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The title of the sermon is the purpose of life. The purpose of life. Now the question is, why are you here? The answer is you were created. Let's look in the Bible in verse 13 where it says, For thou hast possessed my reigns, thou hast covered me in my mother's womb. I will praise thee, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Marvels are thy works, and that my soul hath writhed well. My substance is not hid from thee when I was made in secret, and cured wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Thine eyes see my substance yet being perfect, and in thy book all my members were written, which contentions were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them. The Bible says that God has created every single person on this earth. You say, who opens and closes the womb? It's God. It's God that opens and closes the womb. And God is why you exist today. It's why you are created. Now there's a problem though. Go to John chapter number one. The problem is, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. We're all sinners. We've all sinned before, and it causes a problem because of our sin. We all deserve to go to hell. The Bible says for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God, right? But what comes through the punishment of that is it says all liars shall have their part in the lake which burneth a fire and brimstone. According to the Bible, if you're a liar, you deserve to go to hell. And if we were honest with ourselves, every single person's told a lie. If someone told you that they've never told a lie, you would call them a liar. And because we deserve hell, we are in darkness. Mankind without God is in darkness today. But there's a solution. Look at John chapter one, verse one. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made. And Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness, and darkness comprehended it not. The same God who created you, who made you fearfully and wonderfully, is the same God that wants to deliver you from darkness. Now how does He deliver you from darkness? Because He is the light. And you say, who's the light? It's the Word. Now who's the Word? The Word is the Lord Jesus Christ, the Creator. Go if you would to John chapter number six. Jesus Christ came into this world to be a light to take us out of darkness. The Bible says in John chapter twelve, verse forty-six, I am come a light into the world, and whosoever believeth on me should not abide in darkness. You are everyone that has never believed in the Lord Jesus Christ is in darkness today because of their sin. The wrath of God is on them because they are not saved. Because they have sin in their life, they deserve to go to hell, but you can have light in your life. You say, how do I get the light of the Lord Jesus Christ? By believing on Him. Look at John chapter six, verse thirty-eight. For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of Him that sent me. And this is the Father's will which hath sent me, that of all which He hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day. And this is the will of Him that sent me, that everyone would seeth the Son, and believeth on Him may I have everlasting life, and I will raise Him up at the last day. You say, what's the purpose of life, Pastor Shelley? It's to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. It's to be converted from darkness into light. Jesus Christ is the light that lighteth all men unto salvation. And how do you receive that light? It's by believing on the Lord Jesus Christ. And once you put your faith in Jesus Christ, you're passed from that darkness. Now you're into marvelous light. Now you have everlasting life. You are saved. You say, what's the purpose of my life? To believe in Jesus Christ. That is the most important step in every single person's life, the most important decision. What is the Father's will? That everyone would believe on His Son whom He sent into this world to be a light, a light shining in the darkness. But the darkness doesn't comprehend that. So the question is, what's the purpose of my life? To be saved. To be saved from the darkness of this world. To believe in the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Now go to Colossians chapter 1, if you would, Colossians chapter number 1. God wants to take everyone that's in darkness and bring them into the light. Look at Colossians chapter 1 verse 13. Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness and hath translated us into the kingdom of His dear Son, in whom we have redemption through His blood, even the forgiveness of sins, who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature. For by Him were all things created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether it be thrones or dominions or principalities or powers, all things were created by Him and for Him, and He is before all things, and by Him all things consist. What a powerful piece of scripture. It tells us the Lord Jesus Christ is the creator of all. And just in case you didn't know what all is, He defines it for you. Heaven, earth, visible, invisible, just anything you could possibly imagine existing, created by Jesus Christ, and He is before all things. He's not created. The Lord Jesus Christ is from eternity past and He is the creator of all things. You say, why am I here today? Because Jesus Christ created you. We are all the creation of the Lord Jesus Christ, but because of our sin, we abide in darkness. But you can be taken from that darkness. You can be taken from the power of darkness when you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. That's why it says in verse 13, who hath delivered us from the power of darkness. But the problem is, this world is covered in darkness. Not because of the absence of the sun, but spiritual darkness, because they don't believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and we have to be the ones to be that light for them to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. You say, what's the purpose of my life? I've already believed in Jesus Christ. I've already been taken from the darkness into the light. So what do I do now? Just eat, drink, be merry, because tomorrow we die? I mean, what's the point of life? The point of life after being saved is to share that light with the world. Go over to Matthew chapter number five. Matthew chapter number five. Is my purpose in life complete after I believe in the Lord Jesus Christ? The answer is no. Now of course that is the most important step in our lives, is to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the first step. That's the most important thing. That's the principle thing. But after you've believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, now that you have the light inside of you, you need to shine that light. Look at Matthew chapter five verse 14. Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid, neither do men light a candle and put it under a bushel but on a candlestick and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father which is in heaven. The reality is if you don't shine the light, they'll never come out of the darkness. They don't have any other option. You are the light of the world. Jesus Christ was the light coming to the world, but he's no longer in the world, but you're in the world and you are the light, the light that's supposed to shine the glorious gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ and to turn people from darkness into light. Go to 2 Corinthians chapter number four. Jesus Christ said, as long as I am the world, I am the light of the world. But the reality is the Lord Jesus Christ is in heaven. He is seated at the right hand of God the Father and he says unto us, ye are the light of the world. Ye are the ones to go out and to preach the gospel. While Christ was here, he preached the gospel. He preached to great multitudes. He said, verily, verily, I say unto you, he that believeth on me hath everlasting life. Jesus Christ went around preaching the gospel, preaching the death, burial, and resurrection, but now that he's in heaven, he's commissioned us to be the ones to go out and to preach the light of the gospel. Look at 2 Corinthians chapter four verse three. What happens if we don't shine our light? But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost, in whom the God of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them. For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake. For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. What is the point of your life? It's to be this light to shine and for people to see that light and come to the light and to be saved. If you don't shine the light, people are not going to get saved. You say, how does someone get saved? By the light being shone upon them by someone opening their Bible and opening their mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel. That is how we shine our light. Now go if you would to Acts chapter number 1. What was the conclusion for the apostles and disciples? Jesus Christ was the light and come into the world, but he says ye are the light and before he leaves, before he goes into heaven, what is he telling his disciples? Well in Mark chapter number 16, he says, go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. In Matthew 28, the Bible says, go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever commanded you and lo I am with you always even unto the end of the world. Look at Acts chapter 1 verse 8, but ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost has come upon you and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem and in Judea and in Samaria and unto the uttermost part of the earth. Jesus Christ was crystal clear in his instruction. You are to go out and to preach the gospel not to your next door neighbor, not just to the guy down the street, not just to the guy in your city, not the next city, not just your state, not just your country, the whole world. We're supposed to go out and preach the gospel to everyone. Why? Because that's their only chance. That's their only hope. There's so many people today, they want to be saved, they could be saved, and if we don't shine the light, they're not going to be saved. But if our gospel behead, it's head to them that are lost. There are lost people today. They are in darkness. The God of this world has blinded their minds lest they should believe, lest they should be saved, and we as light bearers need to go out and shine the light of the gospel. That's what we've been commanded by the Lord Jesus Christ. It wasn't a suggestion. It wasn't a good idea. It's the purpose of your life. What do people think the purpose of their life is? Well, I just want to go to the next Super Bowl game. I just want to climb Mount Everest. I just want to get to retirement. I don't even get excited to get to retirement. I'll be old. These people want to get to retirement so they can go golfing and traveling. I'd rather do that once I'm young. Look, what is the point of your life? What is the purpose of your life? It's to share the light of the gospel. If you believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, it's to get other people saved. That should be our goal. That should be our vision. That should be our ringing our bell every single day, every single moment. When you go out into this world, when I just travel into a store and I see people, I don't see a bunch of people in light. I see a bunch of people in darkness. When you go out and you knock doors and you ask people, hey, what are you trusting in to get you to heaven? Well, I'm a pretty good person. Actually, you're in darkness, my friend. Unfortunately, you're not a good person. There's none good but one, and that's God. None of us can get to heaven by our good works. That's what most people are trusting in, and we must go out and shine the light so that people can be saved so their eternal soul is not damned in hell for all of eternity. Just think about it this way. Go to Ephesians chapter 6. If your car lights are really murky, is the light going to shine out as bright? It's kind of dangerous. What should you do? You should probably clean it up, shouldn't you? The question is, if the goal is just to go soul winning, why are we here this morning? Why aren't we just out knocking doors every single second of every single moment? Sometimes you need to be cleaned up a little bit, and going to church and reading your Bible and praying and following God's commandments will clean you up and make you a brighter vessel to be used by God. Just like your headlights, sometimes they need to get wiped off a little bit. Sometimes they got a little mud on them. You got to get that mud off so that it can shine a little bit brighter. What's the purpose of reading your Bible and studying and praying and doing all these things? You can be a brighter light. You can be used greater by God. Whenever I pick a glass to drink water out of, I try to pick the cleanest one. I'm not looking to see what's the dirtiest one I can use. Now, hey, I could use a dirty one, right? I mean, I could get the job done, but at the end of the day, God is looking for clean vessels to be used to shine the glorious light of the Gospel. Now, I had you turn to Ephesians, chapter number 6, look at verse 19. So, what's the purpose of life, Pastor Shelley? It's crystal clear. Be saved and to get other people saved, to share the light of the Gospel, to preach the Gospel. You say, how are Christians going to share the Gospel? What's the best method? Well, Ephesians, chapter 6 tells us very clearly it's to open your mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the Gospel. But what do a lot of people say is the