(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

And now this evening I want to continue with what I preached about last Sunday night, which was the subject of soul winning. And last Sunday night we talked about the philosophy of why soul winning is so important, why do we go soul winning. And what we mean by soul winning is just going out and knocking on people's doors and just opening our Bible and just showing them how to be saved. Or this could just be done walking up to somebody out and about, doesn't even have to be at their door, but just walking up to a stranger and opening your Bible and showing them how to be saved. And the thing that I focused on last Sunday night was starting the conversation. We went into all the philosophy of why we need to go out and preach the Gospel to every creature and why God wants everyone to be involved in this. But then we got into just how to start the conversation, how to kind of assess where the person's at spiritually, figure out if they're saved or not. We talked about how to do it at the door and then also just how to do it in everyday life, just easy ways to bring up the conversation, etc. So tonight I just want to pick up right where I left off and get into the part where you actually present the Gospel to this person. So they're already ready to listen. If you weren't here last week you'll have to download it or get it on tape. But basically we're to the point now where we're ready to start showing this person how to be saved. We've gotten through the introduction. So the first thing we're going to want to establish with someone that we give the Gospel to is we want to teach them, first of all, that everyone is a sinner. Now a couple of scriptures on that are right here in Romans chapter 3. We've got, of course, the famous verses in Romans 3.10. As it is written, there is none righteous, no not one. And then of course in verse 23, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Now here's the thing about this first point about everyone being a sinner, I don't spend a lot of time on this point and here's why. Because 99% of people that you talk to, they already have this down. I mean how often do you really come to somebody that tells you, nope, I don't sin. I've never sinned. It's very rare. It happens every once in a while, but it's extremely rare. And then you'd obviously go to other verses like, you know, if we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we say that we've not sinned, we make him a liar and his word is not in us. But let's face it, 99% of people, they already know this point. So you don't need to beat this into the ground. And I've seen people beat this point into the ground and just spend minute after minute after minute on the fact that the person that you're talking to is a sinner. And you know what, you're wasting your time. Now here's the way I see it with the points of the plan of salvation. And you know there are pretty much four basic points that you want to get across to people when you're giving them the gospel. When I realize that the person understands that point, I move on to the next one. Because it becomes boring and repetitive for someone to just keep telling them the same thing over and over again. So once they get it that they're a sinner, which 99% of people already get that, then move on to the next point. So I basically will go through this point like this. I'll say, alright, well first of all, you know the Bible says that we're all sinners. Right here in Romans 3 23 it says, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. I've sinned, you've sinned, truth be told we probably sin every day. Because the Bible says the thought of foolishness is sin. Even just thinking something stupid is sin. Well we've all sinned, alright? That point is a real quick point. The second point that I like to get across to people when I'm giving them the gospel is that there's a punishment for our sin. I flip them over to Romans chapter 6 verse 23 where the Bible reads, for the wages of sin is death. Now this is a point that I would spend a little more time on just because a lot of people don't believe in hell, don't understand hell, or they just don't realize that because of our sins we deserve to go to hell. A lot of people don't realize that. They think that hell is a place where really bad people go. If you were to ask the average person, you know, hey what would you have to do to go to hell? A lot of people would think that you'd have to do something major, you'd have to go on a major killing spree or something. You'd have to really commit some serious sins to go to hell. And what we want to get across to people with this second point is just that the wages of sin is death, period. And that no matter what sins we've committed, we are not worthy of entering into heaven. We cannot make it into heaven on our own good because we've all sinned and we all come short of the glory of God. So here are some verses that I like to use to show that. Go over to Revelation chapter 21, Revelation 21. So I like to flip over to Romans 6 23 because of the fact that it's so close to Romans 3 23. So if you're already showing them, hey we've all sinned, it's real easy to just flip the page and say, hey there's a penalty for our sin, there's a punishment involved. The Bible says for the wages of sin is death. But after we die physically, that's not the end. The Bible talks about a second death, okay? So you can show them if you like, Revelation 20 verses 14 and 15. Revelation 20 verses 14 and 15 say, and death and hell were cast into the lake of fire, this is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire. And I ask that person, well what do we commonly refer to that place as, the lake of fire? And of course 99% of people will tell you that's hell. I say okay, well here's what the Bible says about those who are going to hell. Look at Revelation 21. And in Revelation 21 verse 8 it says, but the fearful and unbelieving and the abominable and murderers and whoremongers and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone, which is the second death. So you may not be a sorcerer or a murderer or a whoremonger, but have you ever told a lie before? And 99% of people are going to admit, yeah I've lied. I know I've lied. Have you ever told a lie? Of course we've all lied. And I always say this, you know what, we've done other worse things than lying too. We've probably done some of the things on that list. But either way, we know we've all lied. We've all done all kinds of sins in our lives. And because of our sins, the Bible says right here, we're all liars going to hell. So God wasn't just kidding when he said that. We do deserve hell. But God loves us. So if God loves us, does he want us to go to hell? No. So here's what he did so that we would not go to hell, okay? And then I take him to Romans 5 verse 8 where the Bible reads, but God commendeth his love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us, okay? And then I go on to explain that. Now let me say this. There's more than one way to skin a cat. You say, well Pastor Anderson, you know, you're showing us this method that you use to give people the gospel. You know, I've seen a lot of other methods that work great. And you know what, that's true. There are a lot of great methods and there are different ways to do this. And there are all kinds of verses to choose from to illustrate this. But here's what I've noticed though, is that sometimes people will give the gospel in a way that is illogical and hard for people to understand when they jump from subject to subject, okay? So for example, if I show up and I start saying, well, you know, we've all sinned. And then I start talking about how Jesus died for our sins and who Jesus was and how he died on the cross. And then I'm like, okay, well let me show you what the punishment for sin is, you know? And then I start talking about that. And now let's talk about the resurrection of Christ. You know, and sometimes some stuff kind of is just being thrown at people like all the pieces are there, but it's like you're giving them a puzzle that's not assembled sometimes. You're just kind of like jumping around, oh wait, I forgot a point. Let's go back and cover that, okay? The goal of soul winning is to get people to understand the gospel, to make it easy to understand. Anytime you're teaching anyone anything, a good teacher is someone who can take that which is complex and make it simple. Now some people do the opposite. They take something simple and they make it hard. They make it complex. They're called computer programmers, okay? You know, they take things that are hard and they take things that are easy and make them hard, okay? So we want to simplify things. We want to make sure we get the truth across and that we get all the points across, but we don't want to make it hard. We want to make it understandable because the goal is that they walk away understanding. Because you know why a lot of people don't get saved? Because they don't understand the gospel. What does the Bible say? When anyone heareth the word of the kingdom and understandeth it not, then cometh that wicked one and catcheth away that which was sown in his heart. This is he that received seed by the wayside. So we don't want the seed to fall by the wayside. We want people to understand the gospel. So the reason why I do it the way that I do it is because it makes sense. It's a logical