this church.
Okay.
Mark chapter six, verse number seven.
It says, and he called unto him the 12, that's the 12 disciples, the 12 apostles, and began
to send them forth by two and two and gave them power over unclean spirits.
So I'm not sure if you ever wondered, why is it that we commonly go two by two, right?
We like to send somebody with another person, right, either a silent partner or someone
else that knows how to preach the gospel where you can kind of just take turns between yourselves.
Well, the reason we do that is because we see there is a principle that Jesus Christ
started with when he sent his disciples to go and preach the gospel, right?
And so that's, you know, we need to, you know, ideally, we want to go with somebody else.
There are several reasons why we would go with someone else.
Now it's, I'm not saying that it's ever wrong to go by yourself.
You know, we've looked at Jesus Christ and the Samaritan woman at the well.
We know that Jesus Christ sent his disciples away to buy some food and then, you know,
he stayed behind and he just had a one-on-one ministry with that woman at the well.
I'm not saying that's ever wrong, okay, but the practice that we see of Christ, most often
than not, you want to be able to go with somebody else, okay?
I would even take, rather take one of my kids with me and there are several reasons for that, okay?
Number one, there's accountability, there's accountability.
So, you know, I don't expect this ever happening in our church, but, you know, if you have
someone with you, it's not like you're going to be like, all right, I'm going soul winning
for an hour, then you go to McDonald's, you have a Big Mac meal or something, and then
you come back after an hour, man, I had such a great time with soul winning.
Obviously, with someone else, there's some level of accountability, right?
You're going to get out there, there's someone that's going to be a witness of you having
gone out there to preach the word, so you've got that.
You've got that accountability with somebody else.
And also, you know, in case you, you know, find yourself getting into the flesh, because
sometimes, you know, when you go soul winning, I've had it happen, where I feel like getting
into the flesh because this person at the door has irritated me, when you have someone
with you, you know, you're more mindful about the people that are around you, so, you know,
it's helpful just having somebody around with you.
The other reason it's good to go with somebody else is just for the fellowship.
You know, some of the sweetest fellowship I've had with brothers and sisters in the
Lord is just going soul winning.
Just having somebody there with you between the doors, you can talk about things, talk
about the Bible, talk about your life.
You know, I've gotten to know people better during the door-to-door soul winning ministry,
okay, and just, you know, you become, you know, you develop friendships, you realize
the things they're struggling with, so you can pray with them, and so just the fellowship,
it makes the soul winning a lot easier.
You know, going soul winning for an hour by yourself is kind of tough for an hour by yourself,
but going two hours with someone else is a lot easier, because you can just chat along,
you know, you have, you know, the time goes faster, is what I'm trying to say, when you
have someone with you.
The reason why it's good to go with somebody else is it's a learning opportunity.
You know, and look, I'm the pastor of this church, I don't know, I could be wrong, but
I think I've probably been soul winning the longest in this church, but when I go with
somebody else, I always look at it as an opportunity that I might be able to learn something from
someone else.
You know, how they answer a question, how they, you know, approach this topic, or what
kind of examples they've used to give this, you know, I've refined my gospel translation
multiple times.
I mean, the core verses have remained the same, but how I explain them, you know, have
always just over the years, you know, the way I explained in 2021 is not going to be
the exact same way I explained in 2022, because I'm going to have learned something, I'm going
to have developed certain things, and just refine myself more and more, well, when you
go with someone else, you know, don't be so prideful and thinking, well, I'm the only
one that knows how to present it properly, hey, you learn from me, no, you learn from
them as well.
There's probably some great things, one of the best things I remember learning, I went
to soul winning with somebody, and, you know, I would never give John 3.16, you know, someone
was not interested, I would just move on to the next door, and I remember going to soul
winning with someone for the first time, and, you know, I was soul winning longer than this
person, but whenever somebody was not interested, he would always say, well, look, you know,
and he'll take a step back so they know that he's about to leave, well, look, just before
I go, if I could just leave you John 3.16, you know, the most famous verse in the Bible,
would that be okay?
And most often than not, they see that you've taken a step back, and they're like, oh, this
guy's leaving.
Okay, just give me John 3.16 before you go, right?
And you can get the word of God into that person, you know, you can summarize John 3.16
so well, you can give them the gospel in a nutshell, and I just thought, man, that's
so awesome, that's so good, and then I started to do it myself, you know, so you can always
learn from somebody else, it's a learning opportunity in that way, but also, if you're
a silent partner, you can learn, you know, I won't mention that again, but, you know,
you can learn as a silent partner as well.
The other reason why it's good practice to go two by two is for safety reasons, you know,
if there's ever some type of, you know, if someone's kind of wanting to attack you or
hurt you, they're less likely to do it if there's someone else there, okay, they see
two people, they're less likely to do that, you know, or if there's some type of dog attack,
or just, or you know what, even if you just sprain your ankle and you can't walk, I mean,
just having another brother there that can help you, you know, for safety reasons, it's
so important.
But let me just say something, you know, as an ambassador, if you're going by yourself,
you know, knocking doors by yourself, please never enter someone's house alone, never go
into someone's home alone, I don't even like going to someone's house, I just, I generally
don't like it, you know, even if I'm with someone else, but sometimes like yesterday,
we had an old lady who said, you know, come into our house, sit down in our couch, I was
with brother Anthony, we walked in there, you know, it wasn't my preference, but she
wanted us in there, so we walked in there, in about, you know, 20 seconds later, her
grandson runs in, Nan, why did you let these guys into your house?
You know, and she's like, what's the problem?
And I told her, you know what, if I was the grandson, I'd be concerned as well, you know,
having two men, I didn't know she was by herself, you know, I didn't know if her husband was
home or things like that, but generally speaking, you know, especially if you're by yourself,
do not enter someone's home, okay, just say, look, I can give you the gospel right here.
