FUNDAMENTALS OF SOUL WINNING

26 JANUARY 2017

Fundamentals of Soul-winning

TEXT: matthew 28. 18-20, mark 16.15-20

Soul winning was the major focus of our Lord Jesus Christ when he was on earth. He went everywhere preaching and teaching every one of the coming kingdom. His message was very clear, direct and soul saving (Matt. 4.17). His teachings brought repentance, deliverance, healing and dominion to all His congregation as He spread the good news every where. This same vision was passed to His disciples in our text today which by extension is given to all believers of today. Understanding the fundamentals of soul winning makes a believer to give His best resources to this heaven-driven goal and to achieve great success like the apostles of old. Soul winning is also known as evangelism or gospel preaching. Today’s topic gives insight on the essentials of this unending task, making it easy for every believer to quickly join the soul winning business and accomplish great harvest.

The Components of Purposeful Soul winning Matt.28.18-20, Mark 16.15-20, Luke 24. 46-47, Acts 3.19, Acts 26.18, 

As every business has its basics requirements, so also is soul winning. Every exercise of the gospel preaching must contain its basic components which must include the following:

i. The Man (Matt. 4.18-20). Only born again Christians are qualified to preach the gospel. The sinners cannot lead another sinner to the Lord. Therefore The messengers of Christ must firstly have known the Lord at salvation and must be known of the Lord. He must firstly be a disciple of Christ himself before he can lead others to the Savior (John 1. 37-41). He must have repented of his sins and departed from all iniquities (1 Tim 2.19). He must be separated from worldliness and worldly lusts, and must live a holy life (John 15.19).

ii. The Message (John 3.16). The message of the soul winner is “the gospel”. This is the good news of salvation for the sinful world. The soul winners message must include the following

a.      Everyone in the world have been separated from God through their sins (Rom 3.23)

b.      The dilemma and helplessness of sinners (Jere 13.23, Rom. 7.24)

c.       Eternal judgement upon all sinners except they repent (Heb. 9.27, Luke 13.3)

d.      The Love and the will of God to save them (2 Peter 3.9)

e.      Confession of sins and faith in the Lord is very crucial to his redemption (Rom 10.9)

f.        The only way to salvation is Jesus and His atoning blood (Acts 4. 12, Matt. 26.28)

g.      That only faith in the Lord Jesus can guarantee eternal rest with God in heaven (Rom. 10.13)

That instead of being punished for the sins committed in the past, a sinner can now be forgiven and pardoned to reunite with his offended creator. In the message, though God is willing to forgive and has practically sacrificed His only begotten son for his redemption, the sinner on his part must be willing to repent and practically forsake all his evil deeds so as to enjoy the forgiveness from God. Moreover, he needs to exercise faith in Christ and accept Jesus as Lord and personal savior so as to be saved and to receive the power to go and sin no more.

iii. The mission and ministry (Matt. 28. 19-20). The mission of soul winning is to make disciples of all nations for the Lord Jesus Christ. Once the sinner repents of his sins, the soul winner follows him up and ensures he is baptised in water. Thereafter, he begins to teach him everything the Lord had commanded until he also becomes fishers of men. It is a life-long ministry (an unfinished task) of every believer till Christ return as idleness is not allowed in the kingdom of God. This must be carried out passionately, persistently, perseveringly and purposefully.