progression. Now you can come up with your own way once you get better at soul winning, but make sure that it makes sense. You know, make sure that it's logical. Make sure that it follows A to B to C where it actually makes sense. So the point that I'm trying to make when I give the gospel is first of all, we've all sinned. Secondly, the punishment for our sins is that we deserve to go to hell. But thirdly, you know, God loves us. He doesn't want us to go to hell. That is what we deserve. But that's why he came and sacrificed his life for us and paid the penalty of our sin for us that we might be saved. And then obviously the last thing you would have to get across to people is that in order to be saved, they have to believe on Jesus Christ as their savior. That's how it gets applied unto them, okay? And then on the tail end of that, we always teach people that you cannot lose your salvation. And the reason why is because simply the average person has been so indoctrinated with work salvation, no matter what religion they're coming from, whether they're coming from Islam, whether they're coming from Catholicism, whether they're coming from just an apostate form of Christianity or just growing up in a church where they never heard the plan of salvation, you know, your average, unsaved person thinks that you go to heaven by being good and you go to hell by being bad. Well, they're right. You do go to hell by being bad. Problem is there's none good but one, and that's God, so that's where we'd all be going. Okay, so we get to heaven not by being good but by grace, by grace through faith. And so people are so ingrained with that that even if you sit there and tell them till you're blue in the face that it's by faith, it's by grace, it's not works, it's nothing that you can earn, it's a free gift, usually it doesn't quite click with them that it's really free until you explain to them that you can't lose it. Because what will happen is people will think, oh yeah, it's all by faith. Well, do you think you'd lose your salvation if you didn't? Well yeah, I mean if you do something bad, I mean of course you're going to lose it. It's like, hello, I thought we just said it's all by faith. But now all of a sudden you do bad stuff, you're going to lose it. Now all of a sudden you quit serving God, you quit going to church and you lose it. So look, you don't have to work to get saved and you don't have to work to stay saved. Okay, all of that is work salvation. And so because people are so ingrained with that, usually they don't get it until you explain eternal security. See most churches that I came up in, when they would do soul wedding, they wouldn't talk about eternal security at the door. They'd go through and explain to the person that they're a sinner, that hell is there, that Jesus died for our sins and rose again, and that all we have to do is believe on him, call on him by faith, but they never explain that you can't lose it. As a result, a lot of people don't get it. Now some people do. My estimation of all the years I've done soul wedding, all the thousands and thousands of doors that I've knocked, I'd say about one in ten persons, when you explain to them, hey, it's all by faith, they get it that you can't lose it because it's by faith, it wasn't by your works in the first, it's not something you earn by how you live. Nine out of ten people, that doesn't click with them until you actually show them, hey look, it's eternal life, it's everlasting life, he'll never leave us, oh wow. Then they actually get it that it's actually free, and that it's not based on them keeping the commandments, living a good life, et cetera. So look, that's the skeleton of what we're trying to get across. You're a sinner, you deserve to go to hell, Jesus died, buried and was rose again, you just have to believe on him and then you'll be saved forever and you can never lose it. Boom, that's what we're trying to get across. That's logical in that order. So that's a great order to present it in. If you jump around, people can get confused. So it's good to make sure that you keep it logical and keep it clear. Also it's great to do things in a way that's better, but sometimes being different just for the sake of being different doesn't make any sense. So if you see somebody winning souls and what they're doing is working, just do it the way that they do it. You don't have to just be different just for the sake of being different. There's nothing wrong with starting with Romans 3.23. People have been starting with it for years, it works great. You don't have to just be cute with it and find some other way. But hey, if you find a way that works better for you, go for it. As long as it's logical and as long as you're hitting these key points, as long as you're not leaving out major gaps. So we talked about number one, showing them they're a sinner. Quick, that's a piece of cake. 99% of people already know that. Romans 3.10, Romans 3.23, got it, check. What's next? Okay, show them that the penalty for our sin is hell. So you can show them Romans 6.23, then take them to Revelation and show them some scriptures on hell, which I would recommend Revelation 20, 14, and 15, and especially Revelation 21.8 because it sits there and says, look, all liars are going to be having their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone, which is the second death. Rarely you'll have somebody say something along the lines of, well, I've lied but I'm not a liar. You know, you'll get that every once in a while. But most people get it when it says all liars, they're like, yeah, I've lied enough to fall into that category. But every once in a while, you'll get one that'll say, you know, well, that's talking about like a habitual liar. Have you ever had somebody say something like that to you when you give them the gospel? Well, that is a real easy fix for that because you don't even have to leave that chapter. Same chapter, okay? Go to the last verse in Revelation 21. And I always just say, well, here's what the Bible says about those who are not going to go to heaven. Because verse 8 talked about who's going to hell, verse 27 talks about who's not going to heaven, and look what it says, there shall in no wise enter into it anything that defileth neither whatsoever worketh abomination or maketh a lie. But they which are written in the Lamb's book of life. So I say right there, just to be clear, he says if you make a lie, you're excluded, okay? So how are we going to get to heaven? Well, that's where Jesus comes in. See, if righteousness comes by the law, the Bible says, then Christ is dead in vain. Okay, what in the world, I have a fly attacking me, what in the world would Jesus have to die on the cross for if you could go to heaven by being good? Okay, obviously, Jesus died on the cross to save us because we need a Savior. So number one, we've all sinned, number two, we deserve hell because of our sins. Number three, God loves us, he doesn't want us to go to hell. So here's what he did, but God commended his love toward us, Romans 5-8, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Now at this point, you want to explain to the person who Jesus is and what he did for us, okay? And you can do this in your own way, but you could explain something like the fact that Jesus Christ was God in the flesh, that Jesus was God in the form of man, and that he grew up and lived a sinless life. The Bible says he was tempted at all points like as we are, yet without sin. And you could maybe even bring up some Bible stories that they might be familiar with, you know, the fact that Jesus walked on water or turned water into wine, healed the sick, raised dead bodies back to life, and he preached the Word of God to great crowds that came to hear him preach with power. Of course, there were those who hated him and were angered by his preaching, so he was arrested, and then he was beaten, spat upon, and nailed to the cross. And the Bible says that when he was on the cross, that he himself bear our sins in his own body on the tree. That means every sin that I've ever done, every sin that you've ever done, it was as if Jesus had done it. He was taking the punishment for our sins, okay? When he died on the cross, they took his body and buried it in the tomb. His soul went down to hell for three days and three nights. Three days later, he rose again from the dead. And I always like to throw in the fact that he actually showed the apostles the holes in his hands and the hole in his side. And the reason I like to bring that up is just to make sure people understand that he literally bodily rose from the dead, just so they don't think it was just some kind of a spiritual thing where his spirit left his body or ascended up into heaven or an apparition, but that literally he showed them the holes in his hands. They actually handled him, the Bible says. And he actually ate and drank with them. So I just like to kind of point that out to people just in case they've been taught a false doctrine about the resurrection. So I just kind of throw that in there. And then I explained to them that although Jesus Christ died for every person, not everybody's automatically going to go to heaven. So the question then becomes, what must I do to be saved? And the Bible has the answer. I like to take them right there to Acts chapter 16, verses 30 and 31, where the Bible asks the question straight out. Because remember, we're