07/02/2019
PERSONAL PREPARATION AND PLANNING FOR SOUL WINNING
Luke 14. 28 – 31, Ecclesiastes 12.10, Proverbs 24.27, Ezra 7.10
Soul winning could be regarded as both a business and a spiritual battle or warfare; and therefore requires adequate personal preparation and planning. This is because as the goal of every businessman is to make a profit, so also the goal of a soul winner is to reap enduring fruits and receive wages. In the same vein, as every warrior is always on the battlefield to win and be victorious, so also, the soul winner is in spiritual warfare fighting the Devil for the souls of sinners to be liberated from his captivity. Therefore, As every business and warfare requires adequate preparation, so also is soul winning. The soul winner must prepare by seeking God’s face in prayer and supplication for himself, to be endowed with vision and burden for souls of men. The strength of his vision determines his burden for souls which equally drives him to his knees for their deliverance and liberation to the Lord (Acts 16.9). Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ emphasize this need by giving his disciples the illustration on the necessary planning required before any fruitful and successful outreach. This was what made the ministry of Ezra, the scribe to succeed in the Old Testament. Lack of preparation, whether in prayer or in the study of the word, makes our evangelism malnourishing which only produce half-baked converts who though, may hurriedly, give their lives to Christ, yet does not endure to the end. Failure to prepare or to plan is to experience failure on the battlefield. However, effective preparation begets successful soul winning which brings deliverance from sin and from the powers of Satan.
Personal Preparation for Soul-winning Ezra 7.10, 2 Tim. 2. 19-21, Isa. 49.24, Luke 11. 21-23, Matthew 17.20, (2 Tim.2.15)
Effective Soul winning requires adequate preparation and planning. To be fruitful, the evangelist must personally prepare himself in various ways and be sure of victory before launching out for evangelism. Although Christ has won the battle for us on Calvary cross, yet the believer’s adequate personal preparation identifies him with this divine victory and grants him the needed testimony after the exercise. Baseless and faithless efforts without preparation will only be a mechanical and fruitless exercise. Areas of preparation and planning required of believers include (i) Spiritual preparation (Isa. 49.24). This begins with self-examination and purging of every form of sin and defilements (2 Cor. 13.5). Since sin of any form will hinder the success of the soul winners outreach. There is a need for adequate preparation and purging through prayer. Secondly, there is a need for Soul winner’s intercession to preparation the hearer’s heart. God will break every hardness and make their heart fertile to receive the gospel message. Also to travail for them that God will deliver them from every bondage of Satan and make the message liberate them from their evil ways. (ii) Manifesting Faith in God (Matthew 17.20), (iii) Message preparation (Eccl.12.9-10). Finally, the soul winner must be a student of the Word (2 Tim.2.15). The Message must be simple and straight to the point. Salvation message must be direct to the hearers. Appropriate passages of the scriptures are necessary to direct the understanding of the hearer’s toward the scriptures and not mere stories, The evangelist must also be of good health to pass his message across.
PLANNING AND PRACTICE OF EFFECTIVE SOULWINNING Matthew 28. 19-20, Acts. 6.4, Acts 8.4,
The mission of soul winning is to make disciples of all nations for the Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, the soul winner must ensure he adequately plans his time, and other resources to deploy them appropriately towards the salvation of the sinners. Once the sinner repents of his sins, the soul winner follows him up and ensures he is baptized in water. Thereafter, he begins to teach him everything the Lord had commanded until he also becomes fishers of men. This must be carried out passionately, persistently, perseveringly and purposefully. 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 a 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 discussion must be directed towards bringing the sinner to the savior (John 4.7, 10-11, 13), (ii) Operation two by two: Sometimes, two are better than one particular 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)
PRODUCTS OF POWERFUL SOUL WINNING Acts 2. 41-43, Acts 8. 6-8, John 4. 36, 39-, 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 the Lord must be our principal focus as we see the days of Christ approaching.