best way to share the Gospel? Lifestyle evangelism, huh? They say, oh, you just got to live a really good life. You just got to be a really good person and just have everything going. God's blessings will be on your life and you'll look so clean and you'll be so nice that people are just going to fall down and be like, please tell me how to be saved. I don't remember that happening to me. Now let's just take the Bible for a second and apply lifestyle evangelism to see if it's true. Now, who do you think is probably the best person in the Bible, like the cleanest person? How about Jesus Christ? I mean, do you think Jesus Christ had any issues with lifestyle evangelism? I mean, he was a perfect. He had no sin. He was tempted in all points like as we are, yet without sin. Everything that came out of his mouth was truth. He's healing people. He's doing wonderful miracles. I would assume if lifestyle evangelism was true, people would be falling down all over themselves. Please save me. Please save me. It's really happening when we read the Bible. Now a lot of people are falling down for healing. A lot of people are coming to hear him preach, but then when he preached the truth, they'd run away. And in fact, they hated Jesus Christ. They crucified the Lord Jesus Christ. Life of evangelism is a joke. You know what Jesus did? He went around preaching the word of God. He went around opening his mouth and making known the mystery of the gospel. When he meets the woman at the well, she's not falling down, just asks how to be saved. He goes on to her about living water, and then she asks for the living water. We see when Jesus Christ is going into towns, he's preaching unto the people. How about Job? Was he a pretty guy? Were people just falling down trying to get saved? No, he was a great preacher. He's opening his mouth boldly and preaching the baptism of repentance. You say, what's that? To believe on him that should come after him. That is on Jesus Christ. That's what John the Baptist was preaching. So we see when we say there are Bibles, it's not, well, how good of a person are you? Go to John chapter 7. Let's see a really good example of how this kind of failed. Because if lifestyle evangelism is true, then everyone would have been saved when Jesus was on this earth. You can't have a better example. You can't have a better person walking around. Lifestyle evangelism is basically saying, I'm lazy. I don't want to preach the gospel. I don't want to be a light. I want to hide it under a bushel. Because the reality is, the more you get to know me, or the more people get to know you, the less likely they're probably going to want to be to hear the gospel. Talking to strangers is much easier to get them saved. When you try to teach the gospel with a friend or a family member, they're not that interested. I guess I'm just not good enough then, okay? Let's see John chapter number 7 verse 5. For neither did his brethren believe in him. Then Jesus said unto them, My time has not yet come, but your time is always ready. The world cannot hate you, but me it hateth because I testify of it that the wets thereof are evil. Oh, did they love Jesus? No, they hated him. The whole world forsook him. It was just him up on that cross, dying for the sins of the world. He despised Jesus Christ. They mocked Jesus Christ. And he was perfect. I can't even get anywhere close to the perfection of the Lord Jesus Christ. Lifestyle evangelism is a lie. It's like the devil to stop you from opening your mouth and making known the mystery of the gospel. We are supposed to open our mouths, but that is how you get someone saved. Jesus opened his mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel. John the Baptist opened his mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel. The disciples opened their mouths boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel. You say, so what are we supposed to do? Open our mouths boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel. Go to Romans chapter number 10. Can you imagine someone going to Jesus Christ and saying, hey buddy, if you're a little bit godlier, more people get saved, right? All these lifestyle evangelism people. If you just lead to cleaner life, Jesus, your brothers would believe in you. If you're just a little bit more godly, if you really trusted in God a little bit more, you went to church more, but this guy's the word. You're talking to the word of God. It's not going to get any more godly. He was equal with God is what the Bible says. He is God. He was God manifest in the flesh. Look, great is the mystery of godliness, God was manifest in the flesh. You can't get any more godly, and it's not you going around just looking godly that's going to make people want to get saved. You know the Pharisees, they appeared righteous on the outside. How come nobody's falling down at their feet trying to get saved? Because they're false prophets, because they're wicked. Because that's not how people get saved. People that are blind don't know what to do. They're in darkness. The unsaved doesn't know what they need, they're lost. A lost person isn't going to find you. They're lost. You have to go find them and bring them back into the light. You have to get the scales from off their eyes. You have to turn the blindness into light. Through what? The word of God. Through preaching the word of God. Look at Romans chapter 10 verse 13. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in him in whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach except they be sent as it is written? How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace and bring glad tidings of good things. But they have not obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah saith, Lord, who hath believed our report? So then faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God. How is someone going to believe in Jesus Christ? They must hear. And hear what? The word of God. You just walking around looking really righteous, no one's going to get saved. And in fact, if you follow me around, you won't think that. You'll think, wow, Pastor Shelley doesn't wear a suit everywhere he goes? You know, Pastor Shelley isn't perfect every second? Look, nobody's perfect. Nobody's even close to perfect. Ask my wife, okay? She'll tell you all about it. But the reality is, if you want to get people saved, you must open your mouth to preach the gospel. They have to hear it. If they don't hear it, they won't be saved. So we must open our mouths. And we see the person that's opening their mouth, they were sent. Someone sent them. People aren't just accidentally going out soul winning, my friend. I've never found somebody, they were like, I don't know what I'm doing, I just showed up at your door and want to preach you the gospel. It doesn't happen. People are sent out on purpose to preach the gospel. They have a