trying to make the gospel simple. What could be simpler than Acts 16, 31? What must I do to be saved? Thank God that that guy asked that question. Such a great question. Just cut through everything, just tell me what do I have to do to be saved? It's a great question. And they said, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved and thy house. What's he saying? All you have to do, is he saying join a church and thou shalt be saved? No. Get baptized and you'll be saved? Stop sinning and you'll be saved? Live a good life and you'll be saved? No. It's just believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. Now sometimes people are thrown off by the and thy house. All he's saying is that this goes for your house too. Because of the fact that they're talking just to the jailer at that point. One guy. So they tell him, when he says what must I do to be saved, he says believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved and thy house. You know what, if they'll believe, they'll get saved too. And that's why he ends up getting the opportunity because he says and thy house, then he ends up preaching the gospel to the whole house. That's why he said that. He's not saying hey if you believe, your whole family is automatically saved. He's saying and thy house, this offer also applies to them. And I want to preach it to them also and that's what he did. Then the next place I like to take people is John 3.16. And the reason I like John 3.16 is because almost everybody has heard it before. And even though they've heard it before, the truth of it has gone right over their head. And sometimes if you add somebody, when you start to show them John 3.16, they'll finish it for you. You'll say, oh, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have eternal life. So what do you think that you have to do to get him to live a good life? Be a good person? And you're like, what in the world? Because a lot of times people will mindlessly repeat things without letting the meaning sink in. So I like John 3.16 because they've heard it before. So it's not like you're coming at them with some crazy thing they've never heard before. It's like, look, you've heard this before, but stop and think about what it says. That whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life. That's why Christ died. Not so that everybody who joins the church should not perish but have everlasting life. No, it's that everyone who believes would not perish but have everlasting life. And so that's why I like John 3.16 and sometimes I point out the verse and hey, it's written on the bottom of the cup and in and out burger. It's something that people will hold up at a basketball game. It's been translated into all languages. A lot of times it's the first verse that will be translated into some dialect or some language because it's considered the greatest verse in the Bible. I have to say it's one of my favorite verses in the Bible, if not the greatest verse in the Bible. It's an amazing verse, powerful verse, powerful truth. And so therefore I like to use John 3.16. And then if you feel the need to reinforce that truth, you got John 3.18 and John 3.36 right there, if you feel like it needs to be reinforced. Where John 3.18 says, he that believeth on him is not condemned but he that believeth not is condemned already because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten son of God. Why is he condemned? Because he's not believed. And then you can also take him to John 3.36, he that believeth on the son hath everlasting life and he that believeth not the son shall not see life but the wrath of God abideth on him. So that's part of the point that you're making that salvation's by faith and not of works. And that's another verse that you could also go to, is Ephesians 2.8 and 9. For by grace are ye saved through faith and that not of yourselves it is the gift of God, not of works lest any man should boast. Then once you get that across to them, hey it's all by faith, it's not by works, here's the thing, they still don't get it. So that's why you then go to the part about how you cannot lose your salvation. Because that drives it in with people, okay? Now let me just do a quick review and let me explain some kind of pitfalls, some mistakes that you could make along the way, okay? First of all, number one, you're a sinner. Here's a mistake you could make, spending ten minutes explaining to them that they're a sinner. What a waste of your time, their time, everybody's time, and you're going to burn people out on listening to you. Because if people are bored of what you're saying, they're just going to turn you off or, oh where was the church again, alright yeah we'll see, you know. Move on! If they get it, move on, okay? Number two, we deserve to go to hell because we've sinned. Here are some mistakes you could make on that point, beating that point into the ground, okay? This is what I've seen some people try to do, and this is a popular, trendy method now with the way of the master, Ray Comfort teaching, where they'll say this, they'll spend ten minutes trying to show the person just how filthy and wicked and wretched they really are. Because they feel that in order for a person to get saved, we've got to break them down. And literally, if you look at a lot of salvation plans, they'll spend like 80 to 90% on that second point that we deserve hell, and then it's like just barely an afterthought that Jesus died on the cross for us. That's not emphasized. Big emphasis on the fact that we all deserve hell. Look, honestly, here's the problem with that philosophy. The problem with badgering someone and beating them over the head with the fact that they're so wicked and vile and filthy that they deserve to go to hell is that number one, you're being rude and abrasive to people, okay? But that's not the biggest problem. Here's the biggest problem. Number two is that what you're teaching people is you're giving them the impression that they have to be really bad to go to hell. See, when you spend ten minutes trying to convince someone how bad they are, that makes it seem like you have to be really bad to go to hell, so let me show you how you really are that bad. You really do deserve to go to hell because you're that bad. That's kind of what you're saying. Whether you come right out and say that or not, that's what you're leading them to believe when you go on and on and on about how bad they are. When the true story is you don't have to be that bad to go to hell. You just have to be an unbeliever. You just have to be a liar. You just have to be whatever. So therefore, it doesn't make any sense to just really try to show the person how wicked and filthy that they are because they don't have to be that wicked and filthy to go to hell. They just have to be a liar. That's why it just makes more sense to just say, look, have you lied before? Look what the Bible says. All liars are going to hell. And if they get that, oh wow, yeah, that says I'm going to hell. Time to move on to the next point because they realize the problem. They realize I'm a sinner. I've lied and especially if you say to them, you know, you've probably done worse stuff than lying. Yeah, I have. Well, what's the Bible say? We deserve hell. God's a holy God. You know, we deserve hell for that. Move on to the good news. So a mistake you can make is badgering people. Come on, you know you've done this. You've lusted in your heart. You've hated people that you're a brother without a cause and you've sat there and, you know, and just going through everything that's wrong with the person, it can seem really hostile and antagonistic, number one. Are you really there just to antagonize someone or are you there to help them? You're there to help them. You're trying to lead them to Christ. You're trying to love them and teach them something. So you're not there to just expose all their sins. Have you ever done this before? Well what about have you ever done this? You know, just listing all this stuff. It's ridiculous. It's a waste of time and it misleads people that they have to be really bad to go to hell when they don't. They just have to be unsaved to go to hell. They just have to have told a lie for crying out loud. So honestly, points one and two, I don't spend a ton of time. Now if the only time I would park it on point two is if they're just saying like, well I don't believe in hell. Now if they come at you with that, then okay, let's go to more verses that talk about hell. Let's go to Mark chapter nine and see what Jesus himself taught about hell. You know, let's look at Revelation 14, 10, and 11. Let's look at Revelation 20, 10. You know, if we need to reinforce that point. So I don't want you to get me wrong. I'm not saying, hey, just blow through this one, two, three. No, what I'm saying is when they get it, move on. If they don't get it, park it on that point until they get it. Once they get it, move on, okay? And plus, I do spend a lot of time talking to people when I give them the gospel, but you know where I spend most of my time? On the part about Jesus and salvation by faith and eternal life, because that's the most important part. So this other part is just a precursor, because why would they need to be saved if they don't know that they're a sinner or that there's a punishment for their sin, because the Bible says that his name would be called Jesus for he shall save his people from