In the last, I would say the last couple of months, I've had a lot of people ask me,
just from our church, pastor, can you preach or can you teach on soul winning?
Pastor, can you explain how you present your plan of salvation?
And, you know, I kind of, I feel like it's a topic that we all talk a lot about.
And, you know, it's something that you can pretty much see if you go soul winning with me.
If you're a silent partner, you'll see how I do my presentation.
But I realized, you know, we do have a lot of new people.
And like what I've been saying the last few times, we do have a lot of new families.
And I'm kind of covering topics that I think are just really fundamental,
really important for all of us to receive and understand.
And look, when it comes to the topic of soul winning, I guess at the end of the day,
we can never get enough of it.
It's such an important aspect of our Christian life.
It is a great commission.
And we can make improvements in our plan.
We can make improvements in our presentation.
In fact, I am constantly making changes.
I'm constantly making improvements.
The way I preach the gospel today, this year is not the same
how I used to preach it even last year.
I'm constantly making little adjustments, little improvements.
And so I went back and had a look.
I went the last time that I preached through, you know, presenting a plan of salvation.
It's about a year and a half ago.
I go, okay, about a year and a half ago.
It's probably time to preach for this again, since I've had that request quite a few times.
But what I wanted to focus on today is there in 2 Corinthians 11 and verse number three,
it says,
I really want to focus on this point that in Christ Jesus, it is simplicity.
It is something that is simple.
Okay.
Preaching the gospel is simple.
Understanding salvation is simple.
Receiving Jesus Christ as Savior is simple.
And if you look at verse number four, it says,
For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus,
so you can see this is about preaching, right?
Whom we have not preached or you have received another spirit,
which you have not received or another gospel,
which you have not accepted, you might well bear with him.
You know, the right gospel is a simple gospel.
All right.
And that's really what I want to focus on tonight.
So the title for the sermon is Preaching the Simplicity that is in Christ.
Preaching the Simplicity that is in Christ.
As I said to you, I've made adjustments.
I went, the first time I went soul winning, I was in my early 20s.
So it's been over 20 years that I've been soul winning,
some years more than others.
There's been, there was a huge gap as well that I didn't go soul winning.
But you know, I've been soul winning for over 20 years.
And when I talk about changing or refining my gospel presentation,
it's not gotten more complicated.
It's gotten simpler.
Because salvation truly is simple.
And today, you know, if you say, pastor, two years ago, you said you,
well, okay, look, this is 2023.
You know, I've made it more simple in the way that I present the gospel.
Right now, if you were to go out with me, you know, soul winning today,
I would be using basically six and a half Bible passages
in my presentation of the gospel.
Now, when I started going soul winning, I had about 12 passages,
about 12 passages that I will turn to.
And now it's six and a half.
I'll explain to you what half means in a moment.
These are Bible passages, okay.
Now, the passages that I use, and if you, you know,
if you're not a soul winner, you want to learn how to do it,
I recommend that you jot these down or you memorize them.
The first one that I would use is Romans 323, then Romans 623,
then I would use Revelation chapter 20, verse 14, then Romans 5-8,
then Acts 16, verses 30 to 31, then John 3-16.
And then I will come back to Romans 623.
And the reason I do that, the reason I simplify it is
because I just found that as I would go out,
and I would go out with certain individuals,
and sometimes people say to me,
Pastor, can you give me some feedback on my presentation?
And the feedback that I would have to give most often are two things.
Number one, either it's about the engagement to the person behind the door,
because I truly believe the importance, the important part,
what you're trying to present is a friendly neighborhood demeanor,
just an everyday person, okay, not someone that is, you know,
unsure or lacking confidence in the presentation,
not someone that sees themselves as mighty and with more information,
just be the regular person, that's one.
But the second thing that I would often give feedback about is,
look, you've got to cut down your presentation,
or you're spending too much time on this issue,
or they've already understood that point, you can move on now.
You don't need to labor that same point for the next five minutes,
because you'll lose their attention, you know, they'll lose their attention.
So those are the two things that I'm going to be covering to,
well, one thing I'll be covering today, which is the presentation,
next week, I'll be covering on how we engage people behind the door
in that friendly neighborhood manner.
But let me give you an idea of some excessive, I don't know what to call this,
first I call them redundant Bible passages,
but I don't want to call Bible passages redundant.
So I'm just saying, this is, you know, these are, you know,
an example where I've reduced excessive passages,
I think that sounds better.
Let me give you some examples.
So I said to you that I start with Romans 3, 23.
Now, if you want to turn there, come with me to Romans chapter three,
Romans chapter three, please.
And when I would first introduce this concept that someone is a sinner,
I would read to them from Romans 3, 10, actually,
which says, as it is written, there is none righteous, no, not one.
But then I would also read verse number 23,
for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.
Until I got to a point where I'm like, well, they're both saying the same thing.
They're both saying that none of us are righteous.
They're both saying that we're sinners.
But I prefer to go Romans 3, 23, because it just adds a little bit more there
and come short of the glory of God.
And that helps me illustrate the point that look, God is perfect.
God is not a sinner.
You know, separating the nature of God with the nature of man.
So I dropped Romans 3, 10 in my presentation.
Now come with me to Revelation chapter 20, please.
Revelation chapter 20.
Revelation chapter 20, please.
And I would often, once I finish, explain to someone they're a sinner,
I would go to Revelation chapter 20, verse number 14.
Revelation chapter 20 and verse number 14,
which says, and death and hell were cast into the lake of fire.
This is the second death.
You know, I still use that verse today.
But then I would also use Revelation 21, 8.
But the fearful and unbelieving and the abominable and murderers
and hormones and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars
shall have their part in the lake which burn off with fire and brimstone,
which is the second death.
So both these patches speak about the second death.
But I found that I didn't have to use Revelation 21, 8
because people beforehand had already admitted that they're a sinner.
And generally speaking, most people are ready to admit,
yep, I've done wrong, yep, I'm not perfect.
Okay, most people are readily able to accept that.
So I just realized, you know what,
Revelation 21, 8, I don't need to quote that again.
Now look, I'm not saying I never quote these passages.
My point is this, that when it comes to 95% of my,
when I get the chance to present the gospel,
I don't use these verses.
If someone gets stuck, if someone's, you know,
struggling with a concept, I would use these other passages
because I've memorized them anyway.
I've got them on the tip of my tongue.
I'll use them if I have to.
But I found that 95% of the time I can drop these passages
and I'm not losing anything important,
that the topics and the ideas are still being understood by the hearer.
Then come with me to John 3 please.
John 3, verse 16.
John 3, verse 16, and of course the most famous Bible passage.
For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son,
that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life.
And so that's quite clear, right?
If we believe on him, we won't perish.
And I would say, you know, that means perish in hell,
but have everlasting life.
So to me, okay, the idea, believing, not perishing, everlasting life,
that's covered there.
