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.