(Guidelines for Winning Souls) Are You a Soulwinner? — Denny Kenaston

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These messages are offered to all without charge by the free will offerings of God's people. A special thank you to all who support this ministry. Just a little bit of an introduction here. I plan to have five and I may stretch that to six lessons on winning souls.

There have been some requests made that we could have some classes again on how to win souls. Just how to take somebody who is a lost sinner and lead them through to a place where they come to saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.

There were requests made like that. There were some requests made, could we have a class on Saturday morning? And I thought to myself, there are so many in this room that are continually getting involved in God's work.

It seems maybe we should have it on a Wednesday night so that all can hear and take notes and be challenged. And receive instruction. So I have basically five different directions that I want to go through the course of these studies.

And I said already I may add another one to that. But the first lesson, which is tonight, will be called, Are You a Soul Winner? And then from there we want to look at the main truths that you need to share with somebody in order to win them to the Lord.

And then thirdly, we want to look at just exactly how to win a soul to Christ. Fourthly, I'd like to discuss several different ways that you can begin. Or ways that you can use to open up a conversation with somebody to speak to them about the needs of their soul.

And fifthly, I'd like to have a lesson on reasons why people don't win souls. And like I say, that may get stretched out a couple more lessons before we're done. So this evening, the lesson is on, Are You a Soul Winner?

The Great Commission and Active Evangelism

And you'll understand the title as we move along through the lesson. Turn, first of all, to Matthew 28. And I want to say this too. We'll have this short lesson and then we'll open it up for discussion, questions or whatever.

And we'll do that each week. Normally we have a little bit more of an open discussion. But there is also a desire to tape the lessons and it's a little hard to do the taping if there's a lot of open discussion going on during that.

So we'll have some open discussion after the lesson is given each evening. So to begin with, Are You a Soul Winner? In Matthew chapter 28 is where we're going to begin. And first of all, I'd like to look at some action words that we find in several of the verses in the New Testament and some also in the Old Testament.

Just simply some action words to see and show us that God wants us to take an active part in winning souls. So first of all, Matthew 28, verse 19 and 20. Jesus is speaking to his disciples here and he says to them, and it's the last thing or one of the very last things that he says to them just before he left.

And he said, well, let's read verse 18 also. And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. And that word power there is authority. All authority is given unto me in heaven and in earth.

Go ye therefore, because authority has been given to me, Jesus said, because the authority has been given to me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and of the Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you.

And lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Now, the action words we want to look at here. First of all, Jesus said, Go. He said to go. And we can get an understanding of what he meant by that when we realize who he spoke that to.

He spoke that to his apostles. He spoke that to a few of his disciples. And they were Jews and they lived in Jerusalem and in Judea and just right around the area of Jerusalem. But he said to them, he said, I want you to go and I want you to teach all nations.

I want you to go out into the world. So we understand how much action is wrapped up in that little word just by looking at the setting. And then he says, I want you to teach all nations. And that word teach there means make disciples.

Go and make disciples of all nations. Again, a very active word. Making a disciple is a very active word. Of course, baptizing them is also a very active word. And then down in verse 20, teaching them to observe all things.

Again, the word teaching is an active word. So we can see here by these verses that Jesus did not have in mind that the disciples just live out a good testimony in Jerusalem and wait for the rest of the people to come and ask them of the hope that lies within them.

Jesus had more in mind than that when he gave the command. And I'd like for us also to notice that he said, I want you to go and make disciples of the people. And I want you to teach them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you.

And one of the things that Jesus clearly taught to his disciples was to go. So what we're supposed to do is go. And as we make a disciple, we're supposed to turn around and teach that disciple that he is also supposed to go.

And he doesn't have to wait until he gets five or six years old in the Lord to go. He is supposed to go and do the same. All right. Then over to Mark. In Mark, chapter 16, verse 15, the command is given again in a little bit smaller form.

Go into all the world and preach the gospel. Now, there the word is preach. The first action word is go. And the second one is preach. The go we already spoke about. The preach, I'd like to say just a little bit about the preach there.

That means preach. And when you study the word preach in the New Testament, it means to open up your mouth and proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ. That's what it means. And I don't believe that Jesus gave that just to his apostles.

I believe he gave that to them to give to others. And I believe it's all of our responsibility to open up our mouth and proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ. A very active verse. Turn to Daniel, chapter 12 in the Old Testament.

In Daniel, chapter 12, and we'll just read verse three for the sake of time. And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament. And they that turn many to righteousness as the stars forever and ever.