But again, in the past, I would often turn to verse number 18.
He that believeth on him is not condemned,
but he that believeth not is condemned already,
because he have not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
And then I would also quote from verse number 36.
He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life,
and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life,
but the wrath of God abideth on him.
Look, they're all great verses, don't get me wrong.
I'm not trying to say any of these verses are wrong.
I'm just saying that John 3, 16, I felt, you know, I got to a point where it's like,
well, John 3, 16 covers a topic.
Like, it's all I need.
It has sufficient information.
I don't really need to go back and quote these other verses.
Again, if someone's struggling with that concept,
I may very well quote these verses.
But again, 95% of the time, I don't need to.
John 3, 16 covers what I need.
Okay.
And then at the end of the present,
and look, if you go back and look at my,
how to give the gospel presentation from a few years ago,
I would say one of my favorite verses to end with was John 1, 12,
but as many as received into them gave you power to become the sons of God,
even to them that believe in his name.
But I've just, I've gone and I said, you know what?
I feel the idea of receiving him can be confusing to some people.
So I've just gone back to Romans 10, 13,
for whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
Okay.
So I just want to give you, the reason I'm saying that,
I'm not saying if you use these verses, you need to drop them.
This sermon is not about making you preach like I preach behind the door.
Okay.
This sermon is just to show you how I do it.
So if it helps you, if it gives you some great ideas,
or if you find yourself spending a lot of time and you're wondering,
why is it taking me so long?
You may have excessive passages that you don't really need in your presentation.
Now, I think if you're going more than 15 minutes
in giving someone the gospel, something's wrong.
And by 15 minutes, I mean from the time you open the first Bible verse
to the time you explain the last Bible verse.
The gospel, I'm not talking about knocking on someone's door,
introducing, have that conversation.
I'm just talking when you, when you're given the gospel,
if it's taken you more than 15 minutes, there's something wrong.
Okay.
I think you're making it more complicated than you need to.
It's the simplicity.
That's the point that I'm trying to cover tonight.
It is a simple idea.
It is a simple concept and you can, you know,
narrow it down a little bit and clean up your presentation.
And so, you know, essentially what I just showed you here,
I just quoted nine verses, but I've simplified those verses down to four.
Okay.
I've since from nine verses, just the ones I've given you,
but I've had other verses in my past.
That I've used that I just can't recall right now because it's been so long.
But you know, I, I, you know, if you, if you're going more than 15 minutes,
giving the gospel, I really recommend, look, there's something wrong.
You need to shorten that.
And look, if you're spending less than five minutes giving the gospel,
there's something wrong as well.
Unless the person behind the door says, look, I've only got two minutes
and you're like bang.
And you just, you can do it in two minutes.
Okay.
Yeah.
But that's, that's obviously a different scenario.
But if you're being allowed to give the whole gospel,
if you're doing it less than five minutes or something wrong,
if it's going more than 15 minutes, there's something wrong.
Okay.
You really want to simplify it.
Don't forget people these days don't have a very long attention span.
Okay.
This is why people don't want to hear a one hour sermon on YouTube.
They want to see a 10 minute TikTok dance.
Sorry, 10 second TikTok dance.
Rather than hear a one hour sermon from a, from a pastor.
Okay.
People these days, and it's actually, it's true.
There are studies that say people's attention spans have been dropping
because of social media.
Okay.
So you really want to make sure you utilize their attention as much as you can.
And what I want you to really think about is what you want to,
what you need to emphasize when it comes to giving someone the gospel.
Now, if you come with me to Romans chapter one,
come with me to Romans chapter one,
something else that I found in my time of going out with people
and hearing their presentation.
There's another area that I feel that needs to be improved and it has been improved.
I've seen, I've actually heard it improving in our church
because I preached about it from time to time.
Okay.
But one thing that I never liked in a gospel presentation
is when people just very quickly talk about the death of Christ.
It's almost, it's almost like, well, he died on the cross and he rose again.
And it's kind of just skipped over.
It's just, yeah, it's there, but it's just not fleshed out.
And what I've observed is when that is not clearly understood
that the person behind the door is going to have a lot of questions
to the point where, all right, you've gone through it.
Let me summarize.
So what must we do to be saved?
Be a good person.
Look, I don't know, I don't know what your presentation is like,
but, and I'm not trying to boast.
I am, I am nothing.
I was just talking about with brother Jason,
if we didn't have the Bible, what would we do in that church?
Like, what would I be preaching?
Like, I'd give you like two sermons of my wisdom and I've run out of information.
There's not much we can do.
And like, honestly, brethren, when it comes to, you know,
speaking to someone at the door, we want to use the power
and the wisdom that comes from God.
You know, if you're summarizing your God's presentation and you ask them,
so what must you do to be saved?
And they're like, be a good person.
There's nothing wrong with them.
It's that your presentation was not simple.
Okay.
It wasn't simple.
You've complicated it and they've gotten confused.
Because if they end up be a good person,
there was something wrong in the way you taught that presentation.
And look, I've had that happen to me.
I'm not saying that like you're some horrible person.
The fact that you're soul winning is amazing.
Because how many believers actually go to church?
Very few.
And how many of those believers that go to church know how to even give the gospel?
Smaller percentage.
And how many of those that actually know how to give the gospel
actually actively give the gospel even less?
So just because, look, if someone's out there doing their best,
even if it's a poor job, I'm still thankful for that person.
I appreciate that person very much.
Because they're doing something that most Christians are not doing.
All right.
But you're there in Romans chapter one, verse number 16.
And look, we need to emphasize what is going to get someone saved.
Okay.
Romans 1 16, it says, 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 power of God unto salvation?
The gospel of Christ to everyone that believeth.
Look, what you want to leave someone, what you want to emphasize in your presentation
is the gospel.
What's the gospel?
The death, the burial, the resurrection, Jesus Christ, and everyone that believeth.
That's the emphasis.
Okay.
So even if you walk away from someone, you don't get all, unless you get interrupted,
you don't get for the full presentation, they're left with, okay, Christ died for me,
and I've got to believe.
I've got to make that decision.
That's what you want to leave them with.
All right.
And the problem with some presentations that are out there, they emphasize so much on sin.
Or are you a sinner?
Yes.
Have you a total lie?
Yes.
Have you ever stolen something?
Yes.
Have you ever looked upon a woman with lies?
Yes.
Have you ever done?
Yes.
Oh, you're such a wicked sinner in the eyes of God.
And they emphasize that.
Well, what do you think someone's going to be left with when you're like, so what do
you have to do to be saved?
Live a better life?
I clean up my sins.
And they've missed the point because the wrong thing has been emphasized.
So what I'm trying to say is in that 15 minutes, 10-15 minute bracket of giving someone the
gospel, the area that you want to be spending most time explaining is the gospel, the death,
the bearer, the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Now, I read these passages not long ago, last week, actually.