Sometimes I've gone, doors are so winning, and the parents aren't home, but there's a
child, and I'm saying like, you know, if a child's like 12 or plus, I would still give
them the gospel, you know, if they're very little, I'd rather not just give them the
tract or something, but if someone's, you know, a bit of an older child, and no one's
home, I often say to that child, look, I'll just stand back here, and I'll take a step
back, just in case there's neighbours watching, you know, I can speak to you behind the door,
I can speak to you from this distance, you know, and, you know, especially if there's
children, do not go into the house if they're alone, okay, you know, just keep yourself
safe from any kind of false accusations, and that's the other reason why it's so important
to have a second person with you as a second witness, just in case there is a false accusation,
just in case you go knock someone's door, and someone tries to, you know, just lie about
you, oh, this person tried to do this to me, this person tried to do that to me, right,
if it's just you and someone else, it's your word versus their word, okay, but if you have
a second person with you, you've got a second witness with you, it's going to give you protection
from any kind of false accusations, okay, so there are many, many reasons why a second
person is so helpful, let me just go through one more that just come to my mind, you know,
sometimes you're giving the gospel to somebody, and they're listening, you're getting through
it, and then someone else from the house steps in, or someone else from outside, you know,
comes into the house, and they start to disrupt the conversation, well, that's where the second
person can step in and, you know, intercept that person, you know, intercept them before
they interrupt the gospel conversation, and that's happened many times, there's many times
where I've had, you know, someone was giving the gospel to someone else in the house, someone
else steps in, or someone steps outside, starts to interrupt, I've gone to intercept, and
I've started to give them the gospel, the best ones are when that person gets saved,
and the person you intercepted got saved, you know, that's like the best outcome, instead
of it being interrupted, and potentially nobody getting saved, so there's many, many
reasons why a second person is so helpful, okay, the next method that we use, can you
please turn to Luke 14, please turn to Luke 14, Luke 14, and while you're turning to Luke
14, I'm going to read to you from Acts chapter 5, Acts chapter 5 verse 42, you go to Luke
14, I'm going to read to you from Acts 5 42.
One of the criticisms that we often receive is, why do you go house to house? You know,
sometimes people aren't happy that you've come to the house, and people will say to
me, you know, stop going house to house. Well, the reason we do that is because in Acts chapter
5 verse 42, it says,
And daily in the temple, and in every house, they ceased not to teach and preach Jesus
Christ. And so you can see that they went to every house, whatever house was available
to them, they knocked that house, they preached the gospel, okay, so that's another reason
why we have a house to house ministry, that's why we don't just stand on a corner and just
hand out tracts, okay, hey, come to church, hand out tracts, that's not, that's not what
they did. All right, they went to every house, preaching the gospel. So this is, we see this
happening in the Bible, we want to pattern ourselves after the Bible, after the practices
that they used to do. Okay, so that's why we do that. And listen, you know, anytime
anybody criticizes our church or criticizes a soul winner, look, I get at least one phone
call, maybe multiple phone calls a week criticizing our soul, whether it's here or it's up there,
okay. And I promise you this, I always back the soul winner, always. I never give in and
say, oh, yeah, you're right, maybe we shouldn't have knocked your door. Never. Okay, never,
never. I always back the soul winner, I always back the soul winning, the only time that
I would ever take something on board, but actually, you know what, we'll get to that
later, we'll get to that later. You're in Luke chapter 14 verse 21, please. Luke chapter
14 verse number 21. There's another principle that's really important for us to consider
when we go door to door soul winning. It says Luke 14 21. And this is, of course, a parable
that Jesus Christ gave, but we'll just pick it up there in verse number 21. It says, So
the servant came and showed his lord these things. Then the master of the house being
angry said to his servants, go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city and
bring in hither the poor and the maimed and the halt and the blind. So the teaching here,
the parable is that this Lord was doing a wedding for his son, and they had invited
all their special guests, but they, for one reason after another, they did not want to
come. They just were too busy to come to the wedding. So he gets angry, but he says the
servant, let's just go everywhere. Go to the streets, go to the lanes, and he goes, bring
in the poor, the maimed, the halt and the blind. You know, one effort that we should
be striving to do, and it's a little bit hard in Australia, I realise this, but you know,
there's a reason why we don't like knocking the rich areas. Now, look, we're going to
have to knock the rich areas one day, okay? But it is proper practice to go to the places
that are poorer, to go to the lower social class areas if possible, okay? Because generally
speaking, the poor, the maimed, the halt and the blind, they're going to be more receptive
than those that are just fine in life. Now, the reason I say it's hard in Australia is
because no one in Australia is truly poor, okay? Especially the Sunshine Coast. I'm telling
you, everyone's rich up there, okay? Everyone, okay? And so you sort of have no option, alright?
And people often say, you know, go to the poorer areas. What poorer areas? Everyone's
got a house, everyone's got food, everyone's doing just fine. But listen, there are some
places that you would say, you know, might be a lower social class than others. Well,
we should prioritise those areas. You know, if we go into an area and it's a rich area
and just it's so unreceptive, but there are other areas that we've not knocked that we
know are going to be more receptive, well, the wise thing to do is to leave that place
for now and go to the more receptive areas and knock those areas, okay? So there's nothing
wrong with changing our plans halfway through. We go to a block, we go to an area, man, this
place has mansions. This place, we can't even walk through the gates. None of these people
are interested. Well, let's change our plans midway. Let's go to another block of houses
where they might be, you know, not as well off as the others. So that's proper practice,
you know. Look at verse number 22, Luke 14, 22. And the servant said, Lord, it is done
as thou hast commanded, and yet there is room. And the Lord said, unto the servants, go out
into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled. The
next thing that we want to understand here in our method of soul winning is that there's
nothing wrong with continually knocking doors. Like, we'll never get to the point, brethren,
where we've just knocked every door, we've knocked every house, and we've already knocked
this block. Listen, all right, sometimes it happens where, you know, we mark out where
we've gone door to door soul winning, but then accidentally we go back to the same place.
And someone says, oh, yeah, we already knocked that area, okay? Well, you know what, if you've
knocked the area a second time, guess what? People move. You know, people that were not
home might be home this time. And I always rejoice when we accidentally knock an area
that's already been knocked. And then they come back, oh, so-and-so got saved. This person
got saved. Praise God then, right? Because, you know what, we want God's house to be full,
okay? And so there's never a time where the soul winning ends. It's not like, oh, we've
done it all, we've done this area. I mean, great, if we've done an area, great. But there's
nothing wrong with going back to that area again because things change over time, okay?
So look, the point is this, is that, as it said in verse number 23, it says, and compel
them to come in. You know, we go there not as timid people. When we knock a door, we
ought to have boldness. I'm not talking about pride. I'm not talking about being arrogant.
I'm just, you know, you got to be there and you got to be sure of your message. You know,
someone sees behind the door that this person truly believes this message. They've got confidence
in what they're saying. They're confident in the way they present themselves, okay?
Then that's going to help us be able to compel them. That means to put a little bit of pressure
on them, hey, this is an important ministry, you know? Please listen to what I'm going
to say because this is a matter of life and death. This is a matter of hell and heaven,
okay? Where are you going to be for eternity? We ought to be a little bit strong, right?