Now, Daniel is looking ahead as he makes these statements. But I think it's interesting for us to note that the word wise there means teachers. And they that be teachers shall shine as the brightness of the firmament.

And they that turn many to righteousness as the stars forever and ever. So what Daniel is saying here is that there's going to be a brightness of shining upon those who were teachers and those who turned many to righteousness while they were upon the earth.

And again, I don't believe that he's just speaking about the ministers. He's talking about any child of God who is willing to open up their mouth and teach somebody else about Jesus. Or any child of God who's willing to turn one to righteousness.

So the active words here are teachers and turners. We want to be teachers and turners of those to righteousness. Now, Proverbs 11. We want to look there also. In Proverbs 11, verse 30. The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life.

And he that winneth souls is wise. He that winneth souls is wise. Now, remember what the title of the lesson was. Are you a soul winner? He that winneth souls is wise. Well, I studied that word winneth, which is the action word that we want to look at here.

Here's what it means. To take, to carry away, to fetch, to go get, to seize. It has the connotation of going out and snatching and bringing back. He that winneth souls is wise. All right. Also then over to Luke chapter 14.

And I guess we better read the whole parable so we can understand the context. Luke chapter 14, verse 16. Then said he unto him, A certain man made a great supper and bade many. And sent his servant at supper time to say to them that were bidden, Come!

For all things are now ready. And they all with one consent began to make excuse. The first said unto him, I have bought a piece of ground, and I must need go and see it. I pray thee have me excused. And another said, I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to prove them.

I pray thee have me excused. And another said, I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come. So that servant came and showed his lord these things. Then the master of the house, being angry, said to his servant, Go out quickly.

There's the first action word. Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in hither. There's a sermon, isn't it? Go out quickly and bring in hither. The poor, and the maimed, and the halt, and the blind.

And the servant said, Lord, it is done as thou hast commanded, and yet there is room. And the lord said unto him, Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled.

For I say unto you, that none of those which were bidden shall taste of my supper. So, the action words we want to look at in this parable are, Go out quickly, bring in hither, and then the next verse, the second verse down from there, Compel.

Go out and compel them to come in. These are all action words. Going out, bringing them in, and compelling them. Now, I don't know about you, but as I think of the word compel, I can't help but think of somebody who is excited.

I can't help but think of somebody who is urgent about what they are doing. If we're going to go out and compel, we're going to be urgent. If there was something wrong inside this building, and a few people walked in here, the person who compelled them to go back out, I don't think he would just be calm about it, and just say, well, look, if you want to, you can go on out, things aren't going too well in here.

No way. If there was a danger inside this building, the one who was going to compel would be urgently compelling the people that came in here to get out of here as fast as they can. So, we see a sense of urgency in this action word.

And then Matthew 4 .19, and you don't need to turn there, I'll quote it, Jesus said to the disciples, Follow me, and I'll make you fishers of men. And the action word there is fishers. And if you know the context there, they had just brought in a whole bunch of fish.

I believe that's the context. They just brought in a whole bunch of fish, and I've never been on a fishing boat, but I can just imagine the excitement that was going through their hearts and minds as they threw those nets out.

And then when they tried to pull the nets in, there were more fish than they could get in. And they had to throw them all in a boat and try to find another boat to put more fish in. You can just imagine the enthusiasm that them fishermen must have had when they pulled all them fish in.

And that's when Jesus said to them, Follow me, and I'll make you fishers of men. If you think it's exciting to throw your net out in that water and pull in a bunch of fish, follow me, I'll make you fishers of men.

That's more exciting than filling your boat up full of fish. So there's another active word. Follow me, and I'll make you fishers of men. Now I'd like to look at four stages of evangelism this evening.

The Four Stages of Evangelism

I want to recognize all four, but I want to hold precedent on the last one. I believe that the Bible would teach that there are four, well, I don't want to say the Bible, but we are used to practicing four stages of evangelism.

They're all biblical, but the Bible doesn't give them actually as stages. The first stage of evangelism is the example stage. The Bible says, Let your light so shine before men that they will see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.

There's another verse in Philippians that says, Among whom you shine as light in the world in the midst of a crooked or a dark generation. So, it's clear that the Bible teaches that God's people are supposed to be a light and a testimony.

A city that is set on a hill to a lost and a dying world. And that bright light that shines out from our lives is supposed to be used by the Spirit of God to show the world out there that there is a God in heaven who can change people's lives.