I'll just read them quickly.
1 Corinthians 1 18, it says,
For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness, but unto us which
are saved, it is the power of God.
So according to 1 Corinthians 1 18, what is the power of God?
The preaching of the cross.
That's the power.
All right, that's the power.
That's what you need to emphasize.
They need to understand why did Jesus die on the cross?
Why was his blood shed on the cross?
I'm telling you, this is the power.
You emphasize the power.
They're not going to be left wondering, I have to be a good person.
They're not.
Okay.
And later on that same chapter, it says in verse number 22,
For the Jews require a sign and the Greeks seek after wisdom.
But we preach Christ crucified unto the Jews a stumbling block and unto the Greeks foolishness,
but unto them which are called both Jews and Greeks, Christ, the power of God and the wisdom
of God.
What is the power of God and the wisdom of God when we preach Christ crucified?
Okay.
When we preach him, the preaching of the cross,
Reverend, you say, but everybody knows that.
Everybody knows, you know, we celebrate Easter in Australia and even the Roman Catholics know
that Christ is crucified, but they don't really know.
They don't really understand what that means.
And while a lot of people acknowledge it, they don't understand.
They're not putting their trust.
They don't put their faith on the sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ.
So we want to emphasize the right things.
Look, convincing someone they're a sinner, honestly, it takes less than five seconds.
If you're on that topic for minutes and you're just, oh, you're such a, you got to just realize
how much you got to be broken.
And you'll just be begging me right now, humbling on the floor.
What must I do to be saved?
And you're not really saved because you haven't acknowledged just how wicked your sins are.
Most people know, look, I'm not perfect.
I'm not perfect.
Like it doesn't take long to acknowledge such a thing.
So let me go through those passages now.
Look, I'm not, obviously I'm not explaining right now how I knock on someone's door,
how I introduce myself, but if someone has gone to the point where they're like,
they're like, okay, can you please give me the gospel?
Yes, I'm happy to hear.
Yes, I've got that time.
Okay, then I start with Romans 3 23.
Okay, so if you want to walk around, walk along with me in this journey, you can.
Obviously, this is for those that are experienced soul winners,
you're not necessarily going to learn anything new.
But I hope again, I just remind you to emphasize the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Romans 3 23.
It says, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.
Now, brethren, if you've been in church long enough, the word sin, sinner, sinned,
look to you, it's just an everyday word.
But to the average Aussie at the door, they don't know what that word means.
They've heard it, but it's just a religious word.
It's just a churchy word.
In fact, you ask a Catholic what is a sin, immediately it's like, oh, murder, rape.
Like the most horrendous kind of things that you can think about, okay?
But we know it's something just as little as telling a white lie, which is a sin.
And so I'll often say to them, look, do you know what a sinner is?
Now, with every point that I cover, I'm going to ask them questions, why?
Because I want them engaged in the conversation, okay?
When we go and knock on someone's door, this isn't like behind the pulpit,
preaching a sermon without interruption.
It's not one way.
This is one way preaching right now.
When you go behind the door, that's a soul that knows nothing.
They're not saved.
They haven't got the Spirit of God living in them.
They can't read the Bible.
They need you to help them understand it.
So you need to interact one on one.
It's a two-way communication, okay?
So I ask them, do you know what a sinner is?
And quite often they'll be like, oh yeah, like murder.
And I'll be like, yeah.
And look, whatever they answer, I don't want them to feel stupid.
I don't want, it's like, yeah, you're right.
Yeah, you know what?
The Bible also says that a lie is a sin.
Have you ever told a lie?
Like, oh yeah.
Yeah, me too.
I've told a lie.
I don't want them to feel like they're just some horrible person compared to me.
I'm like, look, I've told lies too.
Maybe hundreds, maybe thousands of lies.
Okay.
And I'll be like, you know, we're not perfect, are we?
Nah, we're not perfect.
You know, we've done, look, that's it.
They've acknowledged it.
I've sinned against God.
Are we ready to move on?
You say it's too simple.
It's a simplicity in Christ.
Look, don't complicate it.
Okay.
And again, 99% of people will admit they've told a lie.
That 1% that said they've never told a lie or they never sinned.
I've never seen any of those saved.
I think they've gone too far, to be honest.
Like, where they can't even see their own sin before God.
That's crazy.
But they're very few.
Very few that are like that.
But most people are ready.
Yeah, I'm a sinner.
And then I show them, well, it says here, and we've come short of the glory of God.
So it just makes them look, God is not a sinner.
God is perfect, unlike us.
And so we come short of his glory, meaning we can't save ourselves.
We can't make it to heaven on our own.
And again, most people don't have a problem with that.
Okay.
All right.
And then I'll turn them to Romans 6 23.
Romans 6 23.
And I say, well, since we've sinned against God,
there is a consequence to that in Romans 6 23.
And I'll only read to them the first part of this verse.
It says, for the wages of sin is death.
And I'll often say something like, you know what a wage is.
You know, when you work a job and get paid.
Like, oh yeah.
Again, that interaction, right, asking that question.
You know what a wage is to your payment.
So it's like, yeah.
So the payment for our sins is death.
And I'll summarize it very quickly like this.
The reason why there's death, pain and suffering in the world.
That's not, that wasn't God's initial creation or his initial plan for us.
But rather, we've sinned against God and we've brought this consequence of pain,
death and suffering upon ourselves.
And again, most people are like, yeah, that's true.
Okay.
The reason I say that is because when we get to the topic of hell,
some people, they resist that because they don't like the idea that,
well, I need to get, you know, that means I'm on my way to hell.
They don't like the idea of God sending someone to hell.
Or they'll start to blame God.
Well, if God, you know, God knows we're all sinners,
then why did he create us so we can just go to hell?
So I say that so they acknowledge, yeah, yeah, man has done this.
And again, usually before you get to the topic of hell, if you address that,
they receive it very well.
Because they look at the world and they know, yeah, man is horrible.
Man is doing horrible things to one another in this world.
We can't blame God for that.
So then my next question is to them,
well, you know, it says that the wager sin is death.
And when we think of death, we think of a, of our body in the grave
or even a body cremated, I might say to them.
But have you ever heard of the second death?
And I used to think people are going to go,
oh, that must be hell or something like that.
But most of them are like, no, I never heard of it.
Okay, so I'll turn them to Revelation chapter 2014.
Revelation chapter 2014.
And I'll show them Revelation 2014.
It says, and death and hell were cast into the lake of fire.
This is the second death.
And then I'll ask him this question.
So it says here that the lake of fire is the second death.
Does that sound like heaven or hell to you?
And look, if someone kind of is like,
that they're struggling, like it's a very simple question, isn't it?
Does that sound like heaven or the lake of fire?
Does that sound like heaven or hell to you?
But you know, sometimes people get like,
like a bit unsure about how to answer.