When we go, confidence is what I'm talking about, right? Strength of character, strength
of the Spirit, and put a little bit of pressure on people. Now, not to the point where someone's
totally uninterested and you're still there at the door. You know, you stick your foot
out between the doors as they're trying to close the door. I'm not talking about that,
okay? But listen, if you carry yourself with composure, with confidence, with boldness,
people are more likely to listen to what you have to say, okay? But again, this is something
that you develop over time. You develop over time. Can you please turn to John chapter
19? John chapter 19, please. The next thing I want to discuss is the way we dress. Our
dress when we go door-to-door soul winning. Now, you might think that the way you dress
means nothing because it's the gospel, right? But don't forget, when someone sees you at
the door, that's going to be their very first impression of you, how you look, okay? Now,
one thing I recognize, look, if I'm dressed like this for church and I go soul winning
with my tie and my jacket and I go soul winning, so be it. I'm dressed like this already, okay?
One thing I found is that, you know, obviously when I go soul winning, I'm not always going
to dress up like this, okay? The reason being, when someone sees me dressed up like this,
maybe in America it's different. I'm just saying in Australia, okay? They're going to
be like, ah, one of those religious guys once again. And they're probably not, might not
even open the door. It's one of those JWs. They're at the door, okay? So, look, I don't
have a dress code. I'm not going to tell you this is how you dress. Put on, you know, blessed
hope after church uniform. You know, put this on so you, no. But there's a few things that
we can learn about dress code. And, you know, first of all, don't forget you're an ambassador,
okay? So, the first impression they get of you at the door, do you look like an ambassador
of heaven? Or do you look like just a sloppy, unkept, unwashed, unshaven, if you shave,
right? Or if you have a beard, unkept beard, right? I mean, what do you look like? I mean,
don't forget there was a time when you were not saved, right? There was a time where,
you know, maybe for some of you, you just weren't interested in religion. You weren't
interested in the things of God. And if someone comes to your door, an uninvited guest, you
know, think about, put yourself in their position. What kind of person are they going to want
to interact with? If they just see this sloppy guy, right, with one sock, one collar, one
sock, another collar or something, right? And his shirt has stains, right? His pants
are ripped or something, right? Do you think he's going to take your message seriously?
Is he going to look at you, man, this guy's an ambassador of God, man, wow. You know,
we've got to be mindful about the way we dress, right? So we need to be, first of all, modestly
dressed, okay? Secondly, we need to be clean looking. And thirdly, we need to look neighborly,
neighborly, okay? So my advice, and I don't have a dress code, I don't have a rule. If
you don't want to follow this, you know, fine. But you're going to lose the effectiveness,
I'm telling you, all right? When someone sees you and you're not dressed, and it's like,
who's this guy here? They're not going to want to listen to your message, okay? So I
reckon you want to look neighborly, okay? Kind of like a smart, casual look. You look
clean, you look neighborly, you know, you don't have to dress like this because this
is a formal attire, okay? But just looking clean, neighborly, people are going to like
see you, they're going to go, this is an uninvited guest, who is this person? There's going to
be some curiosity, what does this guy have to say? But if you look like a slob, they're
going to get, I don't care what this guy has to say. Hope he goes away before I open the
door. That's going to be their attitude. So be mindful about the way you dress. Look
at John 19 verse 23. John 19 verse 23, about the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. It says,
Then the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, took his garments and made four parts
to every soldier apart, and also his coat. Now the coat was without seam, woven from
the top throughout. When it says that it's without seam, it means that it's one whole
piece of fabric. When you've got a seam in your clothing, it's because two or more pieces
have been sewn together. If you don't, I guess some of the men, you don't even know what
that means, right? But the ladies, you know what I'm talking about, okay? And so to have
a piece of clothing without seam, one piece as a whole, is obviously more costly. It requires
more effort to put a piece of clothing like that together. Look at verse number 24. It
says, They said among themselves, they said therefore among themselves, let us not render,
he goes, let's not destroy his clothing, right? But cast lots for it, whose it shall be, that
the scripture might be fulfilled, which say, if they parted my garment among them, and
for my vesture, they did cast lots. These things therefore the soldiers did. So what
do we learn about Jesus? Was he dressed appropriately? Yeah. In fact, some of his clothing was, it
was the best clothing he had. The soldiers wanted it. They said, man, this clothing,
even though it's stained with blood, right, even though there might be some, I don't know
how much damage there was, you know, while Jesus Christ was being led to Calvary and
all these kinds of things, it was still valuable clothing, okay? It was without seam, okay?
Jesus Christ dressed himself appropriately. There were at least four parts to his clothing.
I don't know exactly what they are, you know, maybe he had some pants, maybe he had a top,
maybe he had a belt. I don't know what four parts of his clothing were, but you can see
that Christ, he did not walk around looking shabby, okay? He did not walk around looking
like a hobo. He was dressed appropriately. Why? Because he was an ambassador on the earth,
okay? He was reconciling people to God. And of course, you see, you know, why else would
God put this information for us in the Bible? Like, what's so important about the fact that
he had clothes and he was cast and divided amongst the, you know, cast lots and divided
amongst the soldiers? But to show us how Christ dressed. He cared about the way he
dressed. He made sure he was well dressed, okay? So much so that other people wanted
his clothing. Now, I'm not saying put on the most expensive clothing, you know, put on,
I don't know, what are the most expensive brands out there? I don't know, all right?
You know, whatever has a, you know, certain brand or certain look, that's not what we're
talking about. But being clean, being tidy, being a good representative, you know, before
you go soloing, what I want you to do is step in the mirror, have a look at yourself
in the mirror and say to yourself, if this uninvited guest came to my door and I was
not saved, would I even want to open my door to this person? And if you say no, I wouldn't,
then you need to fix it up a little bit, okay? You need to fix it up. Be mindful, okay? Even
Jesus Christ was mindful. He did not dress like a slob. And don't forget, this is going
to be the very first impression they have of you. They're going to already decide whether
they want to listen to you or not by the way you look. All right. Next thing I want you
to turn to, please go to Matthew chapter 10. Matthew chapter 10 and verse number 12.
Matthew chapter 10 and verse number 12. And again, the context here, I won't read it all,
but the context here is when Jesus Christ is sending his disciples to preach the gospel,
sending them to different cities, to different villages. And Matthew chapter 10 verse number
12, Jesus Christ says, And when ye come into an house, salute it. That seems obvious. That
seems obvious. But notice that Jesus Christ had to tell his disciples, when you come to
a house, salute the house, okay? Say, what does that mean? Well, that's salutation. To
salute, the definition to salute is a gesture of respect or polite recognition, especially
one made to or by a person when arriving or departing, okay? So the next point that
I have here in order for us to be good ambassadors of Christ is make sure you greet the person
that you talk to and you introduce yourself. That's what it means to salute, okay? You're
greeting that person. You're being polite. You know, you're recognizing that person at
the door. You know, you're introducing yourself who you are. And if you just come and they
open the door, are you 100% sure you're going to heaven? Hey, you forgot to salute. And
they're going to be like, Who are you? You know, when you come to the door, they open
the door. Hey, good morning. That's a salute. Good afternoon. How are you? My name is Kevin.