OUR COMMITMENT and Practice of Successful Soul winning Mark 16. 20,

Every believer must be committed to soul winning. Our commitment must be to obey the Master’s command. The early apostles rose up immediately and went everywhere preaching the word. They were ready to sacrifice everything for the gospel to be preached as the Lord had commanded. Even during imprisonment and severe persecution, they kept on spreading the gospel of Salvation. They were men (and women) with clear vision of the danger and the doom of the lost. They were also very conscious of the damnation of their disobedience to their Master and the reward of obeying His commandments. These fundamental factors propel them to carry on the commission. The following are some of the common practice of soul winning that could be adopted today as seen in scriptures (i) Person to person evangelism – Andrew personally preached to Simon Peter and brought him to Christ (John 1. 40-42), Every personal discussions must be directed towards bringing the sinner to the saviour (John 4.7, 10-11, 13), (ii) Operation two by two: Sometimes, two are better than one particularly in unfriendly environments. This method was adopted by Jesus when He sent the disciples out to preach (Luke 10. 1-3) (iii) Transit Evangelism. Preaching in buses and other transportation medium is common practice today. Like Phillip, we can join the chariot and pay the fare to preach to the commuters on the journey (Acts 8. 26-38). (iv) Outdoor Crusades: This was carried out by Christ where there is available opportunity and space (Matt. 13. 1-2).  (v) Preaching in the churches. This is actually the main reason for every church gathering. Every message of every church service must be focused at leading sinners to the Lord (Matt. 9. 35-36). (Vi) Preaching at Retreats and Combined services. Our responsibility as soul winner is to invite the sinners to these gatherings so they can hear God’s words and be converted (Luke 14. 17). (vii) Love Feasts. These are gathering together of our special guests and acquaintances for the purpose of sharing together for which we can use the opportunity to preach God’s word to them (Acts 10. 24). Other methods include morning cry, literature evangelism etc. These methods are for believers to adopt today to have bountiful harvest of souls. 

CONSEQUENCE OF POWERFUL SOUL WINNING Acts 2. 41-43, Acts 8. 6-8, John 4. 35-38, Acts 11.21, Matt. 25.34, Dan. 12. 3

There is great joy in heaven whenever a sinner repents and come to the Lord. The untold joy in the heart of the soul winner himself is sufficient to motivate us for evangelism. More power is given to the obedient and resourceful believer to do exploits for the Master. His name is written in God’s book of life and he shall wear a crown at the end of his journey with the assurance that he had not labored in vain. However, the church of God will become stronger and stronger. As more converts and believers are added to the church, there will be numerical growth and the believers shall be encouraging one another in the ways of the Lord till He comes. But disobedience shall be penalized by the great Judge at His coming. We need to all rise up to this task of evangelism. Preaching the gospel must be our daily habit and bringing souls to thee Lord must be our principal focus as we see the days of Christ approaching. 

EXCEPTIONAL FAITH FOR UNCOMMON EXPLOITS

Exceptional Faith for uncommon Exploits          January 12, 2017

Heb 11. 32-35; Matt. 15:21-28, Dan. 11.32b

Faith is an indispensable virtue for spectacular exploits. The Lord commended the faith of this Canaanite woman in our text saying “O woman, great is thy faith”. She trusted in God and help on to the compassion of the Lord till she obtained healing and deliverance for her daughter. We can clearly say that she was “strong in faith” trusting God for supernatural and uncommon result. This is the same faith we need to manifest as we come to this year of great prospects. As our visions and expectations are great, so also must our faith be exceptional so as to receive uncommon accomplishments. Daniel, after winning many battles triumphantly declared “the people that do know their God shall be strong, and do exploits” (Dan 11.32b). This statement attaches your faith with your knowledge. You must know the Lord as the Savior before you would be saved, you must know Him as the Deliverer before you will be delivered, you must also know Him as the Almighty who can do all things before you would be able to develop exceptional faith in Him for uncommon exploits. Therefore, though trials and troubles are prevalent in the world today, people of exceptional faith in God still thrives above all challenges and triumph exceedingly because they know their God and they call upon Him, and as they knew that He never fail, they act and speak in His name and they rely on their speech or their action in His name, and they receive their uncommon expectation. How big are your plans this year, and how wide is your vision. Believers need to join this group of “faith-filled” people who will do exploits this year. This can only be achieved through fervent and unrelenting prayer of faith.  