their sins. So if they don't know they're a sinner, how can they be saved from their sins? And if they don't know that the wages of sin is death and that hell is there, they don't even realize what they're being saved from. So the mistake that can be made is to just beat those two points into the ground and waste time, and also just antagonize people needlessly. Now when you get to the third point, and you're showing them the fact that Jesus Christ died for us on the cross, you know, that's pretty basic. Just explain in the story of who Jesus is and the fact that, you know, he died on the cross, was buried, and rose again. And then you want to get to the part of, okay, well how do we get saved? Acts 16, 31, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. Okay? Whatever other verses you want to use, 3-18, 3-36, 5-24, 6-47, you know, there's a whole smorgasbord of verses on salvation by faith alone. Then we get to the last point which is the fact that you cannot lose your salvation. Now let me give you a couple different approaches to use on this, okay? Approach number one is the illustration of the fact that it's a gift. And this is great because you've already touched on Romans 6-23 with them. So you come back to Romans 6-23 and show them where it says, for the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Now gift is very different than wages. Wages are something that you earn at your job, a paycheck. A gift is something that you don't earn. It's given to you for free. So you can use the illustration of, hey, if I were to give you this Bible as a gift, but I said, hey Dominique, I got a gift for you, but you got to give me five bucks. Is that a gift? No. Ninety some percent of people realize that's not a gift. Every once in a while you'll get people that are real slow that are like, yeah, that's still, you're like, oh, you know, the school system isn't working or whatever. So you say, you know, hey, what if I were to give it to you for free, but I said, you have to go wash my car. Is that a gift? No. What if I said, hey, it's free, it's a gift, take it, and then I come back two or three weeks later and knock on your door and say, hey, I need that back. Is that a gift? No. So a gift is eternal and it's free, you get to keep it. And the gift is called eternal life. And I usually ask the person, what's eternal mean? Because most people know. What's eternal mean? Forever. Never ends. Okay. If God gives you a gift that lasts forever, how many times do you need to get it? One time. Why would you need it a second time if it lasts forever? So once he gives you that gift, it belongs to you, it's yours, it's eternal life, okay? And to really drive the point in, I illustrate it this way. I say to them, I believed on Jesus Christ a long time ago as a child. So what if I were today, so I'm kind of asking them now just to kind of gauge their understanding, what if I were to now go out and commit a major sin? For example, let's say I were to go out and get drunk and commit adultery. Would I still be saved? And here's what I like to say to the people. I say to them, look, and this is approach number two. And I use approach number two with every single person I talk to. I first talk to them about the fact that it's a gift. Then I talk to them about the fact that we are God's children once we believe on Christ and that he will discipline us but he will not throw us out of the family. That's the second approach that I use to show them that it's eternal. So I say to them, hey, I believed on Jesus Christ a long time ago, let's say I were to go out and do some awful sin like, for example, I went out and got drunk and committed adultery, okay? Then here's what I say to them. God is going to punish me for that on this earth. I'm gonna get a disease, I'm gonna lose my job, I'm gonna lose my family, whatever. God's gonna punish me for that on this earth but I'm not going to lose my salvation because it's eternal life, it's a free gift. It's eternal, you can't lose it. And then the way that I illustrate that is with approach number two that we are sons of God. I like to use that as John 1-12 where it says, but as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God even to them that believe on his name. So if I believe on the name of Jesus, then I become a son of God. A lot of people think we're already all God's children but no, no, no, you become a son of God when you believe on the name of Jesus Christ and I say to them, you know, I have rules for my son, especially if they have kids, I say, hey, do you have rules for your kids? Of course. Well, what if they break the rules? Do you smile and say, that's okay? No. What do you do? You punish them. But do you throw them out of the family? That's it, you're not my son anymore. No, you punish them but you still love them and they're still your children. And it's the same thing with God. If we go out and break God's rules, God's gonna punish us but he's not gonna throw us out of the family. He's never gonna leave us nor forsake us. Nothing can separate us from the love of God, et cetera, okay? Now, here are some common mistakes that I've seen on this point. Now keep in mind, what's our goal here with this point, okay? We figured out points one and two, those are easy. Explaining the story of Jesus, that's pretty easy too, you know, just the basic story of who he is, what he did, show a couple verses, okay? Explaining that it's believe only, not works, that's pretty easy. When you get to this part of eternal security, what's your goal with this final point here that it's eternal? The goal is to get the person to believe that, right? Because they've been ingrained the other way, haven't they? Their whole lives, they've been ingrained. Hey, if you go out and do something really bad, you're gonna go to hell. Hey, if you kill yourself, you're gonna go to hell. Hey, you know, if you don't go to church and live right, you're gonna go to hell. They've heard that in all these phony Pentecostal churches they've been in or whatever phony religion they've been a part of or the Catholics told them that or whoever told them that but that's been ingrained with people. What is your goal at the door? It's to get them to change what they believe, right? And to come over to your side. You know, you've got the truth over here that salvation's an eternal free gift, right? So you wanna explain that to them and get them to come over to your side, right? Here's the mistake I've seen people make. They make eternal security sound ludicrous to the point where nobody's gonna come over to their side because they're explaining it in such a weird way that it sounds ludicrous. Now look, you wanna make it sound legit because it is legit. It's a biblical teaching but why would you make it sound all wild and crazy? And let me give you an example. Here's how somebody could make it sound wild and crazy. And although what they're saying could be technically true, this sounds crazy and this is not effective to get people to understand what you're saying. What if I go out and just start gunning down hundreds of people randomly and just blow just, am I still going to heaven then? What if I just openly blaspheme Jesus and what if I, you know, just coming up with all this wild and crazy stuff? Or what if I come and kill your family? Then will I still be saved? You know, just, you're making it sound too wild, too crazy, okay? And look, we all know that no matter what you do, you're not gonna lose yourself. Who here thinks that no matter what you do, you're not gonna lose your salvation once you're saved? Yeah, we get that, right? But do you really have to make that sound so crazy with all these wild scenarios that would never happen? Because all you're doing, people are just gonna hear that, whoa, what are you talking about? You're nuts. And what's your goal? Is your goal to be a sole winner or a sole loser? Okay, you want to be a sole winner. You're trying to get people to see the truth. Look, the Bible explains it in a way that makes sense. Why don't you explain it in a way that makes sense? Not this wild-eyed, crazy stuff. That's why when I give people an illustration, because you do want to use illustrations because you want to make sure they get it, and an illustration can help them get it, I use something that's realistic, right? Like a realistic scenario that somebody might actually find themselves in. Like, is it really that unrealistic for a married man to go out and get drunk and commit adultery? Does that ever happen? It happens, doesn't it? Did a guy in the Bible do something like that? Absolutely. That's realistic. Now, it's extremely bad, because it's not as good to use a real bad illustration, okay? Because of the fact that you want to really drive it in, look, you can't lose it, okay? But you don't want to use an illustration that's so crazy that it's just not even logical anymore. So if we use an illustration of, hey, what if I were to get real angry and kill somebody? That's realistic. It's a major big sin, but it's realistic. It happens. Sometimes people do get angry, lose their temper, and kill someone. Or sometimes I've said it to people, hey, what if I later got into drugs, and I got addicted to drugs, and then I got in some situation where I ended up shooting somebody? And a lot of times, I'll even say to the person when I give that illustration, I'll say this, hey, just to use a real extreme example, what if I were to