And when I see that lack of confidence in someone,
it's like, they start to think, remember, it's simplicity.
Sometimes it's too simple for them.
They think it must be more complicated,
or they're asking me a trick question.
And often people are like, oh, that's a heaven.
But like, that's obviously not the right answer.
But they say that because they start wondering,
hold on, I'm getting these questions.
But I'll reassure them at this point,
if they seem uncomfortable.
I'll reassure them, look,
I'm not trying to ask you any trick questions.
Honestly, these are straightforward questions.
The obvious answer is the right answer.
Oh, you should say something like that.
Okay.
And I might say several times, look,
I'm not trying to trick you.
It's just a simple question based on what we just read there.
And they'll be like, oh, yeah, hell.
Yeah, yeah.
And I'll say to them, look, at that point, again,
it's very hard for people to receive the information,
man, I'm a sinner, so I deserve hell.
It's very hard.
Okay.
Admitting they're a sinner is easy.
But admitting that they're on their way to hell
is actually very hard.
And I've seen people resist at this point.
Okay.
They resist, they push back.
As I've grown in my interaction with people,
but in my early days, I would see a lot of resistance
after this topic.
And sometimes that's it, I've ended there.
But is that the power of God unto salvation?
I need to get to the power of God unto salvation.
I need to get to the gospel message.
Okay.
So once they hear that, okay, about hell,
I'm very quick to say to them,
look, I've told you the bad news,
but now I'm going to explain to you the good news.
Right.
Very quickly, before they start to harden,
before they start to resist, they're like,
oh, good news is coming.
And I'll say something like, you know, again, the questions.
Am I saying something to them like,
have you heard the word gospel before?
Most people have, they've heard some,
I've been like, oh yeah.
Well, gospel means glad tidings or good news.
So now I want to tell you about the good news.
But you can only appreciate the good news
once you understand the bad news.
Okay.
But see, and that's, that's the point.
Like you want to get them thinking of the good news,
the gospel, the power of God unto salvation,
and not resist, not push you back
because you've given them bad news.
You want to tell them, look, there's good news
around the corner.
I'm about to give it to you.
Then my question is this.
So according to the Bible, all sinners deserve to go to hell,
but does God wants us to go to hell?
And the natural response is, well, no.
And it's a simple question,
but every time they give the right answer,
I'm like, you're right.
All right.
I want to try and encourage them.
Look, you're not stupid.
You get it.
You're right.
You know, God doesn't want us to go to hell.
All right.
And then I'll turn them to Romans 5, 8.
Romans 5, 8.
Never in your presentation do you want people
to feel stupid or ignorant.
Okay.
You want to win their souls.
You're not trying to win an argument.
You're not trying to win some logical debate
with that person.
That's a real soul on their way to hell.
All right.
We want to get them to the power of God,
unto salvation, the gospel message.
All right.
So Romans 5, 8.
It says here,
but God commended his love toward us.
At this point, if I haven't got the name
and I usually don't have the name by now,
at this point, I'll read it to them.
But God commended his love towards us.
Oh, by the way, can I ask a name?
Give me a name.
Bob.
It's always Bob.
Can we do someone else?
I'm tired of Bob.
single Bob.
Sam.
All right, Sam.
They say, Sam, like, Oh, Sam.
Yeah.
I'm Kevin and Silent Partner.
Where Silent Partner's name is, right?
So we can read it this way.
But God commended his love towards Sam.
In that, and I say to them,
look, this is important.
In that, while we were yet sinners,
Christ died for us.
All right.
And I emphasize that while we were yet sinners.
So I say to them, look,
even while we're breaking God's laws,
even while we're doing wrong things,
he still sent Jesus Christ to die for us.
Because I don't want them to think,
Oh, I've got to stop sinning to receive Christ.
No, even while you were yet sinners.
In fact, you're still sinner,
even after you're saved.
Okay, you've been, you've received the grace of God.
Okay, you received salvation,
you received his mercy.
But I'll say to them, yeah.
And then it says, Christ died for us.
Obviously, and I say something like,
obviously you've heard of Jesus, right?
About Easter.
Again, not trying to make him sound stupid.
Oh yeah, I've heard of Jesus.
All right, and I'll say to them,
yeah, like we still celebrate that in Australia
during Easter.
And have you ever heard about
Jesus Christ died on the cross?
Oh yeah.
And I'll say to them, okay,
what happened three days later?
Sometimes they give you the answer,
sometimes they don't.
It doesn't matter.
You don't make them feel stupid.
If they say, Oh, look, I don't remember.
I don't remember.
You know, three days later,
he rose from the dead.
And they're like, Oh yeah.
Even if they don't remember.
It doesn't matter.
Okay, three days later,
he rose from the dead.
And I'll say to them,
when he rose from the dead,
he conquered sin, the grave, hell and death.
Something like that.
Okay.
Just to show them, hey,
Jesus is victorious.
All right.
Now, I'll say something like this.
Have you ever heard that he paid for our sins?
Again, most people will acknowledge,
Oh yeah, he paid for our sins.
I've heard that he paid for our sins.
Okay.
Catholics will say he paid for our sins.
Every Christian on the Christendom
will acknowledge that he paid for our sins.
Okay.
But they don't know what that means.
Honestly, they don't know what that means.
And we're trying to simplify things to them.
We're trying to make it simple for them.
Okay.
So, I'll use this analogy.
There's nothing wrong with analogies.
When Jesus Christ came to this earth,
he used parables.
He used illustrations to help reinforce
the doctrines that he was teaching.
And I'll say to them,
look, let me give you the example.
If you have a $500 electricity bill
and I come alongside Sam,
Oh, pay for it all.
Oh, pay for your bill.
And I pay $500.
How much are you left to pay?
Oh, nothing.
I'll be like, all right.
So, if Jesus has paid for all of your sins,
he took God's punishment, all of it,
so you don't have to face God's punishment.
How much do you have to pay for your sins?
Nothing.
But I'm using the illustration of an electricity bill
because that's something people deal with
on a regular basis.
Bills, payments, payment in full.
Okay, it's been paid in full.
How much do you have to pay?
Nothing.
And it's almost like at this point,
it's almost like everything has clicked for them.
Because they know, they understand some elements
of Christ dying.
But they've never really,
yes, he died for me,
but they've never really understood
that means I pay nothing.
Right?
Like people, they'll go to church
and church will tell them,
Jesus has paid for all your sin,
but you still have to.
That's what they're used to.
You still have to.
Like what?
No, once they understand it's been paid for,
I have to pay nothing.
It really clicks in their minds.
Again, I'm giving emphasis to what?
The payment of sins, the cross, Christ crucified.
And I often say something like,
yeah, the payment was made by his blood,
by his shed blood.
That was the payment for our sins.
And then at this point,
I understand that they may not fully understand
the concept of the Trinity.
Okay?
