So, let's go to lesson number two. So, if you turn over the next page, and that's page
number four, we have lesson number two, and this lesson is entitled, The Questions.
The questions, okay? So, number one, we want to ask questions. Letter A, ask questions
to get their salvation testimony. Ask questions to get their salvation testimony. Psalm 107
says this, Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, whom He hath redeemed from the hand of
the enemy. The Bible says, Let the redeemed of the Lord say so. If you are redeemed,
you should be able to say that. You should be able to testify that. Number one, we cannot
see a person's heart, whether they are saved or not. That's between them and God.
We can't see that. Number two, we can only base their salvation by their testimony.
We can only base their salvation by what they say to us, all right? So, we're trying
to get their testimony. Letter B, Do not answer the question for them or put words in their
mouths. This, I've seen a lot of soul winners do this, and I don't know if there's
a fear here of conversation or what, but they'll ask a question, and then they'll
answer it. There's no point of answering the, asking a question if you're going to answer
it on their behalf. So, you know, I put an example. Don't say something like this.
Are you sure of your salvation because of your faith in Jesus? It's like, well,
you just told them the answer, you know, or, you know, why are you sure you're on
your way to heaven because you accepted Christ as your savior? You know, just ask them questions
in a way. Well, we're not giving them the answer. We're not putting words in their
mouths. We're trying to find out what they believe, what they think, all right?
Number two, ask effective questions. Ask effective questions. Don't ask vague questions.
Letter A, Don't ask vague questions. Let me give you an example of vague questions.
These are all questions I've heard soul winners ask, and they're all terrible questions.
You should ask someone when you're trying to get their salvation testimony.
They're not terrible questions. The question itself isn't terrible, but they're too vague, okay?
Here are some vague questions. Are you a Christian? Are you a believer? Are you born again?
Have you accepted Jesus in your heart? Do you know if you have a home in heaven?
All right, listen. Every Mormon, every Catholic, every Jehovah's Witness, every whatever is going to say,
yes, I'm a believer. Yes, I'm born again. Yes, I'm a Christian.
Yes, I accepted Jesus in my heart. Okay, they're too vague of questions. They're vague questions.
The purpose of the question is to try to figure out, is this person saved?
We're trying to get their salvation testimony.
Letter B, Don't be satisfied with vague answers.
So don't ask vague questions, but they're going to give you vague answers.
Don't be satisfied with vague answers.
So when people answer, they answer your question with statements like this,
because of my faith, or because of Jesus, or because of God, or because of the Bible.
Those are vague. What does that mean, you know?
So here's how we deal with that when letter C.
If they give you a vague answer, then give a follow-up question, all right?
If they give you a vague answer, then you come back with a follow-up question.
Now let me explain to you the sequence of questions that I teach people to do when they're out soul winning.
And like I said, you can do whatever you want, but if you don't have a structure,
let me give you a structure that has been proven, it works, it's consistent, it'll help you, all right?
So a sequence of questions.
Letter A, of course you have your introduction.
You knock on the door, you open the door, you smile, look them in the eye.
Hi, we're coming from Verity Baptist Church, wanted to give you and your family an invitation to church,
and you hand them the invitation.
They take the invitation from you.
This is something I ask, you know, you can do whatever you want,
but I always ask people, do you go to church anywhere?
Now the reason that I do this is because this tells us about their background, all right?
This tells us about their background, and that's the fill-in.
So when I ask someone, I say, hi, we're coming from Verity Baptist Church,
just wanted to give you and your family an invitation to church.
You go and hand it to them, they grab it.
Do you go to church anywhere, sir?
Do you go to church anywhere, ma'am?
And they respond, yeah, you know, I go to the church, you know, of Christ.
Or, you know, I go to the church of the Latter-day Saints.
Or I go to, you know, whatever.
Whatever their response is, now I kind of have a background, like, okay, this person is a Mormon,
or this person is a Catholic, or this person is a Lutheran.
And if you know, you know, maybe certain things,
then you may know what their hang-ups are going to be in regards to the church.
So it kind of gives you a background.
Also kind of breaks the ice, because you can say, well, you know,
if they say I don't go to church, you can say, well, we'd love for you to come visit with us.
You know, we're on Northgate Boulevard, not too far from here.
Be ready to kind of, you know, you're inviting people to church,
so be ready to kind of give them some sort of a reference.