actually kill someone? Just to get crazy and use a real big example. What if I were to actually shoot someone? Would I lose it then? And then I explain to the person, okay, that if I did commit adultery, or if I did shoot someone, that God would punish me severely on this earth, okay? Because then it makes sense. Because I've had some people where you say, hey, you can't lose your salvation, and then they'll be like, well, no, you can't. You think you're just going to go out and have no consequence? See that's how people can misunderstand this point, that there's no consequence. Look, there's always going to be a consequence. So the point I like to make right away is that, look, if I went out and did something really bad, like even as huge as killing somebody, see, act like it's a big deal. Not just act like, what if you just kill 20 people, and just real flippantly it's like, whoa, you're nuts. It makes more sense to say, hey, you know, it's a big sin, but if you're actually to kill someone, here's what would happen. God's going to make sure you get punished on this earth. You're going to go to prison, or worse. But he's not going to take away your salvation because it's eternal. It's a free gift. He already died for all your sins, past, present, and future. He paid for all your sins before you were even born, and he knew what you would do and wouldn't do, and he already promised you eternal life. I'm not saying he's not going to punish you, just like your parents will punish you when you do wrong, but they're not going to throw you out of the family. That's how it is with God. God's going to punish you, but he's not going to hate you and send you to hell, right? Because you've already believed on him, you're saved, you're in the family. And I talk about how, look, you wouldn't throw your kid out of the family, you'd punish him. That's what God's going to do if you sin. Commit a big sin, you get a big punishment. Little sin, little punishment. But he's not going to throw you out of the family. That makes sense to people. What's the goal? To get them to come over to the truth. Not to make the truth sound so wild. Now if you leave out certain facts, like if you leave out the fact that God chastises his children, then you can make this sound crazy, too. Right? So I mean, you kill people and you go to heaven. Commit suicide, straight to heaven. Adultery, drunkenness, murder, you're still going to heaven no matter what. See, if you don't explain that they're going to be chastised on this earth, people are kind of thinking like, this sounds a little, you know, too good to be true. Sounds a little crazy. But it's true, it's true that if you did all that, you'll still go to heaven. But why don't you explain it in a way that people can understand? By telling them, hey look, there is chastisement on this earth. But he's not going to take away the salvation. Because look, I always tell them this, look, you can screw up your life on this earth but once you're saved, there's nothing you can do to mess that up because of the fact that it's an eternal gift and you were never good enough to get saved in the first place. It's bad enough where he'll take it away. But you can mess up your life on this earth really bad. But when it comes to heaven and hell, it's whether or not you believe on Jesus Christ. That's what that comes down to. Okay, so once you've explained all that, then you're ready to wrap things up. Okay, so here's another common mistake on this point of eternal security. Mistake number one is getting all wild and crazy where you're mass murdering hundreds of people and whatever and just doing all this wild stuff and there's no consequence. You know, that's the way you make it sound, okay. That's a bad way of doing it, okay. And look, you could even bring up the fact, hey, even if I were to commit suicide, as bad as that is, you know what, I still wouldn't lose my salvation because honestly, it's just a promise that he'll never break. It's eternal life. And because it's not by keeping the commandments, it's by faith. So that part, mistake number one, getting too crazy in your illustrations, too much of a bloodbath in the illustration, you know, too much of a crazy event. Then the second mistake that can be made on this point is where you try to trip the person up. Look, what are you doing trying to trip people up? Now, it's one thing to ask questions and try to make sure that the person's coming along on this journey with you as you explain things to them, and it's good to do a little bit of dialogue just to make sure that they're paying attention, not just where you're monologuing and they're just like, uh-huh, uh-huh, uh-huh. It's good to have a little, you know, you don't want to do too much, but it's good to have a little bit of a back and forth, ask them a few questions, make sure that they're paying attention, that it's making sense to them. But I think that a mistake is when we'll try to trip people up. Here's an example of this. So then, so if you did that, you'd lose your salvation, right? Then they're like, uh, yeah, wrong, gotcha. You know, I mean, that's just, that's, you know, are you, so you'd lose your salvation if you did that? And they're like, um, yeah, you know, look, you're not, don't try to, don't confuse people. Don't try to trip them up. Just ask them questions, but don't try to feed them a wrong answer. At the beginning of the conversation either, I know we talked about that last week, how to start the conversation, in the start of the conversation, don't try to trip them up at the start of the conversation either. What are you doing trying to trip people up? Just ask them a normal question and get a normal answer, but don't try to mislead them, just to make sure they really get it. Throw a little trick, throw a little tricky question at them, you know, just to test them and make sure. No, don't play games like that. Just ask them questions like, well hey, so if a person, you know, let's say you want to gauge their understanding, so if a person were to believe on Jesus Christ and be saved, and they believe it with all their heart, and then let's say years later they do X, Y, and Z, where's that person going, heaven or hell? You know, that's a reasonable question, but don't try to purposely mislead, just to make sure they're paying attention, you know, throw them a little curve ball. That's ridiculous, okay? So anyway, that's the plan right there. Now, as far as the Scriptures, I don't know those that are writing this down, some people already have this down, but if you want to write it down, here's the basic skeleton of the Scriptures we used to present the Gospel, okay? Point one was Romans 3, 10, Romans 3, 23. Point two, Romans 6, 23, Revelation 20, 14, and 15, Revelation 21, 8. Romans 5, 8 you could use, also you could use 1 Peter 2, 24, and explain that, okay? Point number four, we used Acts 16, 30, and 31, John 3, 16, that was the crux of it, but then there's some extra verses you could throw in, which would be 3, 18, 3, 36, Ephesians 2, 8, and 9, you know, just kind of optional to drive that in. And then on the eternal security point, the verses that I like to use are Romans 6, 23, and John 1, 12. Those are the verses I like to use on the eternal security point. Now, and again, if any of these points need reinforced, it's good to have a list of backup verses. So let's say you're a beginner and you're like, wow, that's way too much for me to remember, that's really overwhelming for me to remember all that. Here's a good tip, you draw a map in your Bible, and here's what I mean by drawing a map in your Bible. You just know how to get to Romans 3. Everybody knows how to open their Bible and find Romans 3, hopefully. If not, figure it out, okay? So once you figure out how to get to Romans 3, here's what you do. You write down next to each, you underline the verse and then write down what the next step is. So basically, if I were making a map in this Bible, I'd go to Romans 3, 10, and I would underline it in this Bible. Then once I've underlined it, I would write next to it, 3, 23, because that's telling me where to go next. Okay, then I'd go to 3, 23, underline it, and then I would write next to it, 6, 23, okay? Then I'd go to 6, 23, underline it, and write Revelation 20, 14. Then over in Revelation 20, 14, I'd underline 14 and 15, and then I'd write Revelation 21, 8. Next to 21, 8, you get the idea? That way, you don't have to remember it, when you turn to that verse and show them, it tells you where to go next, right there. It says right there, here's the next step. So that's a good way for a beginner to be able to find the verses quickly by having a map drawn in your Bible, okay? So you've gone through the whole thing, you've made your points. You're a sinner, you deserve to go to hell, Jesus died for all our sins, he was buried and rose again, it's all faith, it's all believing, it's not works, and it's impossible to lose your salvation, it's eternal life, it's everlasting life, we're children of God, he'll punish us, but he won't send us to hell. And a lot of times, I like to ask people at the end of that whole spiel, so, who's going to hell then, according to the Bible? And if they understood me, then they'll say, people who don't believe in Christ. You know, because you just finished explaining to them, it's the believers that are going to heaven. So who's going to hell? The unbelievers, okay? If I get to