goal, they have a plan, they have a vision to get people saved. Now let's keep hammering this point, because I just like hammering, you know, lifestyle evangelism. You know, some of the best soul winners in the Bible had the worst personal testimony. Go if you would to Mark chapter number five. Mark chapter number five. The only way you're going to get someone saved is by opening your mouth. That's the only way. You have to make known the mystery of the gospel. Look at Mark chapter five verse 18. This is a man that has been possessed with a legion of demons, and he's been in the graves. Everybody does not like this guy. Nobody likes this guy. Nobody wants to be around this guy. They hate this guy. They could care less about this guy. But look at verse 18. And when he was come into the ship, he that had been possessed with the devil, prayed him that he might be with him. Howbeit Jesus suffered him not, but saith on him, Go home to thy friends, and tell them how great things the Lord hath done for thee, and hath had compassion on thee. And he departed, and began to publish into Coppolaus how great things Jesus had done for him, and all men did marvel. So you have a guy who's been demon possessed with a legion of demons, has the worst reputation of all the town, and he's miraculously healed. Now that's pretty cool, but we see how is he going to get people saved? Just showing back up in the town, hey I'm healed. No, Jesus said tell. Tell your friends what happened. And then he began to publish, and guess what, all men. It says all men did marvel. You know how he got people saved? He opened his mouth, and he preached the gospel. He had a horrible reputation. He had the worst. You look at this guy, and you're like, this guy's got the worst lifestyle. He's hanging out in the graves, in the tombs. No man can bind him. He's talking with all kinds of different tongues. My name is legion. It's like, what in the world? But guess what? This guy was a great soul winner. You know what that tells me? It tells me no matter what your past is, what your background is, you can be an effective soul winner for the Lord Jesus Christ. I don't care what you've done. You can still go out and preach the gospel, and shine the light, and get many people saved. Go to Acts chapter 16. We see the woman at the well, she was married to five husbands, and the man she was with most recently, it's not even her husband. She's just living in open adultery. Talk about a good rep, huh? Hey, this woman just married Elizabeth Taylor. She's just married to every single guy, married to the same guy multiple times. Now she's just living with a dude. This girl has a bad rep, but after she gets saved, what does the Bible say? The woman then left her water pot, and went away into the city, and saith to the men, come, see a man, which told me all things that ever I did. Is not this the Christ? Then they went out of the city, and came unto him. We see she was a great soul winner. She immediately, after getting saved, went into the city, and told everyone, and told everyone about the Lord Jesus Christ, and was getting many people to believe on Jesus Christ. The Bible says that she actually got people saved. Then when they came to hear Jesus, Jesus also got even more people saved when they got to hear him preach. But we see this woman was an effective soul winner for God. You say, only men can be preachers. Well, only men can be pastors. Only men can be deacons. But you know what? I think women preachers are great when they go out and preach the gospel, and get people saved. We see the woman at the well, no matter the fact that she had a bad rep, she still got many people saved. This lifestyle evangelism is a joke. It's a lie. It has no validity in scripture. And I've talked to people. I took this guy to lunch one time, and I said, hey, I go soul winning every week on Saturdays. I would really love it if you'd come out sometime, you know, I'll buy you lunch again, I'll show you everything. You don't have to say, just show up. You don't have to say a word. Well, I kind of think it's better to just kind of live a really good life, and then just try to witness to those that you build relationships with, and you kind of get to know. That's a joke. And the reality is, the longer you delay in opening your mouth, the harder it gets. The more difficult it becomes to even want to share the gospel. And look, you're not going to get a lot of people saved that way. Let's say that was true, how are you going to reach the entire world with the gospel? You have to be friends with all seven billion people? I mean, can Facebook even handle that many friends? I don't know. What's the most friends somebody could have? I mean, the reality is, you have to just go out and find people that are lost and just preach them the gospel. That is the way we get people saved. Let's get some more, you know, the only place I can find in the Bible where people are just falling down, just like asking to get saved. Let's see if these guys had a good lifestyle, all right? Look at verse 19 in Acts, chapter 16, and when her master saw that the hope of their gains was gone, they caught Paul and Silas and drew them in the marketplace under the rulers and brought them to the magistrates saying, So what happens? Well, Paul and Silas, they get thrown in prison. For what? Well, it says in verse 21, teaching. They're teaching the word of God. When you preach the word of God, people hate it. That's why they hated Jesus. That's why they hated John the Baptist, and sometimes they lock you up. Now, where are these guys at? Prison. So if you're going to talk to me about lifestyle evangelism, tell me how your next trip to prison is going to be, because look at verse number 29. So you say, I want people falling down, just begging me to get saved, will get thrown in prison for preaching the word of God. That's your lifestyle evangelism, all right? That's the only place I can find it. So if it's not lifestyle evangelism, if it's opening our mouths boldly, then how do I do that? What's the most effective method to go out and do that? Soul winning. Soul winning is how we do it. Go to Revelation chapter number 2. You say, what is soul winning? It's when you go out and you preach the gospel to someone, and by preaching the gospel, they have repentance unto salvation, and you win that soul from hell unto heaven by the power of God, by the word of God. That's how we get people saved. That's why it's called soul winning, because I don't want people to go to hell, because I don't want people to be living in darkness for the rest of their life. It's not just me living a clean and holy life. Now, obviously, you living a clean and holy life is going to make you a brighter light. It's going to help you be a brighter light to shine. You're going to be more effective, more powerful. The Spirit of God is going to be able to fill