I'm with David. Okay, that's our names. You know who we are now, right? And very quickly
we say we're from this church or whatever. That's just that's what it means to salute.
Okay, when you meet, listen, isn't that common sense? I mean, if you were behind, again,
think of yourself, you're opening the door to some stranger, uninvited. And you don't
even salute. Or you don't even give your name. You don't want to, it's like, what are you
doing? Who are you? I mean, listen, if you're okay, if you're like my best friend, you just
come around. You know, even my best friends, I would expect them to salute. But okay, if
they just don't salute, and they just come in, they just go to our guy, I know he's my
friend, right? I know who he is. But if they don't know who you are, and you're not going
to even say hello, you're not going to say good morning, you're going to say how are
you? Right? If it's hot weather, man, it's hot today, isn't it? You know, just start
and be polite, right? Greet, you know, introduce yourself. Jesus Christ had to make this a
point to his disciples. I don't know why, but he had to, you know, he always made a
point. When you come into a house, don't forget when you talk about a house, many times in
the Bible, you talk about a family as well. It's not just the bricks. Salute the house.
My house? No, the people that live in the house. That's who you're saluting to, okay?
That's being polite. That's being an ambassador for the Lord. And you know, even when you
leave, you know, if the person was unreceptive, thank you for your time. Have a good day.
God bless you, unless they're a reprobate. Okay, but God bless, look, you've left them
something, God bless you. Okay, you want that the word of God that you've left them to develop
in their heart, to grow in the heart, you're hoping one day, somebody can come around and
witness them. Listen, if you leave a sour taste in the mouths of others, you know, before
you leave, they're going to be less likely to want to hear the next preacher, hopefully
a, you know, believing preacher, come to the door because they think, oh, man, this person
is just so rude. Sometimes, you know, people say to me, are you a JW? Are you a Mormon?
It's like, no, I'm a Baptist. Oh, man, I'm so sick of those JWs. Because you know what,
they don't care about the person at the door. You know, they're preaching a false gospel.
They're causing these people to become, you know, twofold more the child of hell. They're
leading people to damnation. And so they're not good at greeting. They know, you know,
they seem robotic. They seem like they have no care. I don't know if you've come across
these people, they don't care for you. You know, you ought to come across as somebody
that cares about that person. Hey, I'm enabling, I'm polite, I'm greeting you. My name is Kevin.
That's who I am. I've got nothing to hide. I'm an ambassador. I don't have to say this
because it's going to sound weird, but you are an ambassador of Jesus Christ. Make sure
you greet and say, well, that's common sense, but it's not really. It's not really. We need
to work on this. Again, besides the way you look, this is going to be the next first impression
I have of you. You don't say hello. You don't greet them. You know, you don't introduce
yourself. They're going to be like, what are you doing here? Who are you? Okay, and you're
just going to, you're not going to be, you know, you're already setting up a boundary
from them here in the gospel. Let's keep going there. Verse number 13, because it leads to
the next point. Verse number 13, and if the house be worthy, let your peace come upon
it, but if it be not worthy, let your peace return to you. All right, so basically if
the person that, you know, you come to the house, they want to hear what you have to
say, then, you know, spend time there. All right, let your peace come upon it. You know,
we're there to, again, bring peace between man and God, right? But if someone doesn't
want to hear, they're not worthy, they don't want to hear what you have to say, let your
peace return to you, just move on, okay? You don't have to be this bully, hey, you've
just got to listen to what I have to say here, right? You put your door before they close
it, listen, I've come to your door, this is such an important message, you've got to listen.
Listen, if they don't want to hear it, just move on, okay? Just leave peaceably. Just
take your peace, off you go, okay? Thank you for your time, you know? Someone says they're
not interested, that's fine, okay? Move on to the next house. Be polite, all right? That
leads me to my next point. Their house, their rules. Their house, their rules, okay? And
I know what I'm about to preach is going to be unpopular for some people, okay? Listen,
if someone, anybody just comes to my house, and I've got certain rules around my house,
I expect them to follow it, okay? You know, if I go to someone's house, I don't have this
rule in my house, but some people have a rule where if you come into their house, you've
got to take off your shoes. I don't like taking off my shoes, okay? I don't like taking off,
you know, but you know what? Their house, their rules. I come into their house as someone
that's invited, I'm going to take off my shoes. I'm not going to go, well, you know what?
That's not what I do, okay? You know, my personal conviction, I need to keep my shoes on here.
So if you want me here, I've got to keep my shoes on. You know what? Their house, their
rules. I've come to their house, I'm going to follow what, you know, they require from
you. Can you please, actually no, you're in that passage, look at verse number 14. Matthew
10.14. And whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear your words, then ye depart, sorry,
when ye depart out of that house or city, shake off the dust of your feet. Again, just
be respectful when someone does not receive you. Be respectful when they don't want to
hear your words. Don't get worked up. It's their house. It's their rules. I don't want
to hear it. Go then. Stop wasting time. There's some, there's another house down the road
that's probably going to want to hear you, okay? Don't get offended. You know, actually,
you know what? One of the best things about soul winning is you learn, you learn how to
be rejected, okay? We need to learn how to be rejected, okay? If you're not used to it,
you're going to be worked up every time somebody forgets to say hello to you. You're going
to be worked up every time someone forgets to, you know, oh, they invited this family
to my house. When are they going to invite me? You know, you, listen, rejection is part
of life. You want a job? You're going to have to apply and apply and apply and get rejected
and rejected and rejected. Eventually someone's going to implore you, okay? If you're a single
man, guess what you're going to have to do? You're going to try to apply, apply, apply.
Sometimes you're going to get rejected, rejected, rejected. Eventually someone's going to accept
you, okay? And you hopefully can get married one day. Listen, rejection is part of life.
There was no one more rejected than Jesus Christ and we're his ambassador, okay? Someone
rejects you, shake the dust off your feet, don't let it bother you, have some thick skin
and just move on to the next house, okay? Their rules, their house, their rules. And
look, and I know this, this is part that's going to be unpopular, but, and look, I'm
not going to tell you what to do exactly here because I don't like just having all these
rules, okay? But I say use common sense. If someone, if you go to someone's house and
they say, you know, no salespeople, are you going to knock that house? I'm going to knock
that house because I'm not a salesperson, okay? I'm going to say, and I often, sometimes
I'll say that to them, hey, saw your sticker, but I'm not a salesperson, okay? Just sometimes
I just respect the fact, especially if they look like they're a bit cranky, okay? Or if
they say, did you not see the sign? I'd be like, yeah, yeah, I'm not a salesperson, don't
worry. You know, I saw the sign, but I'm not a salesperson, right? Trying to keep things
calm. But you know what? If I go to a house and it says, no religious, what do they say?