the end, and I kind of have a feeling that this person's not getting it, do you ever explain to people, and they're kind of giving you the right answers, but you just kind of get a feeling like, yeah, this person's not getting it? Here's the best question to figure out whether they got it at the very end, is to just ask them this, so what do you personally think you have to do to get to heaven? Oh, what do I think? Well, I think you have to live a good life, go to church, and everything. And then you realize, okay, they didn't get it. Even though you've spent 10 minutes explaining it to them. Then at that point, I just tell the person, well, no, it's believe this and that, have a good day, because I just spent 10 minutes talking to you, and it all went straight over your head, so I don't want to waste a lot more time with you, so I'll give you one more verse just to tell you, no, you're wrong, and then, hey, thanks for listening, have a great day, come visit our church sometime, see you later. And move on to somebody who's listening, okay? Now you say, well, how long does it take for you to give somebody the gospel? Well, in a perfect scenario, perfect scenario, the person is just ready to hear, they're understanding every point right away, and I'm just kind of giving them the bare bones, just the real basic, you know, then it's probably going to take about eight or nine minutes if the person is just the perfect, kind of the perfect candidate that just kind of gets it right away, okay? If a person is kind of a little slower on things, it's going to take more like 15 minutes or something like that. Now I have spent as much as, you know, 20, 30 minutes, I mean, I've spent hours talking to somebody before, but especially, like, I've talked to people that are mentally disabled, like people that have Down syndrome or something, I mean, yeah, you're going to spend a long time, or a very small child, you might spend, you know, 30 minutes just because they just don't even know what sin is, they don't know heaven, hell, they've never heard of Jesus, and you have to kind of define everything. But the person who's exposed to Christianity, they've been in church, they know the basics but they're just not saved, you can get through this a lot of times in eight or nine minutes. Now a lot of people criticize that and say, oh, you're just going around and just one, two, three, repeat after me, and yada, yada, yada. Now look, let me explain something to you. There are people out there who do a one, two, three, repeat after me. I've seen it. I've been there. And it's stupid. Over there just real quick, just, hey, you know, for all sin to come short of the glory of God. Believe you've sinned? Okay. Well, hey, Jesus died for your sins. You know, Romans 5, 8, but God commands his love toward us and that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Do you believe Jesus died for you? You believe he rose again from the dead? Okay, great. Next point. So what do you believe we have to do to be saved? Well, the Bible says right here that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have eternal life. You believe in him? Okay. The Bible says right here, for whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. You want to do that right now and just pray right now, just call upon him? Let's do it. Okay, here. That's bad soul winning. Here's why. Here's why. Because that guy, that guy could be totally trusting works. That guy could be a Catholic, a Mormon, a Jehovah's Witness, believe you can lose your salvation, not believe in the deity of Christ. Because you're just basically just, hey, you believe in Jesus? Yep. All right, let's pray. I mean that's, but there are people out there who do that. I don't know why. It seems like a weird thing to do. Because what is it that saves us? It's our faith that saves, right? Faith. So let me ask you this. If I, and I really want you to pay attention to this point. This is real important what I'm about to say. If I walk up to him, right? And he believes a certain way. And when I walk away, he believes the same thing that he believed when I got there. If I talk to him and when I walk away, he believes the same way that he believes when I got there, then he didn't get saved. Either one of two things is true. Either he was already saved or he's still not saved. But he did not get saved. Because when people get saved, something changes about what they believe. Because if they already believed right, then they're already saved. You know this junk about, well, they believe but they weren't saved. That's junk. Well, they believed all the, they believed the Gospel. They believed that Jesus is the only way to heaven and that you can't lose it but they just weren't saved. What? That's what it means to be saved. You're saved by faith. Whosoever believeth should not perish but have eternal life. People aren't saved because they don't believe right. That's why they're not saved. And how do they get saved? By changing what they believe. By putting their faith on the Lord Jesus Christ. They had their faith on something else. Like how about themselves, good works. Or how about the church? Oh, the Roman Catholic Church is going to get me there. I just need to do the rituals and the priest is going to absolve me. Okay? They need to get their faith out of the church, get their faith out of themselves, get their faith out of idols or whatever they're trusting, and get their faith on the Lord Jesus Christ. Or they might have their faith on another Jesus. They need to get their faith on the Jesus of the Bible. They need to believe the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ. That's what's going to get them saved. So if they believe the same way that they did when you got there, praying a prayer is not the issue. It's the faith that has to change. Now let's get to the wrap-up, okay? So we've gotten to the point where we've taught them, we've taught them everything that they need to learn as far as the faith, what to believe, the facts, okay? So now we want to wrap things up with this person, okay? Now a lot of people will teach this, that I just go through all the teachings with them, okay? And then I just say, okay, you believe that? Then you're saved. See you later. Now that is not effective soul winning because of the fact that the Bible teaches that the response of a person who believes on Jesus Christ and wants to put their faith in him is to call upon his name for salvation. That's the Biblical formula. Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. How then shall they call on him and whom they have not believed, how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard, and how shall they hear without a preacher? See Jesus said, and this is a whole other sermon in and of itself so I'm not going to spend a lot of time on this, I've already done sermons like this, but for example in John chapter 4, Jesus said to the woman at the well, if thou knewest who it was that said unto thee, give me to drink, thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee that living water, and that living water is eternal life according to Jesus. So he says if you knew who it was, you would have asked. Here's the thing, if you believe in Jesus, if you believe that he's the savior, if you believe that he holds your soul in his hand and controls your destiny between heaven and hell, then you will call out to him for that gift. You will call out for salvation. If people believed right, then they would have expressed that to the Lord by now. The reason that they didn't, or maybe they even called upon the Lord but they didn't believe in him. Well, calling upon the Lord without believing in him doesn't do anything for you. How can you call on him in whom you've not believed? You have to believe in him, put your faith on him, then ask him for that gift of salvation. Now a lot of people make a big deal out of this point because they've been influenced by this Calvinist doctrine of calling upon the Lord is works. Now that is foolishness because asking for a free gift is not works. I mean what if I said to you, Dominique, if you ask me for this Bible, I'll give it to you, okay? Just come ask me. All you got to do is ask me and I'll give it to you, Dominique. Sure. Okay. Who thinks that he worked for and earned that? Would anybody say he just worked for that? He just earned that. That wasn't a free gift. No, because you'd have to be an insane person to think that he just worked for that. Hey, I mean what if Chipotle said, hey, we're giving away free burritos tomorrow. All you have to do is come up to the counter and ask for a free burrito and you will get a free burrito. Would anybody say you earned that burrito? You paid for that. You worked for that. Nobody would say that, would they? It's stupid. But what if Chipotle said, hey, if you come down here, okay, and bring ten friends with you, then we'll give you a free burrito. Then you'd be like, okay, well you worked for it, right, because you had to go and gather ten people. You need to do some work for it. Or hey, if you come down here and work in the kitchen for an hour, then we'll give you a free burrito or something. Then you're working for it at that point. But if you just say, hey, give me my free burrito, that's working for it? I guess all these people on welfare, they're working for it. They all asked for it. They all said, give me my welfare check, give me my food sample. They