1 Peter 3.15, the Bible says, it says,
but sanctify the Lord God in your hearts.
It says, 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 here in 1 Peter 3, we see that God commands us to be,
it says to be ready always to give an answer.
And what does it mean to be ready?
It means that you are prepared.
It means that you're ready to go.
And it says, be prepared, be ready.
It says always, meaning at all times, during all occasions,
we should always be prepared, be ready to give an answer
to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope
that is in you with meekness and in fear.
And this morning I wanna quickly preach
on being a ready soul winner.
Being a ready soul winner,
cause you could be a soul winner,
but you could be an unprepared soul winner.
You could be somebody who is not ready
and God commands you and I to be a ready soul winner.
In Romans 1 15, the apostle Paul said this.
He said, so as much as in me is,
I am ready to preach the gospel to you
that are at Rome also.
To the apostle Paul said, so as much as in me is,
to the best of my ability, to the best of my capacity,
I am ready to preach the gospel.
And you and I were called to be a ready soul winner.
He replaced it in 1 Peter 3,
but go quickly to 2 Timothy chapter 2.
2 Timothy 2.
And you gotta realize that being a soul winner,
a successful soul winner is not gonna happen by accident.
You need to be prepared.
You need to be ready.
And there are some things that you and I must do.
You're going to 2 Peter 2.
And the truth is it takes,
when you're gonna do something,
it takes time to prepare.
You know, this morning it took time for you to do it,
to get ready to come soloing.
You had to get yourself ready.
There was preparation involved in that.
You know, if you're gonna run a race,
if you're gonna run a marathon,
you're gonna train hard for that marathon.
You're not gonna show up to that marathon
and expect to win when you haven't worked out,
you haven't watched your diet.
No, it takes preparation.
It takes time.
It takes effort for you to prepare yourself
to be ready for that race.
And same thing when you're gonna take a test, for example.
You know, when the big test comes,
you're not gonna show up to that test unprepared.
You haven't studied.
You're not ready because you're just gonna fail.
If you're gonna be ready, it takes time to prepare.
2 Timothy 2, verse number 15, it says, notice,
it says, study to show thyself approved unto God.
See, the first area where you and I must prepare
is that you and I must prepare through reading.
See, a ready soul winner takes time preparing in reading.
A ready soul winner will read their Bible
every day of the week to prepare themselves,
to get themselves ready.
And here the Bible says, it says,
study to show thyself approved unto God,
a workman that is not to be ashamed rightly,
dividing the word of truth.
And the idea is when you're gonna go to take a test,
what do you do? You prepare.
You take time, you study, you read the word of God.
And if you're gonna be a ready soul winner,
somebody who's prepared, you must study the word of God.
Look at verse number 24, 2 Timothy 2, verse 24, it says,
and the servant of the Lord must not strive.
It says, but be gentle unto all men.
And it says, it says, apt to teach patience.
See, God calls you and I to be apt,
to have the capability to teach.
Why? Because it says we're to be ready always
to give an answer to every man.
There's gonna be questions that people ask you
and the Bible commands you and I to be apt to teach,
to be prepared, to be ready.
And before we get to verse 24, God says in verse 15,
hey, before you get there, before you're ready,
guess what? You need to study.
You need to read your Bible every day.
See, if you're gonna be a ready soul winner,
a ready soul winner spends time preparing
by reading the word of God.
So if you don't have a time
when you read the Bible every day,
you need to pin that down.
And be a ready soul winner, how is it done?
By you reading the Bible every single day.
It says, again, it says,
and the servant of the Lord must not strive,
verse 24, but be gentle unto all men.
It says, apt to teach patience.
Notice verse 25, it says, in meekness,
notice what it says, it says,
instructing those that oppose themselves.
See, we're called to teach,
we're called to give instruction,
instruct those that oppose themselves.
But here's the thing, if you're not prepared,
if you haven't studied, if you're not ready,
how can we give those instructions?
You know, how can we be ready to answer every man
if we haven't taken the time to read the word of God?
It says, in meekness, instructing those
that oppose themselves, if God,
part eventually will give them repentance
to the acknowledging of the truth.
Either in 2 Timothy 2, we go to 2 Timothy 3.