And we want to recognize that tonight. The number one stage of evangelism, which is the example stage. I praise God for it. I praise God for any godly Christian all over this county that is living out evangelism in this stage right here.

They're being an example. Their neighbors know them to be holy people. They know them to walk with God. That's good. Praise God. They are in a very small way being used by God to reach out to a lost and dying world.

Now, the second stage is the track stage. And this is why I say it's not in the Bible. Paul didn't have any tracks. We're glad for the tracks. We're glad for the printing press that prints the tracks.

But Paul didn't have any tracks. But the second stage of evangelism is the track stage. And that is simply where you may get together with a group of people and go out on the street corner and get your tracks and just stand there and give tracks out.

You may stand there for an hour and I'm not against that. We do a lot of that and praise God for it. And if that's where you're at, God bless you for it. I wouldn't want to discourage you from it. I think you ought to continue to pass out tracks every opportunity that you can because God uses tracks.

That's the right time. But I don't believe that that is biblical evangelism. The track stage. The third stage then we want to look at is the witnessing stage. And when I say witnessing, I mean you go and you share your testimony with somebody else.

You share with them what God did for you. You may not be aware of this, but there are a lot of books out about evangelism that cover the witnessing stage. Be a buddy to somebody. Go and share Christ. And they'll use terms like that.

Go and share Christ. Go and give your testimony. And again, I'm not against that. And anybody in this room who goes out and shares their testimony with someone else, I praise God for it. But that's not the evangelism that the New Testament teaches.

I feel like these are like progressive stages. You're in the example stage and at this point, your mouth is like this. And you shudder at the thought of walking up to somebody and saying, Sir, if you died today, would you go to heaven?

That makes you shudder to think about that. You're in the example stage. You just stay there and grow on. Don't be discouraged and leave off that. But you need to grow further, I believe. This is the stage where we're just sharing our testimony.

And then number four, we have the soul winning stage. And I believe that this is where New Testament evangelism is. It's in the soul winning stage. Turn to 2 Corinthians chapter 5. Now we're going to look at a soul winner here a little bit.

2 Corinthians chapter 5 and verse 11. Knowing, therefore, the terror of the Lord, we persuade men. I believe that's the soul winning stage. Listen to the definition of the word winneth again. He that winneth souls is wise to take, to carry away, to fetch, to go get, to seize, or go out into the highways and the hedges and compel them to come in.

I believe that is the soul winning stage where we get souls so burdened about the soul of a man that we'll get urgent enough about it to go to that man and persuade him of his need of salvation. Paul was a persuader of souls.

Turn to Acts 18. We'll see how Paul won souls here. Acts chapter 18. In Acts chapter 18 verse 4 it says of Paul the apostle and he reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath he greeted the Jews and the Greeks.

Here he is again persuading, pleading with them. In Acts chapter 26 I'm not sure if I can find the verse. In Acts chapter 26 Paul was speaking to King Agrippa and King Agrippa answered Paul this way after Paul had presented the gospel to King Agrippa.

He had laid the gospel out to him, what God could do for him through the Lord Jesus Christ. King Agrippa said these words to Paul. Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian. You almost have persuaded me to be a Christian.

Now let's look at the word persuade a minute and then we'll look at another verse or two concerning this. Let's look at this word persuade. Paul is known to be a persuader. The word persuade is in the active voice.

It means to prevail upon. To win over. To change someone's mind by influence of reason. To influence. So Paul the apostle had the testimony that wherever he went he prevailed upon other people concerning the gospel.

He had the testimony that wherever he went he was trying to win people over by understanding of the gospel. He had the testimony that wherever he went he was out to change someone's mind by influence of reason.

And wherever he went he was out to influence people to believe the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. He was a persuader. He didn't just go and share Jesus with people. I believe that Paul brought men and women to face the reality of their need of salvation.

He was a persuader. And once he brought them to the reality of their need he didn't leave it there. Then he began to plead with them. Oh sir, don't you see that you can be saved today? Why don't you give your heart to Jesus?

He was a persuader. In Acts chapter 18 verse 13 an indictment was made against Paul. He was before a council here in Acts chapter 18. And it says of him this fellow persuades men to worship God. So even the heathen had the same concern about Paul.

His testimony among them was the same. He goes around persuading people to worship God. And in Acts 19 and let's turn and read that one. Acts 19 and verse 26 Moreover ye see and hear that not alone at Ephesus but almost throughout all Asia this Paul hath persuaded and turned away much people saying that they be no gods which are made with hands.