I always tell people this, do you know where Fry's Electronics is?
You know, everybody knows where Fry's Electronics is.
You know what I'm saying?
Well, if you know where Fry's is, you just go a little further on Fry's, and, you know,
you're going away from the freeway.
And if you see that Wendy's, we're across the street
from the Wendy's in the business park.
So just kind of think about something that you can say along those lines.
But after you invite them to church, here's the thing.
It doesn't matter what they say.
I don't go to church anywhere.
Oh, well, we'd love for you to come by and visit with us.
Or, you know, I go to this church.
That's fine.
Whatever they say, the next thing I'm going to say to them is, well, listen,
more important than going to church.
You know, more important than going to church.
And this kind of tells them we're not as interested in their religion
as we are in their salvation.
And that's just the truth.
You know, we don't, it doesn't really matter what church they go to.
We want to give them the gospel.
All right?
So, you know, more important than going to church, and then here's the question.
If you died today, do you know if you would go to heaven?
If you died today, do you know if you'd go to heaven?
And you can say that differently, you know, but that's the basis of it.
Sometimes, you know, if it's a lady that, maybe like an older lady, you know,
I might say something like, you know, heaven forbid if you were to die today, you know.
Do you know if you go to heaven?
If it's some rough guy, you know, I might be like, hey, look, if you died today,
do you know if you would go to heaven or hell?
Or maybe you're not sure, never thought about it.
You can say it different ways, but the question you want to ask is this.
You know, if you died today, do you know if you would go to heaven?
Our question needs to be directed towards what they believe.
Our questions need to be directed towards what they believe.
Why do we ask that question?
Because it opens up the opportunity for us to figure out what does this person believe, all right?
So, you know, let's say you say something along these lines.
You know, if I could show you from the Bible.
So let's say you asked a question, right?
Do you know if you're sure you died today or you go to heaven?
And we're going to talk about the responses here in a little bit.
But let's just say they respond, you know, I don't know.
I don't know if I died today if I go to heaven.
You know, the next thing you want to just ask them is basically you're asking permission
to present the gospel to them.
So if I could show you from the Bible how you could know for sure you're on your way
to heaven, would you be interested in seeing it?
Now this is one area where I differ than most soul winning Baptists that I've ever known.
And I grew up in soul winning atmospheres where we were told never ask for permission.
You stick your foot in that door and you just start preaching the gospel to them and
you make them run you out, okay?
That is not my philosophy.
And if you do that, stop, all right?
Because you are making us look bad and you're making us look like jerks, all right?
Here's the thing.
Here's what I found.
There are some people who if I just open up my Bible and start just heading at it,
they're not going to slam that door in my face.
They are not going to say anything bad.
They will sit there for an hour and listen to me.
But at the end of the day, they're not going to get saved because they weren't
interested to begin with.
Does that make sense?
We're looking for people who are interested.
Jesus equated soul winning to fishing.
He said, follow me and I will make you fishers of men.
And here's the thing about fishing.
You're looking for the right catch, all right?
You're looking.
So I just ask people, are you interested in knowing if you died today if you go to heaven?
If their answer is, I don't really care, then I'm just going to move on because
I'm looking for someone who does care.
Does that make sense?
Because I can spend 45 minutes giving them the gospel, but if they don't care at the
beginning of 45 minutes, they're probably going to care less at the end of 45 minutes.
Does that make sense?
So just ask for permission.
If I could show you from the Bible how you can know for sure you're on your way
to heaven, would you be interested in seeing it?
Now let's talk about their response.
Let's say you ask a question.
If you died today, do you know for sure if you'd go to heaven?
Let's say their answer is, I don't know.
I don't know if I'd go to heaven.
Well, could I show you from the Bible how you'd be 100% sure you're on your way to
heaven?
Yeah, I mean, I'd love to know that.
And then you start giving them the gospel, and we'll talk about that in a second.
Let's say they respond with a vague salvation testimony.
Let's say they say, yeah, I think I'm on my way to heaven.
Or yeah, I'm pretty sure I'm on my way to heaven.
Or yeah, I'd go to heaven if I died.
Well, we want to find out why, because here's the thing.
Some people think they're going to heaven because they got baptized.
Some people think they're going to heaven because they repented of their sins.
Some people think they're going to heaven because they've been living a good life.
So when somebody says like, you ask them a question, do you know for sure that they'd
go to heaven?