No, anyway, something about religious, sorry? No religious groups, stuff like that. You
know what, brethren? I know some of you guys disagree with me on this and you're going
to knock it anyway, but I'm just, look, it's their house, their rules, okay? That's it.
I'm going to move on to the next house. I see that sign. I'm just going to respect them.
They don't want that. I might leave a, I still might leave a track on the door, okay? But
if they don't want to be, you know, if they have something, I don't want to talk to someone
from a church or something like that. I'm just going to respect that and move on to
the next house. I'm not going to waste my time. And you say, well, Pastor Kevin, you
know, there's a time when I saw that sign, I knocked the door and they still got saved.
I said, praise God. Praise God. That's why I don't want to make these rules. But I'm
just saying as a general rule of thumb, we ought to be mindful about their rules. You
know, we go to someone's house and the gate is locked, right? And, you know, you can't
get in. Sometimes that happens, doesn't it? You're trying to get into someone's house,
you can't get in. Well, what are you going to do? Are you going to jump the fence? No,
it's their house, their rules. They don't want anyone in. Just move on. Move on to the
next house. Leave a tract in the letterbox. That's when you do some tracting, brethren.
Leave a tract in the letterbox, move on. You say, what about if the letterbox says no junk
mail? Well, I was advised by another pastor that if you hand-deliver mail, it's not considered
junk mail. Okay? If you employ a company to go out there and do a mass distribution, that's
junk mail. But if you personally hand-deliver in a letterbox, it's not junk mail. Okay?
So yeah, leave one in the box, even if it says no junk mail. Okay? But again, their
house, their rules. All right? Now, you might say, well, you know, what if the person at
the door is a reprobate? Now, first of all, I don't know why, like, I think we're mature
enough soul winners that, you know, there was a time when I would go soul-winning and
there were people that were like, oh, man, I came across this reprobate. This person
was a reprobate. This person was a reprobate. It's like, how do you know? They rejected
me. It's like, they rejected the Bible. We'll grow some thick skin. Okay? Grow some thick
skin because you probably rejected the Gospel a few times before you understood it. Okay?
Not everyone is a reprobate. All right? But again, if the person, if you can confirm this
person is a reprobate, you say, how do I know? If they basically come out and say, I'm a
homosexual. Okay? I've had it happen to me a few times. Okay? And they say to me, look,
I cannot be a Christian. I'm like, what are you talking about? It's like, I'm a homosexual.
Okay. Well, thanks for letting me know. Move on to the next house. Okay? Oh, Pastor Kevin,
you should condemn that person. You should tell them. They've got a reprobate mind. And
they're on their way to hell. Isn't that why women, no. I'm going soul-winning. Okay? I'm
not going soul-damning. All right? If someone comes out and they just tell me I'm a homosexual
or something like that, you know what? I know you're a reprobate. I know you rejected God.
God's rejected you. I'm not going to waste my time. I'm just going to move on to the
next house. Okay? If you just spend your time, I've got to call them out, and then
you come to church. Man, I came across this reprobate. Someone said, oh, man, I chewed
them out. Listen, there's no glory in that. Everyone's going to think you're just foolish.
Okay? Hey, you're meant to be soul-winning. What are you doing? Why are you wasting your
time? You're not arguing with reprobates. Just move on. Right? I mean, quite often,
I'm telling you, quite often I've had people just say to me, I'm a homosexual. I can't
believe. They know they can't believe the gospel. They know their lifestyle is incompatible
with what God requires for someone. Okay? They know it. You don't have to show them.
They know it. Remember, they hated God. They already rejected God. You don't have to tell
them they hate God and they rejected God. They know it. Okay? So you just might as well
move on. Thanks for letting me know. You move on. Okay? Don't engage with reprobates. Again,
you're there to soul-win. You're not there to soul-damn. Can you please turn to Luke
chapter 9? Turn to Luke chapter 9 verse 51. Luke chapter 9 verse 51. Listen, if you're
soul-winning, you're getting into arguments, you're doing something wrong. Okay? Now, people
might yell. I've had people yell at me. I've had people threaten me. Okay? I've had people,
you know, say all kind of profanities at me. You know what I do? Do I retaliate? Nope.
Cool, calm, collected. Thanks for your time. I hope you read the leaflet sometime. Move
on to the next house. Okay? If you're there just in an argument, you're doing something
wrong. You're doing something wrong. Okay? You're not being a good ambassador. Remember,
you're there an ambassador of peace. Okay? Of peace. Luke chapter 9 verse 51, please.
Luke chapter 9 verse 51. And it came to pass, when the time was come that he should be received
up, he steadfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem and sent messengers before his face.
So Jesus Christ is sending messengers before himself. And they went and entered into a
village of the Samaritans to make ready for him. And they did not receive him because
his face was as though he would go to Jerusalem. And when his disciples, James and John, saw
this, they said, Lord, we'll doubt that we command fire to come down from heaven and
consume them even as Elias did. What's he saying? Right? These guys come, they say,
we don't want you guys here. We don't want Jesus to come here. And so the disciples are
like, oh, man, let's pray. All right, is this the time? Can we pray that fire will come
down and destroy them all? Hey, that's you getting into an argument. That's you going,
well, you know what? You're just going to burn in hell then. That's not, well, how does
Jesus, does he go, yeah, let's pray. You're right, brethren. Let's pray. Okay, let's condemn
these people. What does Jesus Christ say? Verse number 55, but he turned and rebuked
them and said, you know not what manner of spirit ye are of, for the Son of Man is not
come to destroy man's lives, but to save them. And they went to another village. That's the
proper approach. They don't want to receive you. They don't want Jesus. Okay, you know
what? You go to another village, you go to another house, you move on. Okay, you don't
get into arguments. You don't start yelling back. You're an ambassador for Jesus Christ.
Okay, and if you find yourself getting into arguments, damning people to hell, you know
what? If Jesus was your soul-willing partner, he would have rebuked you. Okay, he would
have told you, what are you doing? We're here to save souls. We're on a mission of soul-willing,
not soul-damning. Okay, we're following after the steps of Jesus Christ. They're damning
themselves already. You move on. Okay, if someone's rejecting the gospel, okay, it could
be the last time of hearing it. They're damning themselves. You don't have to damn them. You
don't have to pray down fire in judgment. Just move on. Okay, and just hope, you know,
that one day these people will have another opportunity to be saved if they're not reprobate.