2 Timothy 3, look at verse number 16.
2 Timothy 3, 16, the Bible says,
it says, all scripture is given by inspiration of God,
notice, and is profitable for what?
For doctrine, for proof, for correction,
notice, for instruction in righteousness.
See, when we've gotten, we meet people
and we give them the gospel,
they're gonna have some harder questions.
And God commands us to study
so that we can give them that reproof,
give them that instruction, give them that correction,
the direction that they need in life.
But how's it done?
It's done through all scripture.
It's done through you studying,
through being the word of God,
by being a ready sorter,
prepared to go out there and receive those questions
and have an answer to every man.
And look, obviously we don't have an answer for everything.
None of us know the Bible 100%, we're not God.
But here's the thing, we should be striving to get ready,
to be prepared, to study diligently
so that we can give an answer to every man.
It says again, all scripture is given by inspiration of God
and is profitable for doctrine, for proof, for correction,
for instruction in righteousness,
that the man of God may be perfect,
thoroughly furnished unto all good works.
Go back to 1 Peter 3, if you would, 1 Peter 3.
So how do you prepare?
Number one, a ready sorter spends time
preparing through reading.
A ready sorter spends time preparing through reading.
But not only that, but a ready sorter
spends time preparing through prayer.
A ready sorter spends time preparing through prayer.
Because look, you're not just going to show up
to soul winning without having read your Bible,
without having prayed and expect for God
to do some great work in your life.
No, it takes preparation.
It takes you taking time to read, but also to pray.
1 Peter 3 again, verse 15.
Notice what it says, it says,
but sanctify, notice, the Lord God in your hearts.
You know, how is that done?
That's done through you and your heart,
by you praying to God, by you being right with God.
It's done through you praying every day to the Lord.
It says, but sanctify the Lord God in your hearts
and be ready always to give an answer to every man
that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you.
Notice, with meekness and with fear.
You see, you and I, we ought to pray
that God would allow us to have the answer to give them.
And look at the Holy Spirit, all the Holy Spirit does
is bring the word of God to your remembrance.
You know, how is the Holy Spirit
going to bring the word of God to your remembrance
if you're not reading it?
You got to pray for you to be filled with the Spirit
so that the Holy Spirit can help you remember those verses
that you will need to give that answer to that man
when they ask those questions.
You got to pray that the Holy Spirit would fill you
so you can give that answer.
You got to pray that God would allow us
to preach the word of God.
You know, pray that God would open up the door
for someone to be receptive to the gospel.
You know, you got to pray that we go out
in the right spirit, because notice what it says.
It says, that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you.
Notice how we're supposed to be.
It says, with meekness and with fear.
You and I should pray to go out with the right Spirit
when it comes to soul winning.
Because it's all good if we read the Bible,
but if we have knowledge, we read the Bible,
and we go with the wrong spirit, then that's not right.
We're supposed to go out with the right spirit.
It says, with meekness and with fear.
The apostle Paul said, with all praying for us also,
that God would open unto us a door of utterance
to speak the mystery of Christ for which I am also in bonds.
You got to be prepared through prayer.
So you got to ask yourself, you know,
are you a ready soul winner?
You say, a ready soul winner, what do they do?
They take time to prepare.
They take time to get ready.
How is it done?
It's done through reading the Bible, not just on Saturday,
not just during church, but every day studying
to show yourself approval to God.
Being ready, preparing yourself to be able to give an answer,
to instruct people to be apt to teach
when it comes to those questions.
You got to prepare through praying.
Every day, you got to pray that God would fill you
with the Spirit so that when the questions come,
the Holy Spirit will bring that to your remembrance
so you can give that answer to those people.
You got to ask yourself, are you a ready soul winner?
You know, am I a ready soul winner?
We got to prepare, take time to prepare,
to be ready to give an answer to every man.
Let's close in prayer.
Heavenly Father, I thank you for this morning.
Dear God, I thank you for your word.
I just pray that you be with all the soul winners this morning.
God, I pray that you fill us all with your Spirit, Lord.
And I thank you for our church, Lord.
I thank you for the time you've given us to God
and preach the gospel, Lord.
And I just pray that you help us to have good success,
to keep us safe, God.
And I just thank you for the blessings.
We love you.
Jesus, we pray, amen.