Oh yeah, I think I'm on my way to heaven.
The next question I ask is, well, what gives you that assurance?
What are you trusting in to get you to heaven?
What gives you that confidence that you're on your way to heaven?
Usually the next answer is going to tell you what they believe.
Because if someone says to me, yeah, I'm on my way to heaven, and I say, what?
That's great.
Let me ask you this.
What are you trusting in to get you to heaven?
What gives you that confidence you're on your way to heaven?
And they're like, well, you know, my dad was a Baptist preacher.
When I was 12 years old, I got baptized.
Is that person saved?
No.
You know, or, well, you know, I started going, I used to be on drugs and I quit
drinking and I quit, you know, doing this and that's why I think I'm going to heaven.
That's the wrong answer.
So the answer gives us, you know, kind of, and here's the thing, if that's what they
say, do you know for sure that I didn't go to heaven?
Yeah, I'm pretty sure I go to heaven.
What are you trusting in to get you to heaven?
Well, you know, I'm just trying to live a good life.
Well, you know, I'm just trying to follow the commandments.
Well, I'm just trying to treat my neighbor as I'd like to be treated.
I'm just trying to follow the Bible.
Usually what I respond at that point is, hey, that's great, but listen, did you
know the Bible says that going to heaven has nothing to do with keeping the commandments?
Or did you know the Bible says that going to heaven has nothing to do with living
a good life?
Have you ever heard the Bible says that going to heaven has nothing to do with what religion
you are?
You know, if they're like, well, you know, I think I'm going to heaven because I'm
a Lutheran.
Well, did you know the Bible says that going to heaven has nothing to do with what
religion you are?
Could I show you from the Bible what the Bible says about going to heaven?
And if the answer is no, well, then just move on.
If the answer is yes, then now you have someone who's interested in hearing the gospel.
Now let's say you ask a question, do you know for sure that day you go to heaven?
They respond, yeah, I think I'd be on my way to heaven.
And you say, well, what are you trusting in to get you to heaven?
What gives you that confidence?
What gives you that assurance that you're on your way to heaven?
And their response is still vague.
Jesus, faith, the Bible.
You know, we still don't know if we're saved.
So the last kind of attempt is to ask them about eternal security.
And here's what I usually ask people.
Is there, and I'll say something like this, well, let me ask you this.
Do you believe, is there anything you think you could do that would cause you to lose
your salvation?
Any sin that you could perform that would cause you to not be saved anymore?
If their answer is absolutely not, I mean, once you're saved, you're always saved,
I don't think.
And that person's probably saved.
But if they're like, well, yeah, I mean, you know, if I, if I just, you know, started
living for the world and yeah, I think God would take my salvation away, well then
that person's not saved because if you're not, I don't believe in eternal security,
you're not saved.
And we're going to talk about that here in a minute.
So at that point, you just want to cue in on what they're saying and say, well, look,
have you ever heard the Bible teaches that going to heaven, once you have salvation,
you could never lose it?
No, I've never heard that before.
Well, can I show you what the Bible says about being 100% sure you're on your way
to heaven?
Sure.
And then you can begin to give them the gospel.
So we're talking about questions.
We use a sequence of questions.
We're trying to figure out what they believe.
And here's what we start.
Do you know if you're sure you died today or you go to heaven?
I'm not sure.
Now, I want to make this clear because I think sometimes, you know, I teach these
things and people kind of miss the point.
The point is not to go through all these questions.
If you ask them, do you know if you're sure you died today or you go to heaven?
And they fall on their knees and say, I don't know if I died today, I'd go to
What do I do to go to heaven?
What must I do to be saved?
Okay, don't ask them, well, what are you trusting in to get you to heaven?
Okay, they just told you, I don't know.
All right.
So just say, well, can I show you?
The Bible says you can be 100% sure you're on your way to heaven.
Do you mind if I take a few minutes and show you what the Bible says?
You know, the point is not to just to go through all the questions.
But if they say, yeah, I think I'm on my way to heaven, then we want to find out why.
Well, what are you trusting in to get you to heaven?
What gives you assurance you're on your way to heaven?
Well, you know, I just, you know, I got catechized and I did the communion and I got baptized
and I repented my sins and I spoke in tongues.
Whatever their answer is, well, you know, the Bible actually says that salvation has
nothing to do with that.
Could I show you what the Bible says?