you, and you're going to be able to preach with boldness, preach with confidence. Don't get me wrong. I'm not down on living a clean and holy life. The Bible says, be ye therefore perfect, as your Father which is in heaven is perfect. So we must strive for perfection, according to the Bible, and you say, that's tough, yeah. That's why God's long suffering and merciful. He balances us striving for perfection with us being His grace, His mercy, His long suffering, but that doesn't mean we should just, well, I'm going to mess up, so who cares? No, we should actually strive for perfection in every area of our life. So you say, why is soul winning important though? Well, first of all, it's our purpose. Why are you on this earth today? It's to share the gospel. There's so many Christians today, they've never shared the gospel with a single person. What a shame. You think Jesus Christ is pleased with Christians that never make known the gospel to a single person? Let's see how He really feels. Look at Revelation chapter 2, verse 1. Under the angel of the church of Ephesus, write, These things saith he that holdeth the seven stars in his right hand, who walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks, I know thy works, and thy labor, and thy patience, and thou thou canst not bear them which are evil, and hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars, and hast borne, and hast patience, and for my name's sake hast labored, and hast not fainted. Nevertheless, I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love. Remember, therefore, from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works, or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place. Except thou repent. We see the Lord Jesus Christ is talking to the church at Ephesus, and He says, Hey, you guys do some works. Y'all are working. You got the church service running, you don't like false doctrine, you're doing some good things, but you got a problem. You've left the first love. You've left the first works. What's the first works? It's clearly going out and getting people saved. That's the purpose of your life, and He says that He would remove thy candlestick. Well, what's the candlestick? Look at Revelation chapter 1 verse 20. The mystery of the seven stars which thou sawest in my right hand, and the seven golden candlesticks, the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven candlesticks which thou sawest are the seven churches. So according to the Bible, a candlestick is a church, and if God says He's going to remove your candlestick, what does that mean? He's going to remove your church. When people just gather together and they don't preach the gospel, you know what God looks at that and says? A coffee club, social club, just a group of people. It's not a church. The church must be soul winning or it's not a church, and God says, if you forsake the soul winning, I'll forsake you. I don't care about your other labors. I don't care about your other works. Look, the church was founded on soul winning. What did the early disciples do? They went out and they preached the gospel, all different languages and all different tongues, and then what did God do? He added to the church. We see the church is built through soul winning. The church is built through preaching the gospel. The church is built through evangelism, and when you stop doing the first works, you stop you from having a church. No church anymore. God will remove His candlestick. It's extremely important. It's the principal thing. Why do we meet here together? For soul winning. You say, hey, I thought we were supposed to learn the whole Bible. Yeah. So you can be a clean vessel for soul winning. I thought we were supposed to pray. Yeah. So you can be a good soul winner when you go out and preach. I thought we were supposed to sing praise unto God. Yeah. That's so you can be filled with the Spirit, so that when you go out and preach the gospel, you can be filled with the Spirit. It's all about preaching the gospel, and if we stop preaching the gospel, we will stop being a church. Go to Luke chapter 19. Luke chapter 19. Reality is true love is preaching the gospel. If you really love someone, could you allow them to go to hell when all you had to do was just open your mouth and just share Jesus Christ? Share the gospel. Share the best thing that ever happened to you. I mean, the best thing that ever happens to any person is believing on the Lord Jesus Christ, and if you truly love people, you will want them to be saved, and we see God is love. Look at Luke 19 verse 10. For the Son of Man is come to seek and save that which is lost. Jesus Christ had true love in his heart, and he truly went out to seek and to save people that were lost. You say, does soul winning matter? Well, let me tell you a story. I've never told this story before, but when I first started going soul winning, it was hard. My church didn't do soul winning. I was in an area where I didn't know another soul winner, and I would go out by myself, and it was really hard, and sometimes you'd ask the question, is what I'm doing even matter? Does anybody care? Is what I'm doing going to have any kind of impact? It's cold outside. Nobody in my family wants me to go. It's windy. You go out there. You've been doing it for a while. You don't really see any fruit necessarily every time you go out soul winning. A lot of people don't want to even talk to you. I remember a certain day I went out, and I wasn't feeling very good about the soul winning. I'll just be honest. It was in my flesh. It was a struggle. I was driving 20 minutes across town just to go to an area that I thought might be receptive. I was going to this area, and I was just wandering around on a cold Saturday morning. There's not very many people home. Just knocking doors. Nobody answers. They go lock the door. Knock a door. We're Catholic. Get away. Just hard and hard, and you're getting beat down, and you're wondering, is what I'm doing even matter? I could just be home right now, sitting in my chair, drinking something warm, eating some soup, watching the game, doing anything else. Finally I run into a couple, an older couple. They're coming home from the grocery store. It's an older Hispanic couple. They speak English, and I approach the woman, and I start trying to give her the gospel. She says, I've tried every church. I've gone to church my whole life. I grew up Catholic, and then I went to the Methodist church, and then I tried the Episcopalian, and then I went to the Church of Christ, and then I tried the Mormons, and then I tried the Jehovah's Witnesses, then I tried the Baptist, and I tried the non-enominational church, and I just keep going to churches, and I have no idea what the truth is. I just don't know. I've been searching my whole life, and I just want to know what's the gospel. I just want to know how to be saved. I