Matthew Stuckey here and I wanted to make a quick video just defending soul-winning and just
explaining my sermon John chapter 15 that I preached many years ago. And so this was
recently coming up and I saw it on Facebook people were talking about it and I saw my name mentioned
and it was actually years ago and I had to rejog my memory of the situation and what they were
talking about and I kind of vaguely remembered because I had kind of forgotten that my sermon
John chapter 15 is actually the most controversial sermon that I've ever preached and it's not even
close. I got so many emails and messages from people that were upset about what I said and it
kind of surprised me because it was a sermon on soul-winning. I mean I preached a lot of
controversial sermons against the LGBT and you know clothing standards and gender roles and hair
length and all kinds of things that you could see people getting upset about but it was actually my
sermon about why we should go soul-winning that really actually got people upset and it was from
people that actually some of them go soul-winning or just go from time to time I'm not really sure
but John chapter 15 verse 8 what the Bible reads is this here it is my father glorified that you
bear much fruit so shall you be my disciples the Bible says that the father is glorified when we
bear fruit when we get people saved that's what makes us a disciple he said follow me and I will
make you fishers of men if you follow God you will be a soul winner you will get people saved
and that's what the Bible says now I originally preached this sermon because of the fact I had a
couple people that week that had asked me a question about John chapter 15 they were
confused this is a common passage where people that are not saved to bring it up to say you can
lose your salvation as it talks about branches being burned and since there's some people that
were confused about it and I was scheduled to preach at Verity Baptist Church I figured
just a verse by verse expository preaching just explaining John chapter 15 this is a parable that
I've always felt like I had a good understanding of because when I was a kid you know we would
basically go out to the field for my grandfather and there was a lot of trees that were basically
you know we had to cut down all the branches and gather all the leaves and everything together to
clean up the big field and then we just burn them and basically you know those branches and those
leaves they were useless and just getting in the way they were hindering the trees and the yard
from flourishing and so basically that's the example that Jesus is trying to give he's saying
if there are branches that are not bearing fruit Christians that are not getting people saved and
they're not a help to the church then they're actually a hindrance and the key is that they're
not actually going soul-winning now I personally believe every single word that I said in that
sermon I still believe that that that is the purpose of this parable I mean right afterwards
in verse 80 mentions here it is my father glorified that you bear much fruit and so some people said
well you don't understand my situation and they messaged me but I want you to realize something
when you are a preacher do you have to stop to qualify every single statement you make and try
to soften the blow if you're trying to just preach the Word of God for example you know I tore my ACL
a long time ago and I had surgery and I went about eight weeks where I was not able to go
soul-winning and yet I listened to sermons about why we need to get soul-winning go soul-winning
and I didn't get offended you say why well obviously I knew that when the person was
preaching it they didn't have to stop and say well let me give you 25 exceptions where you don't
have to actually go so winning if you've had a major surgery you're allowed to take a break
obviously you know what that's kind of given when a pastor is preaching saying you should go
soul-winning obviously there's gonna be some exceptions just about every single thing that
we preach there are gonna be some exceptions of course okay we understand that that doesn't change
the fact that our job as Christians is to win souls the Lord just a couple examples of exceptions
if someone is obviously more elderly and maybe they don't have as great of health then you know
what they might not really be able to do much soul-winning or very limited amount but you know
what do I need to stop every time I'm preaching and just say let me give you an exception here
if you're over this age then you don't have to go so winning so this doesn't apply to you and look
oftentimes when I preach I do give exceptions I do try to soften the blow I don't try to just
always be blunt but at the same time when you're preaching the Word of God and yours is just
explaining John chapter 15 word for word that's what it's saying that if you are a branch that is
not getting bearing fruit then you are useless you're just taking up space are there exceptions
of that where people might not be able to go so winning of course of course sometimes when women
are pregnant they might not have the ability to go during the whole time or if they have a really
difficult pregnancy maybe most of the time or when a child is just born you don't expect moms
to be out there so winning a day after the baby's born so of course there's exceptions and we
understand that that doesn't change the fact that God said we were to be so winners and if you're
not winning anybody the Lord you're not following God according to the Bible if you're not bearing
fruit then you know what you're just taking up space according to the Bible that's what the
parable John chapter 15 is about that's what Matthew 4 verse 19 says about following him and
we will be fishers of men and people can get mad at that message that's the exact message that the
Bible says and look here's the thing if one day I quit being a soul winner you know what I'm not
right with God now if one day I get injured and I can't go so winning for a long time then of course
I would understand that is an exception we had somebody at our church recently who broke their
femur and they were not able to go so winning for a few months and they just kind of got back
into it recently and you know what I preached on soul winning a lot and you know he never got
offended by it you say why is it that he didn't get offended well because of the fact he knew that
if he had the ability to go so winning he would have gone so winning he had no reason to get
offended because he knew I wasn't preaching against him and just saying wow you know you
need to get up off your surgery bed and just go so winning of course there's exceptions to that
but do preachers always need to qualify everything they say I mean when we're preaching the Word of
God we're just teaching what the Bible says and the only reason why you get offended is if you
have a reason to be offended the only reason why anyone would get offended from that sermon is if
they had all of the ability in the world to go so winning but they chose not to go solely that
is what would actually make you offended and so I just want to say I stand by every word of that
sermon and it's just like you know that the issue is kind of coming up again is so winning that
important is that difficult it's all about just having charity and loving God you know so winning
is nothing it's peanuts it's small it's no I mean the Bible says he left us here to bear fruit and
our Father is glorified when we bear much fruit that is the message of the Bible of course so
winning is not the only thing we need to do as Christians however you are not following God if
you're not a soul winner that is what the Bible says are there some rare exceptions
to that of course but those are few and far between thank you and God bless