Matthew Stuckey here and I'm giving you another soul wanting tip in this video.
I want to talk to you about the importance of controlling the
conversation when you're preaching the gospel. One thing to keep in mind when
we're preaching the gospel is we're going door-to-door with a purpose and it
is our job to actually teach people the gospel and we need to be in control of
the conversation. If we're not able to control the conversation then we're
inevitably going to be wasting our time. The Bible says in the Great Commission
go ye therefore and teach all nations. We are meant to be teaching the gospel to
people. Well when you think about being a teacher in school the teacher is going
to be the one who does the majority of the talking. Can you imagine a math
teacher going up to try to teach some difficult problem and he only spends a
couple minutes in an hour explaining it. There's no way that the students are
actually going to be able to understand and I want you to realize that when we
are going soul winning when we're going door-to-door we actually have a purpose
for why they're there. We are meant to teach people that either do not
understand or do not believe the gospel and we give them that chance to end up
believing on Jesus Christ. So take for example a door-to-door salesman. A
door-to-door salesman let's say selling vacuums is going door-to-door not
because they're bored but because they're trying to make money. They have a
specific purpose. Can you imagine knocking on a door as a door-to-door
salesman and then the person at the door is trying to sell you Tupperware or
plastic containers or you know utensils or something like that.
Well if you're going door-to-door with a purpose are you going to spend 20
minutes listening to the sales pitch from the person at the door.
Well no you're not going to because you're there specifically to make a
money and time is precious.
You don't want to waste your time. There's not an unlimited amount of time.
We have 24 hours in the day and so that there's only so much time that we
actually have.
Well when we're going door-to-door we're not going because we're bored or
have no purpose we have a specific purpose and our purpose is to teach the
gospel. If we are not able to teach the gospel at a door then we're going to be
wasting our time.
So when we're going door-to-door soul winning our general assumption when we
knock on a door
we have the hope that people are saved and if they're not saved we have the
hope that they're willing to listen to the gospel. We give them a chance and we
ask them if they want to hear the gospel.
Well sometimes somebody might say they're they're interested or they might
say they're willing to listen to the gospel but does that mean that we should
spend as much time as possible at that door no matter what?
I mean how do we know when we should move on from the conversation?
Well the Bible actually gives us guidance on that. Number one realize this
that our goal is to actually teach the gospel. If we are not able to control the
conversation at the door and the other person is doing most of the talking then
we need to just move on.
Anyway sometimes we talk to people who are not bad people but they're just
bored or they're very talkative and you reach a point where you cannot control
the conversation.
You're not really the one doing the teaching but they're just kind of
leading you down rabbit trails and telling you stories and when that
happens it can be a very sad thing but we honestly have to move on to the next
door because we're wasting our time if we're not able to teach the gospel. That
is our purpose for being there. But also we move on not just when we can't
control the conversation but kind of attached to that is when the person
basically becomes a heretic at the door. And so some people might be of a false
religion and their whole goal is to just argue with you.
However the Bible actually gives guidance on when you're preaching the
gospel if you should end up stop preaching the gospel.
The Bible says a man that is in heretic after the first and second admonition
reject. So let's say we're preaching the gospel and we show a couple clear
verses on hell and the person says I don't believe in hell.
Well at that point we should move on to the next door because biblically
speaking they've declared themselves to be a heretic because they're just
denying the Bible. Or in Matthew 10 when Jesus sends his followers out two by two
it says this in in verse number 11 and into whatsoever city or town you shall
enter inquire who in it is worthy and thereby till you go fence. You say well
what does it mean to be worthy?
Well when you're paying attention this passage someone who's worthy is someone
who's actually willing to listen and receive the gospel. It says in verse 13
and if the house be worthy let your peace come upon it referring to the
gospel of peace but if it be not worthy let your peace return to you and
whosoever shall not receive you nor hear your words when you depart out of that
house or city shake off the dust of your feet.
So when someone says you know what if the Bible says if they're not willing to
receive you nor hear your words then you need to move on. And so if you're showing
somebody something from the Bible and they're just clearly denying it and not
believing it it's time to move on to the next door. That does not mean that
person's a child of the devil. It does not mean that they're a terrible person.
It just means at that present moment they are not able to receive the gospel
and believe on Jesus. It could be that you've planted a seed and let that seed
sit inside of them and then may leave a good impression at that door don't be a
jerk and then maybe you know six months down the road they might be willing to
listen. The other thing is this think about if you're preaching the gospel to
someone and they're not denying the Bible but they're just not sure if they
believe it or not. You say what do you do in those situations? Well in those
situations I believe you should go forward with the gospel and how I like
to end those conversations is kind of say something like this if I've
explained it but they're not quite getting it oftentimes I'll say would you
like me to show you a couple more verses or do you just want to think about it?
And honestly 90% of the time they'll say I just want to think about it. That's the
sort of person I'm talking about when they hear the gospel and they don't
reject it but they also don't believe it they're not sure and usually they just
want time to actually think about it and you know what that's okay but you know if
there's someone who's actually willing to listen and is not denying the Bible
but they're not sure if they want me to show them a few more verses then I might
show them a few more verses but it's important to know when to end the
conversation because otherwise you might be at the door where you're not the one
teaching you're not controlling the conversation you have somebody denying
the Bible but some some new soul winners feel like they should spend an hour and
a half at the door arguing with the Jehovah's Witness or a Mormon who's
clearly just not willing to receive the words of Jesus Christ and believe on
Jesus Christ at least at that moment so the bottom line is this when we're going
soul winning one thing to keep in mind is that you should be controlling the
conversation you should be teaching the gospel to the people if you are not able
to do that or they're not willing to listen or believe what you say then it
is time to move on
thank you and God bless