believe that Jesus exists. I know it's real. I know the Bible's true, but it just doesn't make sense. There's so many confusing stories. One church says one thing's important. Another church labels another thing. It's just like I can't figure it out, and so I begin to show her the Bible, and I start showing her the Romans Road, and I start showing her the gospel, and how it's just by believing in Jesus Christ, and she's like, this is making sense. I'm kidding it. This is what the Bible's clearly saying, and she's like, I always thought the Baptists were a little bit different than the other ones anyways, and I ended up getting her saved. It was a good experience. It was great to get someone saved, but then she says, you have to talk to my husband. Please talk to my husband, and they've just been standing there, and so I start talking to her husband, and it's clear the husband's not saved. I start trying to show him the gospel, and he's just not getting it. The husband just, it's like going over his head. I keep going over the same analogies and the same analogies, and the wife is standing there, and she's paying attention to every word that's coming off of my lips, every single word of her husband, and right then and there, she just puts down the groceries, and she just starts praying out loud, please, will my husband be saved? A woman that spent her whole life just wanting her and her husband to be saved, and she has an opportunity, and her husband's not getting it, and she drops everything, and she says, please, will you just understand the gospel? And not soon after, it's like it started clicking with her husband, and her husband started understanding the gospel, and I was able to get him saved, and then she's thanking me. She's like, I just wanted my husband and me to be saved my whole life. You tell me that it doesn't matter. You tell me that soul winning doesn't matter, and if that's not enough motivation to get to go soul winning for the rest of your life, I don't know what is. True love. This woman is spending her whole life trying to find the answers. She's lost. She's blind. She's in darkness. She wants to be saved. She wants her husband to be saved, and you know what? It did matter that I went soul winning that day. It did. It was important, and look, not every experience is going to be like that, but when you have experiences like this, it can change your life. It can change your motivation. You can say, I don't care what my family member says. I'm going soul winning. I don't care what the cares of this world, the deceivableness of riches, I don't care what's going on in my world. I'm going to be at that soul winning time because I'm going to seek and save that which is lost. The purpose of your life is to go out and preach the gospel. That's the priority. That's the reason you're here. Look, everything else is vain. Everything else is going to pass away, but you know what? Those two people are going to be in heaven. Those two people are saved, and they're on their way to heaven, and nothing can change that. Go, if you would, to Jude chapter number one. The genuine love of a wife for her husband, standing there praying, please, can my husband understand the gospel? What if everyone had that heart? The question is, if it's not you that gets those people saved, who's going to do it? There's people dying and going to hell every single day that you could have gotten saved. I'm not a Calvinist. I don't believe in this stupid doctrine that everybody is just going to get saved just because. We have free will, and your decisions are going to make changes. When you pray, it can make changes. When you read your Bible, it can make changes. When you show up to church, it can affect people. When you go out soul winning, it affects lives. It affects decisions for Christ. Look at Jude chapter one. Look at verse number three. Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints. When you go out and you preach the gospel, it is contending for the faith. It is a fight. The flesh will say no. The flesh will not want to do it. You have to drag your flesh out there by the power of your spirit and say, God, give me boldness to make known the mystery of the gospel and to get people saved. Why is he telling you, hey, I'm exhorting you? Because it's important the decisions you make. You could choose to go soul winning and not, and you could have gotten more people saved and not. At the end of our lives, if you don't do anything but just vain stuff, if you just lay up wood, hay, and stubble, the Bible says it will burn up and you will suffer loss. You will suffer loss for all the people that you could have saved that you didn't. Look at the end of chapter 1 of Jude. Look at verse number 22, and some have compassion, making a difference, and others saved with fear pulling them out of the fire, hating even the garment spotted by the flesh. The Bible says you can make a difference. The decisions you make make a difference in this world, and my question is, do you want to make a difference? That's your purpose. Why are you here today? Why did God create me? Why did God give me a mouth? Why do I have everything that I have in this world? It's so that I can make a difference. God wants me to be a bright light. He wants me to go out and shine the gospel, to get many people saved, and you say, why are very few doing it? Because they don't realize that's their purpose. They don't realize they can make a difference. They don't realize the importance and the value of their life. Reality is, if you're a humble person, you will realize you can have a big impact on this world. You could consider, hey, can I lay down my own selfish ambitions to make a difference for others, or am I going to spend my life on the vanity of things for myself, on the lust of the flesh, on the pride of life? That is not the love of the Father. The love of the Father is to seek and to save that which is lost. Go over to Acts 26. Why is soul winning so important? It's your purpose. It's why you're here, and it's the Great Commission. That's what Jesus Christ left us with, was this great purpose in life. I love the fact that I have that purpose. God didn't have to give us that purpose. We could have just been robots, right? Love God, love God, praise Him, praise Him. I just go to church. He gave us free will, because God wants to be praised by people that want to. That's true love. It's not love whenever you program a robot to just say, I love you. I like you. You're so cool. Will you be my friend? That's not cool. That's why I marry a person. I'm not interested in a robot relationship. I'm interested in a real person that actually has real love towards me. The same is with God. Why does God give us free will? Because then He wants to see what's in our heart. What is in your heart today? Look at Acts 26, verse 15. And I said, Who art thou, Lord? And He said, I am Jesus, whom thou persecutest. But rise and stand upon thy feet, for I have appeared unto thee for this purpose, to make thee a minister, and to witness both of these things which thou hast seen, and of those things in the which I will appear unto thee, delivering thee from the people and from the Gentiles, unto whom now I send thee, to open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and inheritance among them, which are sanctified by the faith that is in me. What is Paul's purpose? To go out and be a witness of Jesus Christ, to turn people from darkness to light. That's what we're supposed to do. That's the purpose he gave us to do, is to turn people from darkness unto light. Go if you would to 1 Peter, chapter number 1. 