Please turn to Romans chapter 1. Actually, can you please turn to Titus chapter 3? Turn
to Titus chapter 3 for me instead. I'll read to you from Romans chapter 1. You turn to
Titus chapter 3. I'm going to read to you from Romans 1.28. It says, and even as they
did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind to
do those things which are not convenient. So you can see the reprobate has been given
over to this mind. Then this is in verse number 29. Being filled with all unrighteousness,
fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness, full of envy, murder. Now the next one I want
you to focus on. Debate. Debate. Listen, when you go door to door sowing in, you're not
entering a debate. Okay, you're not there to just win an argument. There's no point.
Alright? If someone just wants to argue back, and I'll give you some pointers here about
your time. If someone wants to argue back, give them a couple of opportunities, okay?
But if it's just becoming a debate, what he says, what you say, what he says, what you
say, what he says, you say, listen, it's becoming a debate. That's what reprobates love. Don't
you live the reprobate lifestyle? Okay? I'm not interested in debate. I'm not interested
in winning a debate. I'm interested in winning souls. If that person wants to debate me,
obviously he has no interest in the gospel. I'm not interested in winning an argument.
I'm just going to move on to the next door. Okay? They're like, how do you know God exists?
I'm like, give him a few examples, maybe. Ah, but you know, modern science. Okay, give
him a chance. Again, they're going on. You're not getting to the gospel. Alright. Not interested.
Move on. Thank you for your time. Please read the leaflet when you have time. Alright? Just
move on. Be polite. Okay? Greet them on the way in, greet them on the way out, you know,
move on with your time. Don't get into debates. Titus chapter 3 verse 9, please. This is something
else that's very important. It says, but avoid foolish questions. You know, when we go door
to door soul winning, we have a plan. We have a presentation we want to get to. Ask some
questions good. Yes, you know, they're going to ask you questions sometimes. It's good
to ask them. But when they become foolish questions, okay, avoid it. Avoid it. Either
you tell them, look, let's address that at the end of the presentation, or if you feel
like they're just mocking you, they're foolish questions in that sense, listen, don't waste
your time with that person. Okay, move on to the next person. It says, avoid foolish
questions and genealogies and contentions, there it is again, no contentions, and strivings
about the law, for they are unprofitable and vain. So, whenever you've spent a long time
at someone's door, just arguing back and forth, I'm sure we've all done it. Guess what? It
was unprofitable and vain. It was a waste of time. Okay, verse number 10. A man that
is an heretic after the first and second admonition rejects, knowing that he that is such is subverted
and sinneth, being condemned of himself. Listen, we learn a really good principle here. Okay,
a man that is an heretic after the first and second admonition rejects. What are you talking
about, Pastor Cameron? Well, when we go in there to preach the gospel, someone becomes
argumentative a little bit, or tries to trip you over. Okay, they're trying to get you
off topic. All right, you know, hey, we can deal with that later. Or maybe if you think
you can bring it back to the gospel, do it. Okay, you get back to the gospel. They do
it again. Okay, it's like, okay, well, you know, let's leave that for later. And let's
get back to the gospel, try to get back to the gospel. They do it again, Reverend, it's
time to reject them. Okay, reject them. Okay, all they're doing is wasting your time. They're
wasting your time with foolish questions. They don't want the next person down the road
to hear what you have to say. You know, they're just wasting your time. They're holding you
up. You've got to learn this. Okay, if you've given them one chance, two chance, go. Okay,
you're not going to get through the gospel, you're just going to keep wasting your time.
Okay, reject that person, move on at that point in time. All right. So this is what
I'm referring to here, Reverend, as an ambassador, you need to be mindful about your time. Your
time is so important. The Bible says in Ephesians 5 15, see then that you work circumspectly,
not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Okay, redeeming
the time. God knows there's a lot of things that's going to waste our time. He says, look,
redeem it back. Don't waste your time. Don't let it be unprofitable. Okay, you're at someone's
door, you're just wasting time, but I'm having a conversation. You're not going anywhere.
You're not getting anywhere. So what? You're wasting your time. Move on to the next person.
Colossians 4 5 says, work in wisdom toward them that are without. Redeeming the time.
This is a biblical doctrine. Redeem your time. Don't waste your time. This has to do with
wisdom. If you find yourself at the door, you know, how long does a gospel presentation
take? You know, a good presentation, you know, where you've been clear, you've been
thorough, and you've been able to go back and forth. You know what, no more than 15
to 20 minutes. No more than that. Okay, and even 15 minutes can be a little bit long sometimes.
Okay, but you know what, you do a good presentation, you'll be done in 20 minutes, max. Alright,
if you find yourself at someone's door half an hour, 40 minutes, okay, listen, you're
not redeeming your time. You're wasting your time. Either that person's wasting your time
or your presentation is so sloppy that you're having to go back and fix it up again and
go back and explain this again, go back and explain that again. Listen, this is why we
need to be prepared. You need to have a clear, you know, plan. You know, you start with somebody
who's a sinner. They're on their way to hell, but the good news is that Jesus Christ died
for you, alright, and he's paid for your sins, he's done everything necessary for you to
get saved. Next point, how do we receive that salvation? You have to believe. It's not of
works, not of good deeds, not of church going, it's just by believing on Christ. Okay, I
mean, that's really, I mean, is it more complicated than that really? Of course, you know, giving
presentations is going to be a lot more complicated than that. You've seen my other sermons, right?
But really, the plan of salvation is easy, okay? If you're spending 40 minutes, 50, half
an hour even, you're doing something wrong. You've got to fix your presentation or you're
wasting your time with people that are there to waste your time, okay? There are actually
plans about the devil there, you know, the devil's worked in them to cause you to stop
going to the next person, alright? This is why keeping time is about wisdom. You've got
to learn, you've got to ask this way, before we go to do something, we often pray, you
know, Lord, give us wisdom so we don't waste our time. You know, Lord, give us wisdom that
we can redeem our time. You know, honestly, if you're spending more than 20 minutes, 15,
20 minutes with the whole, I'm talking about the gospel presentation, okay? You're doing
something wrong. You're definitely doing something wrong, okay? And, you know, not only are you
wasting your time, you're wasting the person at the door, behind the door's time, you know,
if you're doing that. Now, you say, well, you know, I've got examples where I spend
a lot of time with someone and I've gotten them saved. Me too. You know, I can think
of three examples where I've spent, you know, there's probably more, but I can think of
three where I spent an hour with somebody and they got saved, okay? But let me give
you what those three examples were. Number one, the first person that I remember was
mentally handicapped, okay? And so I had to repeat many times, okay? They weren't argumentative.
It's not like they were not interested. They were, but I could see they were mentally handicapped,
okay? And I needed to really be very slow and focused with that person. Did I get a
little bit agitated? Yes. Did I think I was wasting my time at times during that time?