Because Romans 5-8 says,
but God commanded his love to us,
in that while we had sinned as Christ died for us,
I want them to know that Christ is God.
Okay?
So at this point,
look, you don't have to give,
you don't have to give like a deep doctrinal study
on the Trinity.
You say, well, what if they don't fully grasp it?
You know, I'm scared that they're going to believe
in another Jesus.
They're not going to believe in another Jesus
because you're the one preaching Jesus to them.
You've got the right Jesus.
They're going to believe in the Jesus
that you're preaching.
But at this point,
I want them to understand that Jesus is God.
So say to them,
have you ever heard of the Trinity?
Most people would say yes.
Okay?
And very quickly I say to them,
well, you know, I'm sure you've heard then
that God is,
I'm sure you've heard of God the Father,
God the Son,
God the Holy Spirit,
but these three are one.
We serve one God,
there isn't three gods.
We serve one God,
but the Father is God,
the Son is God,
the Holy Spirit is God.
So God the Father sent Jesus,
God the Son to die on the cross for you
to pay for all of your sins.
And brethren,
I get no resistance when I explain it like that.
I'm keeping it simple.
All right.
So, you know, that's it.
Like that's as far as a Trinity study needs,
you need to go.
Okay.
Again, I'm worried they're going to believe
in the wrong Jesus.
You're telling them about Jesus.
You have the right Jesus.
Okay.
As long as you're telling the right Jesus from you,
you know you're saved.
They're going to hear about the right Jesus.
Don't worry about it.
Don't get obsessed.
The power of God unto salvation is Christ crucified.
Not understanding every deep doctrine of the Bible.
Okay.
Then I'll say this to them.
Okay.
Well, since Jesus has paid for the sins of the whole world,
Sam has paid for your sins.
He paid for my sins.
He paid for all of the sins of my son and partner is.
Does that mean we all automatically go to heaven?
Again, asking them the question.
And I'll say that word automatically
because it kind of gives them the answer.
Okay.
We're helping them.
We're guiding them in this interaction.
Do we automatically go to heaven?
And again, the nature of man is like,
no, there's got to be something.
I've never heard someone say,
yes, we all automatically go to heaven.
I've never had that response.
Okay.
Honestly, in 20 years, I've never had that response.
People are like, no,
there's probably something we have to do.
Or just simply no.
And again, they give the right answer.
Yeah, you're right.
Yeah, well done.
You're right.
You're getting there.
Like, I'm just trying to encourage them.
All right.
Keeping them engaged in this conversation.
You're right.
And then I'll turn them to Acts 16 verse 30.
Acts 16 verse 30.
And you guys, you guys know those soul winners.
You all know these passages.
You know them very well.
Acts 16 verse 30.
And I say, well, look at this question.
And brought them out and said,
Sirs, what must I do to be saved?
Again, this concept of saved.
We get it.
They might not get it.
Okay.
So say to them, this means saved from hell.
Saved from our sins.
Oh, okay.
I'll say that.
Don't think just save, they get it.
They don't get it.
You got to use these religious church.
You say save is a common term here.
People don't think of getting saved about hell.
Generally it's like, I got saved from drowning in the ocean or something like that.
That's the idea that they have.
Right.
So you say, look, the question is what must I do to be saved?
I was saved from hell, saved from sins.
I'm like, okay.
You're right.
And what's the answer?
And they said, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.
Now I might finish with and thy house.
It depends on the kind of interaction that I have with that person.
Because sometimes people get confused by the house.
Okay.
But I'll say to them, look, if I'm just kind of quoting it verbatim, or if I'm kind of
showing them, but they're not really paying attention, I'll drop the and thy house.
But if they are following along, I don't want to skip it because then they might get a bit
sus.
Why is it skipping that?
All right.
So I'll just read it to them and thy house.
And if I do read thy house.
Well, actually before I cover that, I'll say some.
So what does it say here?
What do we need to be saved?
See earlier in the, when we, I introduced myself to the person and we're going to talk
about this next week.
And I would have asked them, so what do you believe someone has to do to go to heaven?
And you know, most people would say will be a good person or some variation of that.
So I'll say to them at this point, they'll say here, so what must I do to be saved?
And they said, be a good person and thou shalt be saved.
No.
And I would have already asked them about their background as well.
If they're a Catholic, I might say something like, does it say here, be baptized and thou
shall be saved?
No.
I might say, hey, does it say here, confess your sins to the priest and thou shall be
saved?
And there'll be no.
Okay.
It just depends on what kind of person I'm interacting with.
If I realized there's some charismatic Pentecostal, I would say to them, does it say here, speak
in tongues and thou shall be saved?
No.
All right.
If it's a unsaved independent Baptist, I might say something like, you know, does it say
here, repent of your sins and thou shall be saved?
Does it say here, turn from your sins and thou shall be saved?
No.
I'll use whatever they've said, you know, to show them nicely, kindly.
Be like, hey, remember when you said be a good person?
Well, this is the point of difference.
Let me just show you.
Does it say to be a good person thou shalt be saved?
Look, you can counter what they've said in a nice way.
I mean, this whole interaction you've had with them should be a friendly one.
It should be one that you encourage them, that you show them that you care for their
soul.
You're not just going for the motions.
You actually care for the soul that is deep within them.
And when they pick up on that, they don't have a problem with you.
You know, counter the first things that they said.
And so I said, no, it says here what?
To believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shall be saved.
And if I've read and thy house, I'll say something at this point.
So the house in the Bible here represents your family.
If your family also believe, they too will be saved.
If I've read that passage, like I said to you, it may or may not happen.
Just like that phrase.
All right.
At that point, I'm like, look, I'm almost done.
Thank you for your time.
Let me show you the most famous Bible passage.
I'm sure you've heard of it, or you've probably heard of it.
Again, try and make them sound like they know already.
Don't make them sound like they're idiots or that they're ignorant.
You've probably heard this before, even if it's a Buddhist, even if it's a Muslim.
All right.
You've probably heard this before.
It doesn't matter.
And if they haven't heard it, it doesn't matter.
Okay.
You show them John 3 16.
But again, you've told them the most famous Bible passage.
They're probably like, Oh, what is it?
You know, you sparked their interest.
Oh, yeah, I do want to figure out what that most famous Bible verse is.
Well, I want to see if I've actually heard it before.
All right.
John 3 16.
For God so loved the world.
And again, I'll be like, you know, we can say for God so loved Sam.
I do that quite often.
Okay.
I want them to get that personal, you know, experience thinking how much God loves them.
For God so loved Sam that he gave his only begotten son.
I say that's Jesus Christ who died on the cross for you.
That whosoever what, believeth on him, should not perish.
That's not perish in hell, but have everlasting life.
So I say to them again, you can see that it says whosoever believeth in him.
Doesn't say whosoever is a good person.
Doesn't say whosoever turns from their sins.
It says whosoever believeth in him.
Should not perish, but have everlasting life.