1 Peter, chapter number 1. The Bible says in Proverbs 11, verse 30, The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, and he that winneth souls is wise. You say, is soul winning biblical? Well, my Bible says the person that wins souls is wise. Why would he be wise? Because you're fulfilling your purpose. If you're a salesperson at the car dealership, what's your purpose? To sell cars. If you are someone that builds buildings, what's your purpose? To build the building. Look, you have to have the main goal be the main goal, and when it comes to the Christian life, what is the main goal? To win souls, to win people to Christ, to share that light, and to turn people from darkness unto light. Why is soul winning important? It's the commandment of God. Because you're making a difference, because it's the purpose of your life. That's why we go out and win souls. Now, your question is, how do we do soul winning? How do I actually go out and win somebody to Christ? Do I just go and I just open my mouth and like a light comes out and just shines on them and they get saved? No, you actually have to preach the word of God, okay? Look at 1 Peter chapter 1 verse 23, being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible by the word of God, which liveth and abideth forever. How does someone change from darkness to light? How does someone go from death unto life? They must be born again. That's what Jesus said unto Nicodemus. You can't see the kingdom of God unless you're born again. And how does someone become born again? By the word of God. That means that we must preach the word of God. Without the word of God, we can't get someone saved. Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God. So that means, hey, maybe I should memorize some of the word of God. Maybe I should know some of the word of God. Maybe I should read the word of God. That way I can be an effective soul winner. The person that doesn't know any of the Bible is not going to be an effective soul winner. The best soul winners are the ones that know the word of God. That's our sword. The Bible says that the sword of the Spirit is the word of God. That's our weapon. When you go to Ephesians 6 and you learn about the whole armor of God, you only have one weapon. Everything else is defensive armor. You got the helmet and the breastplate of righteousness, and you got your feet shod. You got the shield. That's not going to win the battle, my friend. That's only defensive. But you know what you need? The sword. And you only have one weapon. It's this. You say, how are you going to defeat darkness? The word of God. The light which lightened all men. The glorious gospel. That's how we get people saved. That's our weapon today. Go to 1 Peter chapter 3 now. Look at chapter 3. I'll read for you. The Bible says, for the word of God is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even the dividing asunder of soul and spirit into the joints and marrow and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. The word of God is what has power. The word of God is what changes men's lives. The word of God is going to be our weapon to go out and to turn this world upside down. You know how you're going to make a difference? The word of God. That's how we make a difference. That's how Paul and Silas, they got thrown into jail for preaching the word of God. Then guess what? People start falling down asking how to be saved. If you want that to happen, go out and preach the word of God. Look at 1 Peter chapter 3 verse 15. But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear. According to the Bible, we should be ready to go out and preach the gospel. That means, hey, I'm going to read my Bible in the morning, hey, I'm going to start memorizing scripture, hey, I'm going to start praying, hey, I'm going to sing the Psalms, I'm going to sing the hymns and the spiritual songs so that I can be filled with the Spirit, so that I can be an effective soul winner. Let's go to Romans chapter number 1. And the best way to learn anything in my opinion is to learn from someone that's successful at it. If you want to be a doctor, learn how to be a doctor from a doctor. If you want to be a good plumber, go learn from a good plumber. If you want to have a good marriage, get marriage advice from someone that has a good marriage. I love people, they are on their fifth spouse, let me tell you, you know, how to have a good marriage. Let me tell you what you should look for in a spouse. It sounds like you failed five times, buddy. Sounds like you're not the person I want to learn from. If you want to be good at something, you must learn from someone that's good at it. That's the best way to be someone that just makes sense. This is how bitumen logic works. If you want to learn bad habits, then learn from people that are unsuccessful. Ray Comfort. Ray Comfort, he has all these video clips of soul winning, and he never gets a single person saved. Don't learn from that guy. Don't learn from people that fail. Learn from people that are successful, that actually can get someone saved. And go to a church where they have soul winning, because how are you going to go out and preach the gospel? You have to be sent. The reality is, people that are not sent are going to burn out, myself included. If I didn't go to a soul winning church, I would quit soul winning probably. Just being honest with you. The flesh, there's too much temptation, there's too much struggle in this world, and it's hard to just be a force by yourself. We must unite together, and be the whole body, and go out as a body and preach the gospel. Now look at Romans chapter 1, verse number 16. For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation, to everyone that believeth, to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. According to the Bible, how does someone get saved? By believing the gospel, right? Verse number 17, for there is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith, as it is written, the just shall live by faith. You know what makes you alive spiritually? Believing the gospel. You know how you get that? Someone that has the faith, someone