So there, 1 Corinthians 9, and I want you to focus on verse number 22.
1 Corinthians 9, 22, the Bible says,
"'To the weak became I his weak, that I might gain the weak.'"
And I want you to notice this phrase the Apostle Paul says.
He says, "'I have made all things to all men that I might by all means save some.'"
See, the Apostle Paul said, "'I have made all things to all men.'"
And this morning, I want to talk about becoming all things to all men.
And number one, to become all things to all men,
you must be ready to come across different kinds of people.
See, when you go out soloing, you just realize you're going to come across people
who are different than you, who are different than us,
that don't believe like us, that may not look like you, may not act like you.
They don't have the same financial stability you have, just different sorts of people.
You're going to come across all sorts of people as you go out soloing.
Look at verse number 20 again. Notice what it says in verse number 20.
It says, "'And unto the Jews,'" notice, "'I became as a Jew.'"
See, the Paul says, "'I'm going to run into people who are just like me.'"
"'And unto the Jews,'" it says, "'I became as a Jew.'"
See, when you go out soloing, yeah, you'll meet people who are sort of like us.
You know, they're Christians. They say they believe the Bible.
They might look like you. They might live in your neighborhood.
They might have the same financial status as you do, the same education,
people who are just like you. Verse 21, notice what it says.
It says, "'To them,'" notice, "'that are without law as without law.'"
See, you're also, not only will you come across people who are just like you,
but guess what? You're going to come across people who are not like you,
people who are different from you,
people who may not have been raised the same way that you were raised,
people who may be living in a poorer situation than you are
or in a richer situation than you are.
When you go out soloing, you realize you're going to come across people
who are not like you. Verse 22, notice what it says.
It says, notice, "'To the weak became I as weak.'"
And when we got soloing, look, we're going to come across people
that you and I, we could look down on if we wanted to.
And Paul says, "'I'm going to meet people who are weaker than I am.'"
And look, so when you got soloing, you realize to become all things to all men,
you're going to run across all men, and yes, you're going to see people
who are just like you, who may be like you,
but you're going to come across people who are different from you.
And you may come across people who you can look down on if you wanted to,
people who are weaker than you, physically, who don't believe like you,
they weren't raised like you, they don't have the same education,
the same mindset as you do, but realize as you got soloing,
look, you will meet people who are completely different than you and I.
So number one, to become all things to all men,
you must be ready to come across people who are not like you.
But number two, to become all things to all men,
you must be ready to put other people first.
When you got soloing, you just have the mindset,
you know what, I'm going to go out there,
and I'm going to put whoever I meet ahead of me.
I'm going to look out for them, put them first,
esteem them better than myself.
Verse number 19, notice what it says again.
It says, "'For though I be free from all men.'"
See, Paul says, look, I don't owe anyone anything.
It says, "'Though I be free from all men.'"
Notice what he says, it says,
"'Yet have I made myself servant unto all.'"
See, when the Apostle Paul is saying like,
I don't owe anyone anything, but when I go out there,
when I preach the gospel,
I'm going to make myself servant unto all men.
The Apostle Paul is going out there,
willing to humble himself and make himself a servant
to those that he meets out there soloing.
And when you got soloing, you got to have the mindset
that we're going to go out there and be servants unto all men.
And that means you're putting them first.
Look, when you serve someone,
you're choosing to submit yourself under them,
and you're looking out for their benefit.
You're there to help them, to assist them,
to encourage them, to do whatever you can for them,
to put them first.
See, as soul winners, when we go out there,
our goal is to not be little people.
Our goal is to put other people before us
and be there for their best interest, for their benefit.
You say, why would I want to serve them?
Why would I want to submit myself
under someone who is not like me,
who may be poorer than me, who may be weaker than I am,
who may not look like me, dress like me, be as smart as me,
who knows the Bible as much as me?
Why would I want to submit myself to them?
Verse 19, again, it says,
for though I be free from all men,
yet have I made myself servant unto all.
Notice what it says.
It says that I might gain the more.
The Apostle Paul says, look,
I'm willing to serve other people,
to put people who they may be weaker than I am,
but I'm going to put them first.
Why? It says that I might gain the more.
And see, our goal is to go out there and gain more people,
to win more people, to influence more people.
You gotta realize that our goal
is to be able to influence the community,
that we've got knocked doors.
See, the goal is to what?
To influence people.
And the more people we can influence,
then the better that is for the cause of Christ.
Verse number 20, again, it says,
and unto the Jews I became as a Jew,
that I might gain the Jews.
To them that are under the law, as under the law,
you see, why?
Again, it says that I might gain them,
that are under the law.