I've already mentioned believe, and I'm going to explain what believe means in a moment.
But I say to them first.
So according to the Bible says, it says here, the moment you believe you get everlasting life.
So how long is everlasting?
Most people say something.
Well, it's forever.
It never ends.
Look, as long as the answer is about right.
Yeah, you got it.
You're right.
Again, you know what you're talking about.
You're smart.
Okay.
You're getting it.
Well done.
All right.
Maybe I do it.
Look, I don't know.
Maybe I'm a bit overboard, but I really want them to feel engaged.
Intelligence.
All right.
Making them feel valued.
That's what I want them to, I want them to know that I value them.
I do because I do value them.
I do value them.
Okay.
But I want them to know that I value them.
So whatever they say, even if it's slightly right.
Yeah, you're right.
Okay.
And they'll say something like, okay, you know, it never ends or it lasts forever.
Whatever they say.
Hey, you're right.
So then I'll say to them this.
So if you were to receive everlasting life today.
If you get everlasting life today, but tomorrow you commit some horrible sin.
And I'll be like, let's just say, you know, in a fit of rage, you might go and murder someone.
And then I'll be like, not saying that you should.
And they'll get, they'll laugh, something like that, right?
Not saying that you should.
But let's say it did happen.
Okay.
Would you lose your everlasting life?
And I think this is a 50-50 answer.
They'll probably say yes, you'll lose it or no, you can't.
I'd say it's somewhere 50-50.
Okay.
If they've paid it, if they were paying attention, it's, you can never lose it.
It never ends.
Then they're going to get the right answer.
But again, they're still kind of in the, you kind of have to be good though.
So if I did something really horrible, yeah, I would lose it.
Okay.
Now, whatever the answer is, I'll say, look, you can't lose it tomorrow because it's everlasting
life.
If you could lose it, it's temporary life.
You define it as a life that never ends, which is correct.
Once you have it, you can never lose it.
And then I'll use this phrase.
And this is a phrase that I only came up with two years ago.
But to me, it's something else that clicks in their hearts, in their minds.
They'll say, you can't be bad enough to lose it because you were never good enough to get
it in the first place.
It's not about your performance.
It's about what Jesus has done for you.
For some reason, that phrase just cements something in their minds.
It can't be bad enough because I was never good enough.
Okay.
It was never about what you have done.
It's the work of Jesus Christ that he's done for you.
Honestly, if you can learn that phrase, memorize the Bible verses.
If you memorize any of my phrases, memorize that one.
It really helps.
It really, really helps to explain it to someone that is confused.
And again, when I, the reason I say that is because I've seen how things have, you see
it on someone's face when it clicks.
You just, it's like, oh, something they get, it processes, it's consistent, it's logical.
It's simple.
Okay.
Now at this point, I want to talk about belief.
What does it mean to believe?
Okay.
They've already seen it.
Clearly, it's just believing.
But they may not know what believing is.
Now, you need to remember this.
When you go and knock on someone's door, if they give you the right answer, oh, you just
have to believe in Christ.
If you conclude you must be saved then, you haven't got the experience.
Okay.
Because a lot of people say, say something like, oh, you just have to have faith in Christ.
Or you just have to receive him.
But if you ask them, what do you mean by that?
You'll be surprised how many just revert back to works.
Well, it means you've got to keep the commandments.
But if you don't ask them the follow up question, you'll never know.
You just conclude they said the right thing.
People say the right thing all the time, but they're not saved.
They don't understand.
Catholics say the right things.
People say the right things, but they're not saved.
So you have to explain to them what belief is.
Believe it or not, you do.
You have to explain to them what faith is.
And the easiest way that I've been able to convey this is with the word trust.
Because in the Bible, this is interchangeable.
These words, trust, believe.
And so I'll use this example.
I'll say to them, look, the Bible says to believe in Christ.
If I said to you that I believe in our prime minister, what am I saying?
And then I'll say something like, just joking.
By the way, I don't really, I don't trust any, I don't believe, I'll say this.
If I said to him, I believe in the prime minister,
obviously I'm not saying I just believe he exists.
If I said to you, I believe in our prime minister, I'm saying to you that I trust
that he's going to do the best for our country.
That I trust he's going to keep his campaign promises when he was elected.
Okay.
And then I'll say something like, by the way, I don't trust any politicians.
Okay.
And people are like, aha.
Whatever, the interaction, right?
The interaction's there.
They kind of have a giggle, whatever.
All right.
But I show them, look, it means to trust.
It's not just, I know he exists.
He knows, I know he's our prime minister, but I trust in him.
When I say to them, then in order for you to believe on Christ,
this means you have to put all your trust on Christ.
Okay.
Then I use the illustration.
I don't know where I learned this from.
I don't know if it was you, brother Michael or someone else.
But I'll use the hand illustration, the two hands.
And I'll say to them, look, whatever object you have, let's say it's my phone.
I'll say to them, look, this hand represents Sam or Kevin.
Like, I don't want them to feel like an idiot, like Sam or Kevin or me, like Kevin.
This hand represents Jesus.
I'll say to them, look, and this phone represents your faith, your belief, who you trust.
And then I'll say to them this, okay, if someone said to you,
I know I'm going to heaven because I'm a good person.
And I'll exaggerate this.
I'm a good person.
I give money to the poor.
I helped the old lady cross the street.
I'm living a better life today than I did yesterday.
Is their trust on Kevin?
Oh, I'll say this.
If I said that to them, that's right.
Let me rephrase that.
I'll say something.
If I said, I'm a good person.
I give money to the poor.
I helped the old lady.
And I'm like, I'm exaggerating.
Exaggerate.
I, and I'm doing this, I, okay.
To make it clear, is my trust in Kevin?
Or is it on Jesus?
And if you've exaggerated enough with the hand gestures,
they'll be like, oh, Kevin.
All right.
But if I said to you, I'm going to heaven,
not because of anything I've done,
but because Jesus died on the cross for me
and rose again from the dead and paid for all of my sins,
is my trust now in Kevin or is on Jesus?
And they'll be like, it's on Jesus.
Exactly.
You remember earlier you said that you believe going to heaven
is based on how good you are?
Well, by that definition, your trust was on Sam.
Sam, what I'm telling you that you need to do
is to put all your trust on Jesus,
not 50% on Sam and 50% on Jesus,
but 100% on Jesus, nothing on Sam,
because Jesus has paid for all of your sins.
That really helps them understand the belief in the faith.
Now, can you see my presentation so far?
What am I spending most of my time on?
The power of God unto salvation, the gospel.
Okay.
I'm not spending excessive time on how sinful they are
or what the punishment for sin is at the end of the day.
I've covered those topics,
but I'm trying to really get to understand what Christ has done.
And look, when you spend this time,
you are simplifying it in their minds.
It truly is simple.
And at this point, I'll say to them,
look, thank you for your time.