The Bible actually says salvation has nothing to do with keeping the commandments, getting
baptized, whatever that is.
And then, you know, but if they still answer vaguely, Jesus, what do you think you could
lose it?
Is there anything you could do that cause you to lose that salvation?
And if they're like, well, yeah, I think, you know, if I just committed adultery on
my wife, if I just left my wife, if I just, you know, started smoking, if I started drinking,
God would take away my salvation.
Well, you know, can I show you what the Bible says?
Because the Bible actually says something different.
And here's what you're going to understand when you're giving the questions, okay?
You want to start at the very beginning positioning yourself as what I'm going to show
you is different than what you already believe, all right?
Now this is a big problem that a lot of soul owners have.
They don't want to come off confrontational.
So they just kind of act like, you know, we basically believe the same thing.
Let me just share a few verses with you.
Now here's a problem with that.
If you start the conversation with them thinking we basically believe the same thing,
then when you get to the end, they're not going to get saved because they're under
the impression that we basically believe the same thing, all right?
So I try to, in a kind, gracious way, to make sure they understand.
Here's what you believe.
You believe you got to keep the commandments.
Can I show you something different than that?
Sometimes at the end, when I'm asking them, you want to get saved?
And they're like, well, I think I already thought that.
We can go back to, no, remember when we first started the conversation, you said
you had to repent of your sins, or you said you could lose your salvation, but do
you see how, or you said you had to work your way to heaven, but do you see how
what I've showed you now is different than that?
You want to position yourself as what I'm showing you is different than what they
believe.
And here's the thing.
If what you're showing them is not different than what they believe, then don't waste your
time there because they're already saved.
Does that make sense?
So go to page number six.
On page six, you have a questions flow chart, okay?
And this is just kind of something to help you out.
It kind of gives you an idea of how questions may go.
Obviously, every door is different.
Every person is different.
Things are going to be different with everyone you talk to.
But this is just kind of an example of how things go on average.
So you start off with, hi, we're coming from Verity Baptist Church.
Just wanted to give you an invitation to church.
Now, if you look at the red arrow, if their answer does not allow the conversation to
continue, so their answer is, I'm not interested, or the answer is, I already have a church,
you know, we're fine.
Their answer is whatever.
They slam the door.
You know, if their answer is, you know, I'm not interested, or I'm an atheist, or whatever,
and they're not allowing for the conversation to continue, you know, just, all right,
well, have a good day, all right?
Don't get mad.
Well, go to hell then, okay?
Don't say that, okay?
That's not, you know, that's not what you want to say, all right?
Just have a good day, all right?
If they're mean to you, they're upset, whatever.
Now let me tell you, what you can do sometimes is just tell people like, hey, on this invitation,
you know, if you open up the invitation, it has some information about our church,
but on the inside, it says the Bible's way to heaven.
It shows some verses on how you can know for sure you're on your way to heaven.
Maybe if you have some time, you can read through that.
It has the verse, and it explains it.
On the back here, on our website, if you go to our website, Verity Baptist, there's
a video you can watch called The Bible Way to Heaven.
It's not very long at all.
It'll explain how you can know for sure you're on your way to heaven.
Sometimes, you know, we have these CDs for you when you go out.
We have a CD called The Bible Way to Heaven CD, which is not a sermon.
It's basically me just giving the gospel extremely thoroughly.
It's like a 25-minute sermon.
I talk about repent of your sins.
I talk about all these different things, you know?
And you can maybe leave that with them, you know?
Let's say they say, man, I would really like to know how to go to heaven, but I'm
actually on my way to work right now.
You know, you can say, hey, well, listen to this CD, you know, and it'll help you.
We also have The Bible Way to Heaven, the Indian version of the CD with the different
Indian dialects that we got from Paul Winneberger, Faithful Word.
And you know, sometimes we go into communities where it's like everyone's Indian or whatever,
so we try to make sure we keep these with us and hand those out.
So try to leave them with a resource.
Try to invite them to churches, you know, whatever you want to say.
Read the invitation.
We'd love for you to come by and visit, but end the conversation there, all right?
Let's say you say, hi, we're coming from ready Baptist church, just wanted to give
you and your family an invitation to church, and their answer allows the conversation
to continue, the green arrow.
Their answer allows the conversation to continue.
Then the next question you may want to ask is, do you go to church anywhere?
No matter what the answer is to that question.
