Today's soul-winning tip is on finding out what is inside somebody's heart.
If you remember last week I talked about how we need to control the conversation for soul-winning,
which means we don't let the person we're talking to just send us down whatever rabbit trail about,
you know, I don't know what they're going to say, right? All kinds of minor things.
We need to control the conversation, but you're not getting a lecture, right?
When I preach a sermon, of course, you know, it's basically a lecture, right?
If you're preaching a sermon, I'm telling you what I believe, I'm telling you what the Bible says,
I'm not stopping to take questions or anything like that.
But that's different when you got soul-winning.
Because when you're going soul-winning, you should be stopping.
You should be asking, finding out what's in your heart.
You're not just, you know, preaching a sermon at them for 20 minutes,
you're actually going to be stopping and asking questions,
and finding out what's actually inside their heart.
So, point everyone is this, ask questions when we're going soul-winning.
So, you don't want to just preach to them for 10 minutes,
you want to actually stop and ask them questions at key times to find out what do they believe,
what do you think, and then that's what's actually going to help you find out what's inside of their heart.
Because if you don't ask them questions, you don't necessarily know what's inside their heart.
You can assume, you can guess, but you can't really be 100% for sure.
So, it's important to ask questions because you need to find out are they agreeing with you, do you believe this?
Now, here's the thing, if you sense hesitation, then you might ask more questions.
Like, sometimes you're explaining maybe Acts 16, that's a passage I always go to, Preach the Gospel,
and sometimes they answer correctly, but there's just something where it's like,
they don't seem to quite get it, they're not really sure,
and then you might pause and ask questions like, why aren't you sure about this, or what do you think?
Because you want to find out what they're actually believing before you keep on going on.
You can find out what's inside their heart, okay?
And so, point number two is this, when you're asking questions, you don't ask leading questions.
What that means is, you don't give them the answer and then ask them if they agree with you.
Like, for example, if you're preaching about, talk about eternal security,
and then you say, well, you know what, you can never lose your salvation even if you commit suicide.
Do you think that you could lose your salvation if you commit suicide?
Well, you just told them what the answer was.
What you might have them do is give the right answer, but it doesn't necessarily mean that they believe it.
Now, of course, we're explaining eternal security throughout the conversation,
but you want to make sure to ask them questions and find out if they're believing it,
and not just kind of force them into the right answer.
Because you can force them to say the right thing, but you can't force them to believe that in their heart.
And you're doing a disservice if you kind of force the right answers if they're not actually believing.
We need to make sure we take the time.
And the reality is, some people you preach to aren't going to agree with you.
Some people aren't denying us, but others just aren't sure, right?
You preach the gospel, and some people during the conversation, you say at the end,
well, do you still believe in Catholicism, or do you believe what I showed you, or are you not sure?
And then oftentimes, I'm not sure, right?
They're not saying we're wrong, but they're not necessarily agreeing to us.
And so it's important to ask questions, but not to give them the answer.
So I'm going to read you a couple of verses from John 3, because here's the thing.
If you're trying to learn how to go sowing, how do we find that out?
Well, the best thing would be look at how Jesus gives the gospel.
We can learn lessons from that, right?
And so in John chapter 3, when he's talking to Nicodemus,
you know, Nicodemus comes to him, you know, at the beginning and everything,
and then Jesus responds in verse 3.
Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee,
except a man be born again, ye cannot see any kingdom of God.
Then we see Nicodemus speaking in verse 4.
Nicodemus said unto him, How can a man be born when he is old?
And he entered the second time unto his mother's womb and be born.
Now Jesus is speaking.
Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee,
except a man be born of water and enter into the Spirit,
he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
That which is born in the flesh is flesh, and that which is born in the Spirit is spirit.
Marvell not that I said unto thee, ye must be born again.
When worlds were listed, now here's the sounder of.
You can't tell us how winds and comets of weather go,
and so is everyone that is born of the Spirit.
There's no question Jesus is controlling the conversation,
but then in verse 9, he's still Nicodemus talking again.
Nicodemus answered and said unto him, How can these things be?
And this is only a short sample of the conversation.
This is a conversation that lasts for a while.
It's not just a two minute conversation.
But you're seeing Nicodemus talking in verse 9,
what that indicates is obviously Jesus is giving him a chance to speak,
and he's finding out what he believes.
Because Jesus doesn't want to move on to the next step
if Nicodemus doesn't agree with this step.
Because if they don't agree on this step,
then they're not going to agree on the next step.
Think about the good master, the rich emperor, right?
He just wouldn't agree that he was guilty.
Jesus didn't move on, because he found out what was in his heart,
and he was still justified himself.
And then all of a sudden we see Jesus speaking again there.
But what do you see in the conversation?
Before John 4, I'm not going to go into it for a second time,
because it's not a sermon, it's just a short one.
But in John 4, Jesus is having a conversation.
So we need to realize, we do control the conversation,
but it's not a lecture.
It's not a sermon that we're preaching at, though.
It's a conversation to find out if they believe it.
So you control the conversation.
You go through the points and everything,
you ask them do you believe this,
and you find out if they believe or not.
But you want to make sure that you're stopping to give them a chance.
And of course when you're doing so many,
you're generally pretty nervous.
When you're doing so many, you know you're just looking at the Bible,
you never look up to the person and everything.
That's how I was when I started and everything.
But then you want to eventually be able to be comfortable to stop
and find out what they believe and pause
and make sure that they're agreeing with you.
Because it is a conversation when we're soul winning,
it's not a lecture.
Okay, hopefully that makes sense.
And what do you think, Seth? Do you agree?