Yes, I did, okay? But I was getting through the gospel, okay? And I was hoping, man, I'm
here for an hour. I could have knocked probably another, you know, five, ten doors, but I
hope this person, hey, they got saved. Praise God. The other time I spent an hour was when
there was a lady and English was not her first language. She was an African lady. She had
a whole bunch of kids in her house. So, you know, English was a bit hard and so, you know,
trying to explain things different ways, trying to simplify things for her. Her kids were
coming, interrupting her, but she was interested. She wanted to hear the gospel, you know? We
sat down there. Guess what? I took an hour. She got saved. So think about those examples.
Mentally handicapped and English is not her first language. The third time was more recent,
you know, spent an hour with somebody, is because this woman was indoctrinated in Jehovah
and his doctrine. So literally every single thing, every single point, okay, you're a
sinner on your way to hell. Listen, they don't believe in hell like we do. They believe you
get annihilated, okay? There's no eternal torment, okay? They don't believe Jesus Christ's
body resurrected from the dead. They don't believe that Jesus Christ is God. I mean,
it seems like everything, okay, saying that, you know, when you die, you're going to go
to heaven. They don't believe in that. They believe in soul sleep, that your soul remains
in your body until some judgment day in the future. Like literally every point that I
would come to, you know, and she wasn't being argumentative. She wasn't saying, but, you
know, that's wrong. No, she was asking about, hey, I was taught this. And so, you know,
thankfully I was prepared. Thankfully I was able to turn to other passages, okay, and
show her where the Bible teaches eternal torment, where the Bible teaches that Jesus
Christ is God, where the Bible teaches that of a bodily resurrection, you know, but all
these things took up so much more of my time. Listen, I did spend an hour because I had
to unbrainwash her from JW, okay? Because everything, everything about the gospel she
had a misunderstanding of. She didn't know it, okay? I spent an hour. She got saved.
Okay. Now, listen, those are exceptional circumstances. Wouldn't you agree? All those three things
are exceptional circumstances, okay? But the average person at the door, listen, 15,
20 minutes, if you're able to get them the whole gospel, that's enough. That's going
to be enough, okay? And if you're spending more time than that, there's something wrong
with your presentation. You've got to clean that up. You've got to streamline it, okay?
Focus on the things that are important. Don't waste your time on things that are not important
in your presentation. Next thing, can you please turn to Colossians chapter 4 verse
6. Colossians chapter 4 and verse number 6. Colossians chapter 4 verse number 6. The
next point that I have here is you need to be personable, personable. See, what does
that mean? Well, let's have a look at Colossians chapter 4 verse number 6. The Bible reads,
Let your speech be all way with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to
answer every man. Listen, your speech ought not to be abrupt, rude, okay? No, your speech
needs to be with grace. What's grace? Remember what grace was? It's unmerited favor. Hey,
this person at the door does not deserve my favor, okay? But you know what? I'm going
to give them my favor. You know, I'm going to speak to them nicely. I'm going to speak
to them neighborly, all right? When they say something wrong, I'm not going to, you
know, smash them and tell them how wrong they are. You know, personable means you're kind
of, you know, people can get along with you. You're a nice going person, all right? Listen,
if you show yourself personable, if you show yourself being able to speak with grace, they're
going to again want to interact with you more, okay? If you're rude and abrupt, they're going
to say, get out of here. Who are you? What are you doing here at my door, okay? You've
got to be careful about the way you speak. Don't forget, you're trying to get that person
saved, okay? This is not about you, okay, and my feelings. It's about them going to
hell. Who cares if your feelings get hurt? Who cares if you have to humble yourself a
little bit, okay? Listen, you're going to be all eternity in heaven with God, okay?
If you mess things up, you might cause that person to have no desire to know anything
about God. That person's going to hell. We go door to door because we care about the
person at the door, okay? So be careful about the way you speak to people. Can you please
turn to 1 Corinthians 9? 1 Corinthians 9. Now, this one's kind of similar to be personable
or be pleasant. This one is be relatable. Be relatable. You know, there are some Christians
that pride themselves in how different they can be. Now, I believe in biblical separation,
okay? I believe that as believers, we ought to be different from this world. But you know
what? I'm not trying to shove, you know, in the faces of the non-believers how different
I am from them, okay? I'm trying to be relatable to people at the door. 1 Corinthians 9.19,
please. 1 Corinthians 9.19, Paul writes, for though I be free from all men, yet have
I made myself servant unto all that I might gain the more. Paul says, look, in order for
me to be an effective soul winner, to get more people saved, I have to make myself a
servant to them. Is that how you think when you go door to soul win? When that person
opens your door, however they look, you need to say to yourself, I'm a servant to this
person. You know, if I'm going to win them all, if I'm going to gain them all, I need
to humble myself before this person. Even though I know my way to heaven, I'm a child
of God, they're lost, you still need to humble yourself before that person. Look at verse
number 20. And unto the Jews, I became as a Jew, that I might gain the Jews. To them
that are under the law, as under the law, that I might gain them that are under the
law. So you know what? You need to learn how to, you know, people, you know, you get saved
and you clean up your life and you get sanctified and you live more godly, but don't forget,
you know, you're not there to put on a show of how different you are, you're there to
get along with the person at the door, okay? You get along with them, they're going to
want to talk to you. If you just show how different you are, look how holy and righteous
I am, they're not going to want to talk to you, okay? It's not saying do the sins they
commit, but learn how to relate to people. You know, sometimes someone might be watching
a game, like some, I don't know, let's say state of origin or something, I don't know,
probably not state of origin, but you know, some game on the TV, I'll be like, oh, you
know, who's playing? Why? Do you care about who's playing? Not really. I care about them,
I want to be relatable, okay? They might have something on their shirt, sometimes, you know,
it just stands out, I'll be like, oh, hey, what's that on your shirt? You know? Just,
you've got to learn how to just get along with people, okay? Even though they might
have different interests than you, okay? But listen, to a Jew, Paul became a Jew, he
was a believer. Very different from the Jewish religion of this time, of a Christ-rejecting
religion, he was still able to get along with these people that reject Jesus Christ. Verse
number 21, to them that are without law, as without law, being not without law to God,
but under the law to Christ, that I might gain them that are without law, to the weak
became I as weak, that I might gain the weak. Listen, if an old lady, old fragile lady opens
the door, you know what, I'm going to be soft in my approach to her. I'm going to say, hey,
this is a woman that I can't just, you know, are you 100% sure? You know, heaven, right?
I'm going to have to be a little bit softer with that older lady, right? You got to think
about who you're interacting with. And this is, I am made all things to all men, that
I might by all means save some. And this I do for the gospel's sake, that I might be
partaker thereof with you. Why do you do it? For the gospel's sake, that's why you do it,
right? You do it because you want to win souls. So learn to be relatable. You don't have to
put on this high religious, look how I am, I've come from the church, you know, get along
with people, okay? Just find some common ground. That's what I'm saying quite often, right?