earned it. See, that's stupidity. But there are false prophets out there who teach that nonsense, that asking is works. Well, no it isn't. But what if I said to Dominique, I said, hey, I'm going to give you this Bible, right? But I want to see a big change in your life, buddy. And if I see you clean up your life, then I'll give it to you. You clean up your life and come back, I'll give it to you. Then you'd say he's working for it, wouldn't you? Or hey, do you promise to be my servant? I'll give you this if you promise to serve me. You promise to follow my rules? Then you'd say, okay, that's works. But hey, just ask and you shall receive. That's not works. Okay, get real, man. So people have some weird ideas, don't they? So anyway, how do you wrap things up? What's the best way to wrap it up? Now some people will say, well, is it possible to get people saved without praying with them at the end? Just preach them the gospel and walk away? Of course it's possible to just preach somebody the gospel, preach them the Word, teach them everything and say, all right, you know what to do, man, see you later. Or just, hey, man, see you. And it's real possible that they're going to, you know, on their own, right? On their own, they're going to say, you know what, Lord? I believe that. I want salvation, Jesus, you know. I mean, it's very possible that they would do that. But here's the thing. It's also possible to use a pair of pliers to put your pants on. You could use pliers and put on your pants. But is that the best way to do it? Is that, does it make any sense to do it that way? So just like, well, is it possible? Who cares if it's possible? What's the best way to do it? The best way to do it is to lead the person in prayer. Now there's this trendy movement out there that says, make the people word their own prayer. And the reason for this is, you know, just to make sure there's none of this one, two, three, repeat after me. Well, here's the thing. How about if it's one, two, three, four, five, and you're real thorough on number one, real thorough on number two, real thorough on number three, real thorough on number four, and real thorough on number five, and then it's repeat after me. I don't think that the problem with one, two, three, repeat after me is the repeat after me part. I think the problem is the one, two, three part, okay? The problem with this quick slipshod soul winning is the fact that they're not thoroughly explaining the gospel and the person's not understanding it. That's the problem. If the person understands it, then why wouldn't you want to help them pull the trigger and make that decision and seal that deal right then and there? You know why you wouldn't? Because you don't love people. Because you don't care about that person. Because if you care about that person, you want to help them get saved. Now here's what I do, okay, and let me just hurry up and wrap this up on the wrap up face. Once I've gone through and given him the whole plan of salvation, I've made my five points and he gets it, I've asked, then at the end sometimes I'll do a quick review like this. Just a quick review at the very end just to make sure he gets it. And I'll say, so Brother Dominique, except he's not my brother yet, you know, because I don't know if he, I'm giving him the gospel, he's about to be my brother, alright, but he's not. He's a brother, but he's not my brother yet. So I come up to him and say, hey Dominique, so do you believe that you've sinned? You believe Jesus died for all your sins? Yes sir. And remember I just spent the last 10, 12 minutes going real thorough with him on this. Do you believe that Jesus rose again physically from the dead? Yes sir. Okay. So according to the Bible, what do we have to do to be saved? Believe. Right, just believe on him. Now let me ask this, if you believe that and you receive Christ as savior, is there anything you could ever do to lose that? No. Okay, so does this guy understand what I've been explaining? Yeah. Yeah, he understands it. So if you just ask a few questions like that, it doesn't have to be those exact questions, but you could just say, hey, do you believe Jesus died on the cross for all your sins and rose again from the dead bodily? Yes sir. Yeah, okay. So what do you think a person has to do to make it into heaven? Believe. Yeah, that's it, right? And once you do that, sometimes I'll say it this way, hey, if Jesus were standing here right now and you asked him to save you, would he do it? Yeah. And how long would you be saved for? Forever. Yeah, is there anything you could ever do to mess that up? No. You could mess up your life, but you're not going to mess. You know, just ask a few questions just to kind of gauge. Now look, once I know that they've got it, then I don't say to them, hey, do you want to pray and ask Jesus to save you right now? Because here's the thing, it doesn't matter whether they want to. That's what they need to do if they believe it. Now if he gets these questions wrong and says like, and I say, so what do you think a person has to do to be saved? Give me a wrong answer. What do you think a person has to do to be saved then? Live a good life. Yeah, live a good life. Well, you know, the Bible said actually that whosoever believeth in him should not perish without. It didn't say live a good life, but hey, it was good talking to you buddy, all right, because I've just already spent 15 minutes with you, you don't get it, all right. I mean, I don't say that, I'm nice, but you get the idea. Okay, but if he answers everything right, would it be bad to pray with him? He believes it right. Let's just make sure we can nail it down with him and solidify it in his mind. You say, well why do this? Well because what if I'm telling him everything and it's making sense to him, it's sounding good, but what if he has not fully made this his belief yet? You know what I mean? He's still kind of just listening to me, he hasn't really owned it yet. Then he might just kind of be thinking about what I'm saying, it's making sense, it sounds good, I'm proving it all from the Bible. Then he kind of walks away and gets busy with other things and starts thinking about something else and then he just kind of never really solidifies that decision and makes that his own personal faith in Christ and calls upon the name of the Lord. So that's why it's a good way to wrap it up. Once he answers the questions right and I know he gets it, here's what I say to him. Well here's what I want to do then, I want to pray with you right now and just help you tell God that that's what you believe right now. And you can just repeat this after me, I'm going to pray with you and just help you tell this to God right now. Let's pray. Not hey, do you want to pray? Now here's what's wrong with saying hey, do you want to pray? You know what he's thinking? I don't know how to pray, I've never prayed before. Nervous. Or why don't you word your own prayer? Because a lot of people are unchurched. They think that prayer is a big fancy thing that you read off a script. Because think about when people pray at these government things. They have some prayer that they've like, right? They get out their notes and start praying. It's not from the heart, okay. So you know you're like hey, do you want to, you know, you word your own prayer. This cute little trendy stupid thing invented by people who do very little soul winning. I want you to word your own prayer, Dominique. And I want you to ask Jesus to save you in your own words. He's like, our father which art in heaven. Now I lay me down to sleep, he's like, I don't know what to say. So that's why it just makes sense to say, hey, listen, let me just help you. Let me help. I mean, isn't that terrible to help someone? Hey, let me help you. Let me help you do this. Let me just help you pray to God right now and just call upon the name of the Lord right now. Bow our heads and you can repeat after me, all right? Let's pray. Dear Jesus, I know I'm a sinner. I know I deserve to go to hell. But I believe that you died on the cross for all my sins and rose again. Please save me right now and give me eternal life. I'm only trusting you, Jesus. Amen. You know, just something like that, I mean, it doesn't even have to be that in depth because hopefully you've already been in depth up to that point. Pray a prayer with them, okay? Then when they look up, I say, now you meant that, right? Well, then where does the Bible say you're going? Heaven. Heaven, yeah. And why are you going to heaven? Because I believe. Yeah, exactly. And that's what everybody will say if you've been thorough. If you've been thorough up to this point, when you ask them why would you go to heaven, they'll say because I believe. Because you've been thorough. You've taught them that. Hey, is there anything you'd ever do to lose that? No. So that's how it's done. You know, you basically just pray that with them. Now look, don't do this. Pray with them and in Jesus' name, amen. Did you mean that? Because right away, it's like you're putting doubt in their mind. You know what I mean? Like, did you mean that? And it's like, whoa, I thought I did until you pointed your finger at me and asked me in that voice, you know? So it's better to just say, hey, you meant that, didn't you? And you say, well, you know, yeah, you just want to go out and just, you know, just pray with a bunch of people. So that's why you're not even