I just want to show you one more passage and then I'm done.
Okay.
And I'll take them back to Romans 6 23.
Romans 6 23, which says,
for the wages of sin is death.
And at that point, I'll say to him,
I read that part to you earlier.
You may recall and they're like, oh yeah.
I said, but I didn't read the rest of it to you.
It says here, but the gift of God is eternal life
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
And I'll say to them,
eternal life there is the same as everlasting life.
And they'll be like, oh yeah.
Don't think that's obvious.
Just let them know.
Okay.
And then I'll say to them, look, the Bible says here,
eternal life or everlasting life is the gift of God.
Have you ever given somebody a gift?
Yes.
Who pays for the gifts?
The giver or the receiver?
And again, sometimes people are like,
ah, it's not a trick question.
I'm just, it's just a simple question.
Again, I'm trying to show, I'm not trying to trick you.
Who pays for the gifts?
The giver or the receiver?
Like, or the giver.
All right.
So if God wants to give you eternal life,
who pays for it?
You or God?
Like God.
And be like, yeah.
And how did he pay for it?
Through Jesus Christ our Lord.
When Christ sacrificed himself and paid for all of your sins.
God paid it for all of it.
So you have nothing left to pay.
At that point, I feel like they've got like, that's it.
I'm done.
I'm pretty much done.
I am done with the gospel presentation.
Look, if that's taken, and it's taken me longer than 15 minutes.
I understand because I'm explaining the whole thing to you.
But as you're talking to someone door to door,
if that's taken you longer than 15 minutes,
you gotta cut it down.
You're wasting time.
Okay.
Honestly, that is enough for people to click and understand.
Look, have there been times that I've spent an hour with someone?
Yes.
Okay.
But they're very strange scenarios.
Okay.
You know, mental issues.
Someone's very slow or someone was just so messed up with false doctrine,
but they sincerely want to know the truth.
And you've got to spend time breaking down all that false doctrine.
Okay.
Those times happen.
But like 95% of my gospel presentation is 15 minutes or less.
Okay.
And you can see what I've emphasized.
The power of God unto salvation.
At this point, I say, okay, hey, that's it.
All right.
Thank you for your time.
But just to summarize, I'm always saying thank you for your time.
Things like that.
Saying, no, look, he's not going to ramble for another hour.
Okay.
I don't want him to lose interest.
I want them to go, okay, I'm in the, I'm on the home stretch now.
I'm like, I'm getting to it, right?
Then I'll summarize.
I'll say, well, look, would you admit that you're a sinner?
And they'll be like, yeah.
Again, everybody admits they're a sinner.
Now, I've changed the way I ask the next question.
Remember how I told you a lot of people get caught up with not wanting to think about
hell and that they're on their way to hell?
Okay.
I don't hide that.
I make it clear, but I changed the way I asked.
I used to ask them, so if you were to die today, would you be, I don't know, I can't
remember what I would say.
If you were to die today, would you go to heaven or to hell?
And then people are like, you know why?
Because people are superstitious.
They think if I say these words, I guess I'm going to hell or something like that.
They don't want that idea.
But they, look, at that, you know, I realized that there were so many roadblocks when I
got to this point that I had to change the way I said it.
I'm not trying to hide the doctrine.
It's true.
They have to understand that.
They have to realize that's the truth of the destination.
But the way you change it is taking it away from the first person to the third person.
Okay.
So instead of saying to them, so you on your way to hell, weren't you?
I say to them, okay.
So according to the Bible, I just want them to acknowledge what the Bible says.
According to the Bible, if a sinner dies without a sinner, maybe not you, but a sinner,
acknowledge you're a sinner.
Okay.
But I'm taking this to the third person.
If a sinner were to die without believing in Christ, would they go to heaven or hell?
And I find that much easier for them to get, yeah, hell.
Okay.
They're not saying I'm going to hell, but they're acknowledged they're the sinner.
Okay.
And according to the Bible, if they were to die, they would go to hell.
But I've changed the way I've said it to them.
It's much easier for them to give me the right answer, respond without stopping it there.
And then that being the big issue, okay.
It happens more often than you realize.
Okay.
At that point, I'm like, okay, but does God want us, now back to the first person, first person.
Does God want us to go to hell?
No.
So what did he do so we don't have to go to hell?
They'll say something like he died for us, or he sent his son to die for us.
That's often the right, that's the right answer.
But I'm always like, so what happened three days later?
Oh, he rose from the dead.
I just wanted to remember there's victory.
It's not just death, there's the resurrection.
Okay.
And they know that, but I just want them to remember to acknowledge that, okay.
That he rose from the dead.
I'm like, all right.
So if Jesus has paid for all of your sins, does that mean we all automatically go to heaven?
I'm just summarizing the questions now.
Okay.
I'm not showing them the passages anymore.
I'm just summarizing.
Does that mean we all automatically go to heaven?
Well, no.
And then I'll ask them this question, word for word.
So what must we do to be saved?
Exactly how it is in that verse.
So what must we do to be saved?
And look, honestly, if you've spent enough time on the power of God unto salvation,
if you've spent enough time on Christ crucified, on the payment of their sins by shed blood,
if you've spent enough time explaining faith alone, eternal life,
they're going to give you the right answer.
It's strange for someone at this point to say, oh, I think I've got to go to church.
I think I've got to be a good person.
To me, something's wrong.
You're not clarifying.
You're not simplifying it.
Okay.
You're the teacher.
Okay.
And they'll say to me, well believe, believe on Jesus Christ and say, yeah,
the moment you believe on Christ, you receive eternal life.
I don't ask them, the moment you believe, do you get eternal life?
I'm not trying to create doubts.
I say to them, the moment you believe, you get given everlasting life.
Is there anything that you can do to lose it?
And they'll be like, no, again, if you've been clear, no, there's nothing you can do.
You're right.
I'm like, all right, you get it.
This is the gospel.
Now, this is how I end.
I say to them, look, you saw earlier that salvation is the gift of God.
Now, when someone offers you a gift, you have a choice.
You can either receive the gift or you can reject the gift.
And look, I know in America, it's, this part's easy.
Look, I've had, I've lost, I think it was eight or nine times in America that I've given
someone the whole gospel and every single time they call from them Lord easily.
It's not even something that you have to encourage someone.
At this point, I'm like, you know, in America, well, the Bible, and this is the, this is
the half, the six and a half, the half, right?
I'll say to them, well, the Bible says, for whosoever shall call upon the name of the
Lord shall be saved.
In America, I'm like, so?
If you would like to receive Christ as your Savior right now, if you believe this to be
true, I'd like to lead you in a word of prayer and call upon Christ right now and ask him
to save you, give you everlasting life.
And 100% of the time, yep, let's do it.
Doesn't matter what state.
I've gone soul winning in four states in America.
There is a church going, God fearing culture, even amongst Americans.
It's there.