We just ask that question to kind of break the ice, and we ask that question to get
a little bit of the background.
Do you go to church anywhere?
Whatever the answer is, the next question, the next thing you're going to say is, well,
more important than going to church, do you know if you were to die today if you'd
go to heaven?
Now let's say, if you look to the left there, let's say they respond, I don't know.
I'm not sure.
Then you just go to, what would you like?
You know, this is something I often ask people, and you can do whatever you want,
but sometimes when I, let's say I say, hi, we're coming from ready Baptist church,
wanted to give you and your family an invitation to church.
They take the invitation.
Do you go to church anywhere?
Well, you know, sometimes we go to the church down the street or whatever.
Oh, well, that's great.
Well, listen, more importantly than going to church, do you know if you were to die
today, if you would go to heaven or hell or maybe you're not sure, never thought
about it, and they say, I don't know, if I were to die, I have no idea where I would
go.
Sometimes I'll ask people, well, where would we like to go when you die?
You know, because 99.9% of the time they're going to say, well, of course, heaven.
And if they just told you, I want to go to heaven, then you can just follow up with,
well, look, I can show you from the Bible how you can be 100% sure you're on your
way to heaven.
Do you mind if I take a few minutes and show you that?
Well, sure, I'd like you to show me that.
Then you can proceed to give them the gospel, all right?
But let's say you ask, you know, well, more importantly than going to church, you know,
for sure if you die today, you go to heaven, and they respond, if you look to the arrows
to the right there, they respond, yes, I know I'm on my way to heaven.
And what you can say is, well, what gives you that assurance or what are you trusting
in to get you to heaven?
What gives you that confidence?
If they respond with something, you know, that's obviously they're not saved, well,
you know, I used to drink alcohol and I quit drinking alcohol, now I think I'm going
to go to heaven because I turned over a new leaf, well, that person's obviously not saved,
so well, look, the Bible says that I'm glad that you stopped drinking alcohol, that's
great, but you know, the Bible says that going to heaven has nothing to do with
turning over a new leaf.
Could I show you what the Bible says?
But let's say they give you a vague answer, my faith, Jesus, whatever, then you want
to go to that last kind of question, is there anything that you could do, well,
do you believe there's anything you could do that would cause you to lose your salvation?
Any sin you could perform that would cause you to lose your salvation?
And if their response is yes, that you can lose your salvation, then basically proceed
to try to give them the gospel.
You know, the Bible teaches that once you're saved, you can never lose it, you know,
have you ever heard that before?
Can I show you what the Bible says?
And go to that.
Before we finish this lesson, let me explain something about, that's kind of the last
ditch attempt, eternal security, all right?
If they're still answering vague or they're still just not communicating, you may just
be like, well, you know, on the invitation, have some verses, maybe you can read them
in your spare time, you know, have a good day.
But listen to me, because sometimes people answer in a certain way, and here's what
you got to understand, okay?
When you ask somebody, is there anything you could do that would cause you to lose
your salvation, if someone's response is, well, there's nothing that I could do,
that I would do, you know, that person's probably not saved, okay?
Because they're not saying that you can't lose your salvation, they're basically saying,
you can lose your salvation, but I would never do that.
Like, you know, if I killed someone, I could lose my salvation, but I'd never kill someone.
Or if I, you know, committed adultery, then I'd lose my salvation, but I'd never
commit adultery.
So you want to listen to what they're saying.
And here's an issue I have with a lot of soul-runners, is they just don't listen.
They're going through their little checklist, they say, well, pastor said to ask this,
and pastor said to ask this, and pastor said to say this.
And you're going through a checklist, but you're not actually listening to what they're
saying.
Listen to what they're saying, because what they're saying is what they believe,
you know?
And they say something along those lines like, well, there's nothing that I would do to lose
my salvation.
Sometimes I'll say, well, I'm just saying, you know, in theory, is there something
that someone could do to lose their salvation?
You know, and it's like, well, yeah, I mean, of course, you did this and that,
you'd lose your salvation.
Okay, well, that person just told us what they believe.
Does that make sense?
So this second, the first lesson kind of dealt with getting ready for soul winning,
the introduction in soul winning.
This lesson deals with the questions.
We're not really giving the gospel yet.
We're kind of setting up to be able to give the gospel.
We're asking permission to give the gospel.
We're figuring out what these people believe and things of that nature.