giving them the choice. And that's why you're just saying you meant that, didn't you? And blah, blah, blah. You know what? Here's the thing. Idiots are going to say that anyway. Nuts to you fools. You idiot that's watching this right now, fool, online that's going to comment, easy believism, oh, you just going to have a prayer with me. Hey, shut up, fool, because you know what? I'm going to keep on soul winning and teaching people how to be a soul winner and I'm going to teach people ways that are effective and I'm not going to tailor my soul winning methods about what some critic is going to say about it. Oh, I better be careful to make sure that nobody's going to criticize. Look, if you do what's right, you're always going to get criticized. Here's what I learned a long time ago. Quit trying to please people that are critics. Because you're never going to please them anyway. So here's the thing. Do it the best way. Do it the way that works. And nuts to these fools who want to attack soul winning. And you know what? Anybody who attacks soul winning, shame on them and I wonder if they're even saved. And if they are saved, woe be unto them. And if they're not saved, even greater woe be unto them. And so, you know, don't worry about the critics. You know, don't worry about the people. Ah, soul winning, stupid, doesn't work. And then there's what they say. Oh, you just care about the numbers. Well, it's funny. I thought God cared about the numbers. Didn't God write a book called Numbers? Oh, the numbers. What about the numbers like on Acts chapter 2 where it's like 3,000 people got saved? And then in Acts chapter 5, 5,000 people got saved. Oh, why are you telling us about numbers? And, you know, I've noticed that some of the same people who tell you that you think too much about numbers, they'll give you a bunch of other stupid numbers that don't matter, like money numbers. Like missionaries will tell, oh, we raised this much in support and we gave out this many tracts. Yeah, it's funny how you can count your worthless tracts, but then you get mad when somebody tries to count people that got saved. And then you say, well, you don't really know that those people got saved. Well, listen, I have a confession to make. I don't really know that anybody I talked to really got saved, right? I mean, if I go through this with somebody and they say that they understand everything, right, and they give me all the right answers and then I pray with them, do I really know for sure that that person really got saved? You can't see their heart. But here's the thing, though. Don't you think that the vast majority of people that I'm talking to probably really got saved? And you're going to get a person every once in a while who's just going along with you. Now, here's another thing. When I go soul winning, when in doubt, I don't count it. So like, for example, I was just soul winning like a week ago and I went through the whole plan of salvation with somebody and I prayed with that person, but I walked away, even though they gave me all the right answers, I walked away with a feeling like, you know, I'm not really sure that they got it. And here's what I do. I don't count that. Because of the fact that they're still going to go to heaven whether I count it or not if they were really saved. I mean, it's not like if I don't count it, they're not going. So listen, if you go out soul winning, because we do keep track of the numbers of people saved, why? Because we actually like it. We're excited about it. We rejoice in it. We like to make sure, hey, we're doing something for God and figure out that what we're doing is effective. Now, but we want the accurate, we want the number to be as accurate as possible, but it's never going to be an exact number. It's a rough number. Because of the fact that sometimes you're going to pray with people and it turns out they didn't really get it. Then there are a lot of people that I feel are a little shaky, so I don't count them, but those people really got saved. So you know what it does in the end? It balances out. Because sometimes I'll go back the next week and be knocking in that same neighborhood and I'll see that person that I was doubtful about and I'll go back up to them and say, hey, and I'll question them about salvation and they'll give me all the right answers weeks later, which proves that they weren't just going through the motions with me. If weeks later, that means it's in their heart. If weeks later they know, oh yeah, I'm saved because Jesus died for my sin. You know, it's all by faith. I can never lose it. Then sometimes I'll go back and count that person. So there are probably a lot of people that I don't count because I'm a little bit unsure of that really were saved and then there are probably some people that I count that turns out they really weren't saved because we can't see the heart. So look, if you're in doubt, don't count them. If you go out soul winning and you talk to a group of three kids and one of them is kind of young and one of them might just be kind of following the lead of the other, then just don't count. When in doubt, don't count them because we do want our number to be accurate. Don't count if you're not sure. But if you feel confident, then count them. And you know what? I believe that the number in the bulletin is an accurate representation of approximately how many people have been saved in the course of a year's time. It's never going to be exact. We're going to have to get to heaven to get the exact count. But you know why people get mad about this counting? And they want to fight this counting? Because they have a number associated with their life. And that number was invented in India. And it's called zero. And that number zero is their life's number. They are a big zero. So they get offended by numbers like one, two, three, because they're zero. And it hurts to be a zero. So they get mad and criticize people who have numbers. Now listen to me. Ah, you're all into numbers. You know what? Two are better than one. That's what the Bible says. That's a quote from the Bible. Two are better than one. And people say, oh, it's all worth it just for that one soul. But you know what? It's even more worth it for ten souls. And it's even more worth it for a hundred souls. And you know what? Getting one person saved per year isn't going to cut it when someone's dying and going to hell like every three seconds. And look, we need to be thorough. We need to do our best. And here's a good rule of thumb if you're being thorough. Is that how you'd give the gospel to your mom? Is that how you'd give the gospel to your brother? Is that how you'd give the gospel to your best friend? You know, treat it like somebody you care about. But you know what? At the end of the day, I don't want to get one person saved. I want to get a lot of people saved. Now look, often I've spent four hours, five hours out soul winning and only gotten one person saved or maybe even zero people saved. Sometimes you have to go soul winning for eight hours to get somebody saved. Sometimes you're getting multiple people saved per hour because just everybody you talk to wants to hear the gospel and you're just on a roll. That's the way it is. And you know why our church has big soul winning numbers? It's real simple because we have a big number of people going out for big hours. You know, you say, oh man, the soul winning group had 10 people saved. Scott, how many people were in the soul winning group this afternoon that you headed, the Phoenix group? Okay, so you had 17 people out soul winning. How many hours did you spend out soul winning with those 17 people? Three. So Scott's soul winning team had 17 people in it and they spent three hours soul winning, okay? So we're talking about 51 man hours of soul winning and how many people got saved? 10. Ooh, isn't that such a wild inflated number? They're just going around praying with everybody. No, no, no, the reason we have big soul winning numbers is because we have big manpower and big hours out in the field. 51 hours of work, man hours went into getting 10 people saved. My group on Wednesday, we had about 23 people out soul winning. We were out for one hour right before the service. 23 man hours and we had six people saved. So why are our numbers through the roof? Lots of people doing a lot of work. And you know what, that's what it takes to get the job done. And soul winning works if we work. Let's pray and have a word of prayer. Father, we thank you so much for this time of instruction, Lord, and I pray that it would bear fruit and that people who are under the sound of my voice right now in this auditorium, Lord, would be inspired to go out and go soul winning, Lord. It's so much easier than they think, Lord, if they would just get out and do it. Help some new people to get out and be a silent partner, Lord, and learn how to do it. Help others to start doing the talking and preaching the gospel, Lord. Help us to be an effective force for soul winning, Lord. In this area and all over America and under the uttermost parts of the earth, Lord, please just use us in a mighty way. And God, I couldn't cram everything in tonight that I wanted to just because there's a lot to teach, Lord, but I pray that some things that I said tonight would stand out in people's minds and that they would be able to use them and that people would be saved as a result. In Jesus' name we pray, Amen.