that already has the light, comes unto you and gives you that faith, and gives you that light by preaching you the gospel, by preaching you the word of God. That confirms to me that an unsaved person can never get someone saved. You know what? You need to get faith. You need someone that is alive to give you the light. Look, two people that are blind, they're just going to both fall in the ditch. You must have someone that can see clearly to then help the guy that's blind. Lead him into the light so that he can know how to be saved. Now go if you went to John chapter 20. This is the last place I'll have you turn this morning. Salvation is revealed from faith to faith. We are the ones that have the faith. We must be the ones that have the faith. We can't just wake up people to just figure it out. You know, there's some churches today, they're just praying for people to show up and get saved. It's not going to happen. We must go out and preach the gospel. How beautiful are the feet of them that go out and preach the gospel is what the Bible says. We must be the feet of Jesus Christ and go out and shine that light. Now how do I get involved in soul winning? Well go to a soul winning church. Go to a church that actually has soul winning. And if you want to be a lifelong soul winner, always go to a church that has soul winning. If you're not in a soul winning church, let me give you an update. You're not going to church. Didn't we already read in Revelation chapter number 2, the church that forsakes the first love? What does he say? I'll remove your candlestick. It's not church. It's a social club. It's just a hangout. Look, people get together all over this country doing all kinds of different things. Is the football game church? I mean what separates the football game from the group of people down the street calling themselves a church that don't go soul winning? Nothing. And we see if you want to be a soul winner, you must go to a soul winning church. And if you want to go to church, then you have to go to a soul winning church. Find one that has a time for you to go out and be sent to preach the gospel. Not only that, our church is participating in April 20th and the mega marathon. You say what's the mega marathon? It's hosted by Faith Lord Baptist Church in Tempe, Arizona where they're trying to organize with other like minded believers on one day to have as many people going out and preaching the gospel all at the same time so that this world can be lit up with the gospel. What a great event to be a part of. What's the purpose of your life? Preach the gospel. Why not join in on a special day to go out and preach the gospel with so many other Christians and take the gates of hell and break them wide open with the gospel. We'll just bring a lot of people out of hell with us into heaven that day. That's a great way to get started. Find a soul winning time and get plugged in. My personal opinion is if you've never been soul winning, try to go at least once a week, one time a week. Just find one time, you say, hey, I'll just go on Tuesday nights. I'll just go on Sunday afternoons. I'll just go on Fridays and just get consistent at going one time a week. That way, God's not angry with you because you know what your whole purpose is to go soul winning. Can't you just find one hour out of all 168 in the week? Just find one hour to do the main purpose of your entire life. I mean, is that too much to ask? We see it's the command of God. It's going to make a difference. It's the purpose of your life. Now look at John chapter number 20. We'll see why this book was written. Look at verse 30. And many other signs truly to Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book, but these are written. That ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing ye might have life through his name. What is the purpose of life? It's to believe in Jesus Christ. It's to have that life. It's to have that light. It's to be turned from darkness unto light. It's for Jesus Christ to come in and to dwell with him, to be restored under fellowship to the Father through the Son, Jesus Christ. He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world, is what the Bible says. And the book of John is saying, I wrote a whole book just to tell you how to be saved. You know what's a good book to use out soul winning? The book of John. It's got so many great stories of Jesus Christ. You have Jesus Christ preaching the most famous verse in the Bible. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life, the light, the light to shine upon men. But the reality is, people are not going to get saved by just reading that verse. People are not going to get saved by just reading this book. People are not going to get saved by accidentally stumbling onto the Gospel. You must be the one to go out and guide them. The Ethiopian eunuch says, or Philip the Evangelist, he says under the Ethiopian eunuch, understand us what thou readest. He says, how can I, except some man should guide me? The purpose of your life is to be saved, and then to share that Gospel with others. To be a soul winner. That's why this church is always going to be a soul winning church. That's why the main focus of this church is going to be soul winning. That's why any decision we make has to be taken into consideration. What about the soul winning? What about reaching the lost? What about going out and evangelizing the whole world? What's the principle thing? To preach the Gospel. Why do we have the Bible to get people saved? Why do we have the book of John to get people saved? Wasn't there a lot of other miracles Jesus did? Wouldn't it be cool to read about those? Why were these ones written so that you could be saved? So that people could be saved. Why did God give us the Bible? Why do you have breath in your lungs today? Why do you have everything that you have to go out and to preach the Gospel? The purpose of your life is to win souls to Christ. Let's close in prayer. Thank you Father so much for your word. Thank you for giving us the light, the light of the world. Thank you for creating us and giving us the opportunity to be saved when we don't deserve it. Thank you so much for your grace. Thank you for your unspeakable gift, the Lord Jesus Christ. I pray that we would not just waste our lives in the vanity of our minds, that we not waste it with the cares of this world, with the deceitfulness of riches, which will choke the word and will become unfruitful, but rather that we will spend a life dedicated to serving you, which is a reasonable service. We could be a living sacrifice, that you could use this church to be a light, to lighten the whole world with the Gospel, that we could be a city set on a hill, that we could be a church that would go out and get many people saved, not for our glory, but for your glory. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.