Verse 21, to them that are without law, as without law,
being not without law to God, but under the law to Christ.
You see, why?
Again, that I might gain them that are without law.
To the weak became as weak.
Again, notice it says, it says that I might gain the weak.
See, our goal, when we need people
who will be different from you,
who you can look down on them if you'd like to,
but our goal is to influence them, to gain them,
to win them over to our side.
And look, even if they don't get saved,
because the truth is, the Apostle Paul said that,
he said that I might save some,
because not everyone's gonna get saved.
But even if they don't get saved, you know, you and I,
we can still gain them with our influence.
We can still win them over
and influence them in a very positive way.
See, if we go out there and we belittle people
for being weaker than us, for being without law,
for being not like us, for being poor,
for me not being as smart,
but look, we're not gonna influence them in a positive way.
But even if they don't get saved,
like you still represent the Lord Jesus Christ,
you still represent this church, and you can gain them,
you can win them over with your influence,
and even if they don't get saved, look,
you can leave a good taste in their mouth and say,
you know what, that person from that church,
you know what, they were very nice to me.
I noticed that they put me first.
Because look, when you go out there and you meet people,
look, you might run across some old lady
who's still freaked out about this coronavirus thing.
But you know what, our goal is to not belittle people
or mock people, our goal is to serve them
and put them first, to benefit them.
You say, why so that we can influence them?
You say, why would I want to put other people first
so that we can have a positive influence on those people?
Number one, to become all things to all men,
you must be ready to meet all sorts of people.
To become all things to all men,
you must be ready to put others first.
And number three, to become all things to all men,
you must be ready to conform to them.
You must be ready to conform to them.
Look at verse number 20 again, it says,
and unto the Jews, notice what he says,
he says, I became as a Jew.
See, the apostle Paul says, look, unto those that are Jews,
I'm gonna become like them.
I'm gonna become a Jew as well,
that I might gain the Jews, notice again,
to them that are under the law, as under the law.
Verse 21, to them that are without law, as without law.
Verse 22, notice what he says, to the weak
became I as weak.
See, when we go out there and we meet all sorts of people,
whether they're poor, whether they're wealthy,
whether they're smart as you or whatever,
our goal is to conform to them,
is to meet them on their level.
See, our goal is not to,
we shouldn't go out there with this mindset
thinking that everyone should believe just like we do.
It's like, don't you know what the Bible says?
Well, it's like, no, they don't know what the Bible says.
And our goal is not to make them feel bad
or look down on them, no.
Our goal to the Jew is to become a Jew.
Our goal to the weak is to become weak.
See, our goal is to be easy to be entreated.
When we go out there, look,
we should be willing and able to humble ourselves
to conform to them and meet them on their level.
See, our goal is to relate to them.
And even if you don't relate to them
because you're not like them,
you should be willing to conform yourself to them
so that you can talk to them
and they can be willing and ready to talk to you.
If you gotta be going out there,
be ready to become all things to all men,
meaning what?
Meaning when you meet all men,
look, you're ready to put them first.
You're ready to meet them on their level.
And our goal is not to belittle them
because look, yeah, you probably know more Bible
than everyone you're gonna talk to today.
Yeah, they don't go to the same church that you go to.
Yeah, they may not be as wealthy as you.
Yeah, they may not be as smart as you.
But see, our goal is not to put them down.
Our goal is to conform to them
and be willing to meet them on their level.
And you say, why?
What's the whole goal?
What's the whole point?
Again, verse 22, it says,
to the weak became I as weak that I might gain the weak.
I mean all things to all men.
And what's the whole goal?
And that's what it says.
It says that I might by all means save some.
See, the whole goal when we go out there
is to, by all means,
whatever it takes to save people from hell.
And yes, when you go out there,
you're gonna meet people who are not like you.
You're gonna meet people who are different from you.
But you know what?
That's okay.
And the apostle Paul said,
look, I am become all things to all men.
Go out there ready and willing to put yourself under them,
to serve them, to be there for their benefit.
You say they're weaker than me,
they're poorer than me, they're dumber than me.
Well, you know what?
Whatever it takes that I might by all means save some.
The apostle Paul said, look, I made all things to all men.
Why?
Why should we do it?
It says that I might by all means save some.
Let's close in prayer.
Heavenly Father, thank you for this morning.
God, I thank you for your word.
I just pray you be with each one of the soul owners.
God, help us to go out there
and to become all things to all men
so that we can, by all means,
save those that we speak to.
God, just keep us safe out there, Lord.
Fill us with the spirit and be with our church.
God, we love you.
In Jesus' name, pray.
Amen.