It's not in Australia.
It's different.
The gospel is the same, okay?
But the people are different, okay?
So it makes me sad because I used to hear American pastors say, you know, as soon as
you give the whole presentation, they're guaranteed to be saved.
Just lock it in.
They're saved, like, because, you know, they're going to call upon their Lord.
But then in Australia, it's not happening.
You know, half of them are not wanting to call upon their Lord or more than half.
And I'm like, what's wrong with me as a soul winner?
But again, I go to America and there's nothing wrong with me as a soul winner.
It's just Australians have this extra barrier to speak to God.
And so anyway, I show them.
When I say half, it's because I just quote it.
I don't show them the scripture.
I just look for who shall call upon their Lord shall be saved.
And I say to them, look, because they're embarrassed.
Oh, he's going to get me, trying to get me to church.
I've never prayed in my life.
There's that Australian thing, whatever it is, whatever that Australian thing is, it's
there, okay?
So I'll say to them, look, I may never see you again, and you may never hear this again.
Before I leave, I'd like to help you receive this free gift, okay?
And I don't use the word prayer because Australians get turned off.
I'd like to help you ask Jesus right now, ask, instead of prayer.
Same thing, same word, okay?
But Australians need to ask, not pray.
You turn them off.
I'd like to help you ask Jesus right now for that free gift.
Would you be happy to do that?
And they're like, oh, I don't know, I got to think about it.
I'm like, look, you may forget all of this tomorrow.
I may never see you again.
You know, if you never step, and I'll say something like, if you never step into my
church, I don't care.
I just want you to step into heaven, okay?
The Bible says, Jesus Christ speaks of compelling them to come in.
Like if someone's like, oh, I don't know.
I'm like, all right, you know.
No, I try to encourage them one more or two more times.
Look, after a couple of pushes, they're like, obviously, I'm not going to make them say
some profession that is lacking belief.
You know, they've been forced into doing something.
Obviously, that person, if they don't believe, they're not going to be saved.
We're just going through the motions just to get a number, just one salvation.
We don't want that either.
We want them to truly have trusted Christ and want that free gift of salvation.
At that point, many times I'll be like, yeah, okay.
And then I'll say this, if they have to pray, because of what I've gone through in Baptist
churches, when I ask people, so are you saved?
Well, yeah.
Well, when did you get saved?
Or how did you get saved?
And I ask my independent Baptist friends, they get offended.
And I say friends, I'm saying church members.
They get offended.
It's like, well, how dare you ask me if I got saved or if I'm saved?
I'm like, that's like the most important question.
Like, I'd be rejoicing if someone were to check with me.
Look, I just want to check if you're saved.
I'd be rejoicing with that kind of question.
But a lot of answers that I've heard in churches is, yeah, I said the sinner's prayer.
I'm saved because I said the sinner's prayer.
I said the prayer.
It's like, you know, why can't you just give me the answer, the power of God unto salvation?
Why can't you just say, I trusted Christ or I put my faith on the finished work of Christ?
Because I don't know what you're praying.
Are you trusting the prayer?
What did you pray?
What were you believing when you say, I said the prayer doesn't mean anything?
What prayer?
You know, some Roman Catholic traditional prayer?
I don't know.
What does that mean?
You know, so I'll say to them, look, it's not magic words.
Okay.
It's not magic words that save you.
It's the one that you're speaking to that saves you.
I just want that to be clear to them.
Okay.
They're not just doing some religious hocus pocus.
One, two, three, repeat after me and you're saved.
They're praying to the one who's ready right now to save them.
Okay.
And then I'll lead them in prayer.
All right.
Dear Jesus, dear Jesus.
And if they don't repeat, I'll be like, dear Jesus, they don't repeat.
I'll be like, oh, you just repeat after me.
Just encourage them.
Oh, dear Jesus.
I know I'm a sinner.
And look, it doesn't have to be word for word.
What do the people on the cross say?
Remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom.
And he's saved today.
That should be with me in paradise, said Jesus.
But again, we're just in this prayer.
We're just summarizing what they believe in.
That's what they're saying to Jesus.
Okay.
Dear Jesus, dear Jesus.
I know I'm a sinner.
But I believe that you died for me.
Please give me everlasting life.
I'm only trusting you, Jesus.
I like that.
I'm only trusting you, Jesus.
Please take me to heaven when I die.
In Jesus' name, amen.
And look, if you miss one of those little things.
They're just telling Jesus.
Okay.
Save me.
Thank you.
You know, and again, people get bogged down with what words.
Did you ask or did you just thank him?
Look, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom.
Look, you're putting your faith, you're telling Jesus, look, my faith is on you.
And the verbal helps the soul winner say, look, I've witnessed this person place their faith on Jesus.
Okay.
That's the whole point behind it.
Okay.
So you can say, yes, this person called upon the name of the Lord.
And then you've got those that want to downplay soul winning or attack soul winners.
They'll be like, well, how can you be sure that he really believed?
Look, I saw him confess Christ.
You know, he asked Christ for the free gift of salvation.
You know, the Bible says in Hebrews 10 23,
let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering.
For he is faithful that promised.
For Christ is faithful that promised.
You know, God says if you place your faith on Christ, he promises that person is saved.
So I'm going to say, yeah, he's saved.
I'm not going to have doubts about it.
You say, but what if they just go and what if they didn't mean it?
I guess that could happen.
But that's not my job.
My job is to give them the gospel, to help them speak to God, to speak to Jesus,
to call upon him, to place their faith on him.
Once I've done that, I've done my job.
And look, if they've just gone through the motions or just lying,
they're going to have to give account for that when they meet Jesus.
Not me.
My hands are clean.
My hands are clean from innocent, you know, from blood, from the blood of that person.
And it's their call, but that's it.
I'm not going to have to watch them.
Do they come to church though?
I hope they come to church.
I invite them to church.
Do they read their Bibles or hopes?
I don't know, but I know they're going to heaven.
There's plenty of people that go to church and read the Bibles
and they're still on their way to hell.
So what if they didn't really get saved?
Look, that's all we're required to do to be a witness of Christ.
And I hope that this presentation or the way I present it,
I hope it's just showing you the importance of simplicity.
Making it simple.
You know, don't use overly complicated religious or church words
that you know that they don't understand.
You don't need to impress your silent partner.
Don't worry about that.
You don't need, if you've got someone with me, you don't need to impress me either.
Okay.
You talk to that person one on one, making it simple, helping them understand,
show them that your love and attention is upon them.
Okay.
If I'm your silent partner, I'm not like examining you.
You know, did you use the same verse as Pastor Sepulveda?
Did you say it the same way?
I'm just glad you're out there because there's so few.
I'm glad this is a soul-winning church.
Praise God for the soul winners.
All right, brethren.
The simplicity.
Preaching the simplicity that is in Christ.
I hope that's given you some things to think about.
Let's pray.