Expressions of faithlessness (fear, doubt and unbelief) and their Perils Numbers 13:26-33; 14:1-3, 20-23; Matt. 14. 29-30, 2 Kings 7:1-2, 16-20;

Fear paralyzes the mind and brings defeat and destruction to its victims. It is an act of torment brought to man through deceit of the enemy (Satan). Fear comes from Satan as a result of disobedience to God. A disobedient man will always be afraid of evil consequences in times challenges. Israel was to spy out the land, but fear and unbelief made them to express doubt in God’s unconquerable ability “But the men that went up with him said, We be not able to go up against the people; for they are stronger than we.” (Numbers 13:31”. This expression resulted into the death of many of the people. Expressions of fear have many grave consequences on people. Peter began to sink while walking on water towards his Master Jesus. Fear comes through sin (i.e from Satan) and should never be entertained by any child of God. Unbelief and doubt is also sinful as it diminishes God’s power and ability and expresses believers distrust in his God due to prevailing circumstances and situations. This was the case of the lord of the king doubted God’s power at the pronouncement of Elisha and he couldn’t live to enjoy the prophesied blessings. But this year, the Lord is telling you “Fear Not, for I will be with thee”. Believers need to hold on to God’s promises firmly without any shadow of doubt. Therefore, change your language this year from “I can not” to “I CAN”, from Its not possible to It is possible”. Let the expressions of you action confirm God’s word. “Let the weak say I am strong”  

Examples of exceptional faith that prevails 1 Cor 10.11, Joshua 10. 9-11, 2 Kings 4. 21-26, 35-37, Matt. 8. 5-10, 13,

The scriptures is full of people who demonstrated exceptional faith to achieve uncommon exploits. Exceptional faith is an inward confidence in God that makes the believer take an action contrary to the order of nature. For instance when Joshua was faced with the battle against the five kings of the Amorites, he needed time to finish the battle and win the victory, so he commanded the moon and the sun to stand still, and it was so (Josh.10. 9-11), The shunemmite woman was greatly troubled at the death of her only son and yet she declared “It is well” until she got her son resurrected. The woman with the issue of blood simply believed that “If I may but touch his garment, I shall be whole”(Matt.9.21), and she came through the crowd not afraid of jesting and mockery of the people, and she was healed. The centurion’s faith was only on the spoken word as he declared to Jesus, speak the word only and my servant shall be healed (Matt. 8. 5-10, 13). You need to develop an exceptional faith this year so as to witness all round uncommon exploits

  

Exploits through Faith and Prayer. James 5.15-16, Joshua 10. 12-14, Matthew 21:21; Mark 10:46-52; John 14. 13-14,  Mark 11:22-24; Luke 8:43-44; Matthew 8:5-13; 15:28, Luke 10.19. Eph. 6.16.

Exploits don’t just happen in isolation of God’s power. Those who will do uncommon exploits must have sound knowledge of what God can do, what he had done and what He had promised to do. Joshua had been following God for a while. He knew the word (Joshua 1.8) and had strict obedience to the Lord. If you knew what He had promised concerning you, then you can trust Him completely that He has the power to achieve His plans concerning your life. Joshua’s intimate and unbroken relationship with His God moved him to pray for uncommon miracle – that the sun and the moon should stand still, and he got it. Uncommon miracles don’t happen by accident. You must primarily be in good relationship with God. Without attachment with the vine, you cannot bear fruits. This means you must be born again. Secondly, you need to “know the Word”. How much of God’s promises do you know and how often do you read the Bible. Thirdly, you must remain holy, righteous and undefiled in deed and in words (Daniel 1.8). Not only that, you must be humble. Humility brings grace to receive uncommon greatness (1 Peter 5.5).  You need also to be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Don’t panic and don’t think you don’t have faith, you must exercise the little you have, it is by this that you can continue to grow in faith. Fear of failure makes many giants of faith to remain spiritually unproductive. Develop a constant prayer habit and grow in it day by day. God has given us weapons to fight and conquer in the battles of life. Prayer and faith are key weapons of our victory. Those who received miracles are people who put their faith into action. Prayer changes circumstances and bring God’s power down. The power of failure in your life can be broken tonight if you can pray. The power of sickness can be broken tonight. The power of disaster and disappoint can be broken tonight. Put God to the test of His word today and pray according to His will, bring your good plans for the year before Him and He will bring it to fulfillment in Jesus name.