When we're given the gospel, if I know they've got some type of Christian background, I just
try to find some common ground. Try to be relatable. I'm a Catholic, you know, I'm a
Catholic and, you know, I don't want to hear, hey, you know what, you know, whether you're
Catholic or you're Baptist, guess what, we're all going to die one day. You know, are you
100% sure that you're going to heaven? I don't just like, oh, Catholic church, full of pedophiles,
you know, and false, listen, whether we're Catholic or Baptist, guess what, we're all
going to die one day. You know, are you 100% sure that you're going to heaven? Just find
something relatable with that person, okay? Lastly, I better hurry up. Can you please
turn to 1 Corinthians, you're there already, verse number 2, 1 Corinthians 2, 14. Don't
forget that early in this series, we looked at Acts 8, 31, which said, you know, how can
I accept some man should guide me? We saw that an unbeliever who does not know the gospel
requires a man to guide them, okay? Now, this is important for an ambassador as well because
guess what, we use the ambassador from Russia, if he's going to come to Australia and serve
as an ambassador, don't you think he's going to have to learn English, okay? Like, he can't
just turn up, you know, in Australia and just be Russian and go, hey, you guys have to speak
Russian to communicate. No, you're the ambassador, you've got to learn English to communicate
with the country you're interacting with. Well, that's what I've covered before, you
know, don't use the big Bible words, the churchy words, you know, you know, on righteousness
and you know, the imputed righteousness of Christ and what are the big words out there
in the Bible? Justification and do we have any other? Sanctification and, you know, repentance
and what else? What are the big words? I don't know, okay? Guess what? You're speaking Russian
to them. You're speaking Russian to them, you've got to explain what you're saying,
you've got to simplify things, you've got to speak their language, okay? That's the
whole point, you've got to be a translator. Are you in 1 Corinthians? Yeah, 2.14. 1 Corinthians
2.14 and you guys know this passage, but the natural man, that's the non-believer, 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, alright? So, you know, one bad example that
I've seen and I've seen this with several soul winners. Sometimes, listen, there's nothing
wrong with getting someone to read a portion of the Bible with them. You know, one of the
main portions that I get someone to read with me is Acts 16 verse 31 where it says, and
they said, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shall be saved. Quite often I'll
do that, like if I feel like that person's really invested, you know, and it says, you
know, what must I do to be saved? Hey, what do they say? Do you want to read it? Oh, believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shall be saved. Now, you hope when they read it, it
got absorbed, but don't forget, they're the natural man, okay? To understand the passage,
they have to be spiritual, it's spiritually discerned. Guess what happens many times?
You show them, hey, it says, you know, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shall be
saved. So what do we have to do to be saved? Oh, go to church. How many times does that
happen? I've got to be a good person. Now, this is what I've seen, okay? Now, if you
do this, you need to fix this. Oh, read it again. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and
thou shall be saved. So what do you have to do? Yeah, be a good person. And then you're
like, you show them again. You show them again. What's happening? You're not being an ambassador.
You're not translating, okay? Listen, if someone reads it and they don't get it, don't think
they're stupid. The reason they don't get it is because they're not saved. Even something
as black and white as believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, guess what? They're not going
to get it. That's why you're there. That's why you're there. And I've seen some soul
winners show them passage and it's like, oh, you didn't get it, okay. Another passage,
you know, for whosoever shall believe on him, see, believe. What's it say? Yeah, yeah, yeah.
I do believe in Jesus. I do go to church. I do do the sacraments. It's like, what? And
people lose their cool sometimes or they don't know how because you forgot you're the ambassador.
You have to speak their language. It's Russian to them, okay? You got to go and speak English
to them and explain to them what that means in the spiritual book. That's why you're there.
If they could just read it, you wouldn't need to be there, okay? You're there. You've got
to be a translator. Don't get frustrated if you show someone a passage and they don't
get it. That's why you're there to show them, all right? I'll just end on this one again.
Father Ramzan had one salvation. What language was it again? Assyrian? Assyrian. I mean,
you were translated many ways, right, in that. But listen, the feedback that she gave to
Ramzan was, this is the first time someone has shown me the Bible and explained what
it said. Was that right, brother? Explained it. She was orthodox and she was like, you
know what, the priests, the people that preach there, they don't teach you anything. They
don't explain anything in the Bible. They just read it. But you've come along, you've
explained it. It's the first time I understand. Why? Because the Bible is spiritually discerned.
You need a spiritual person to translate it to someone who is not saved. So keep that
in mind, brethren. Don't get frustrated and don't use big words. Understand, they're not
going to get it. You're going to have to explain it to them. You're there to bring peace between
them and God. Now, I better wrap it up. I've gone longer than I wanted, okay? Now, you
might say, well, Pastor Kevin, you know, I'm not very well prepared. How can I prepare
myself? Come out soul winning. It's the only way. Come out as a soul importer. It's the
only way. You can't be like, I've got to prepare myself to the point where I know I can answer
every question that ever comes out the door. Listen, I used to think that. I used to think
I need every argument for every false religion. I need every argument for atheism. I need
to find out when I went soul winning, I barely get asked those questions. Sometimes they
come up, but then you learn how to deal with them, okay? In time, you gain experience.
You might say, well, you know, I'm not very, you know, I'm not a very good speaker. You
know, I'm not very, well, you know how you're going to get good at speaking? You go soul
winning. That's how you get better, right? You go and you interact with people. You say,
I just don't have a love for the lost. You know where you get a love from the lost? You
go soul winning. Eventually, when you knock on something, you know, you knock on people's
door, door after door, and you realize this person doesn't know what they have to do to
be saved. This person still trusts in their false religion. This person trusts in their
works. Guess what's going to happen? You're going to get emotional a little bit. If you're
going to grow in love for that person is what I'm trying to say, when you realize that there's
so many people that don't know what they have to do to be saved. You know how you develop
that love for people? You go soul winning, right? So I don't know how to be relatable
to people. How do I gain that? You go soul winning, okay? It's all about the experience,
okay? When you go soul winning, you're not going to be perfect the first time. That's
why I got to preach sermons like this. We keep sharpening ourselves. We keep learning,
okay? We keep learning how to relate to people and, you know, interact with different questions,
different challenging questions that come. You only get it if you go soul winning, okay?
If you never do it, brethren, you're not going to develop as a, you know, effective
soul winner, you know? And I want most than anything for you to be the best ambassador
for Christ that you possibly can be. So I hope there are some pointers here that you
can think about, some things that you can adapt to your soul winning presentation. And
don't forget, you know, you're there to bring peace. You're not there to soul damn. You're
there to soul win, okay? And be wise. Be mindful about the time you spend with people. Okay,
let's pray.