Oh such a testimony that he has. Not only here at Ephesus but almost throughout all Asia this man is busy and everywhere he's going he's persuading much people to believe that all these idols are not gods at all that there's only one God and you meet him through the Lord Jesus Christ.

What are we going to do with this man? He is a troublemaker because he is a persuader. Now I believe with all my heart that that is what New Testament evangelism is. Every one of the other things every one of the other stages that I mentioned they're very good and I practice all of them and I think we should practice all of them but I do feel that we should open our heart to the reality of our responsibility to be a persuader of men or to be a soul winner.

That's what winning souls is all about. It's interesting to me that where people do not practice this matter of persuading souls you don't hear the word winning souls. They don't even use it. But where you find people who practice this matter of persuading men about their need of salvation you all of a sudden find that word.

You'll find it among them. So my heart's desire is that we would be a church full of soul winners. A church a whole church full of people who go about persuading others about their need of salvation. Now I might say this if we're going to be a soul winner rather than just a sharer sometimes people are not going to like it because if you move from the stage of witnessing to the stage of winning souls now you're going to have to tell somebody Sir do you know if you died today you'd go to heaven?

Where are you going to go yourself? You know it's one thing to say to somebody I just want to share my testimony about what God did for me how he saved my soul and made me whole and he's given me a hope in heaven and praise God for that.

But most people will listen to that and move from there into by the way sir how about your soul? Where do you stand with God? Where would you go if you died today? If you faced eternity tomorrow where would you find yourself?

Oh then you get all kinds of different answers back. That's none of your business. There's two things a lot of people say there's two things that I make a practice not to talk about politics and religion that one always comes but you know something it never comes until you say Sir what about your soul?

When you begin to move into the stage of winning that soul and seeing that this man is lost and there is enough power in heaven and wisdom in heaven to take this individual from his lost state into a state of redemption where the angels in heaven are rejoicing over a sinner that repented.

We need to get a vision that is possible for any one of us in this room to take a soul from a state of being lost into the state of being saved. And may I say this if you've never had the joy of leading a soul to Jesus you don't know what you're missing.

We sang it there the truth of it in the song there of the ninety and nine how excited the angels get when one sinner repents. Well, some of that some of that holy excitement will spill all over your heart when you see a soul go from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of light.

But in order for you to see the reality of that you must move from the stages of being an example and just passing out of track and just sharing your testimony into the stage of challenging an individual about their need of salvation.

So this evening to sum up the lesson we are seeing here this evening that God wants His people to be very active in this matter of winning souls. In fact that's why we're still here. That is exactly why we're still here.

Discussion: Persuasion, Spiritual Wisdom, and the Spirit's Leading

I can't think of any other reason but to win the lost. All right. We want to open it up at this time for questions for open discussion for any thoughts that anybody would have. That is the end of the lesson this evening.

Now we want to have a little discussion. What are the thoughts? Yes, Myron? Amen. Amen. Or questions. Either one. Yes, he did. I agree, brother. That's exactly right. Exactly. That's a good question. Yes.

I would say you know if he will listen to you then you should persuade him. If he will listen to you Yes. If you can tell that he is listening to what you're saying that you should persuade him as far as you can.

But always remember you know to leave the door open for the next soul winner that comes by. We don't always reap right when we sow. Sometimes we sow and someone else will reap. And we need to leave the door open and that's why it's good not to push them to the point where they get offended.

That's a good question. Ordinarily it doesn't happen. He did there. Yes. Jesus used questions to stir her interest and that we want to have a whole lesson just on that. On the wisdom of using questions to stir interest and enter into a spiritual conversation with somebody.

That's very good and right way to proceed. Other thoughts or questions? Yes. Yes. He was already excited. Yes. No. No. No brother. Amen. They were excited. That's a good point. Often a young convert will just put an older Christian to shame by the enthusiasm of his new found faith.

Just put him to shame and go and go and go and go. In the first week that he was committed he went to faith and he went to faith and throughout his faith and he sat down and said guess what? Now I gave my heart to the Lord and I'm fine.

I'm fine. And he said he did it at the most and he accepted what he did and went to various places like that. I love it. I love to hear it. Praise God. I think another key. I'm sure this is understood.

But just to make it clear that is to go out and be excited about soul we need to have the right relationship with the Lord first. If we're not having an exciting relationship with the Lord we're not going to be excited about going out and having a soul.

That disturbs my heart to have more an exciting relationship with the Lord so that I can spill out on others. Amen. Another thought and I'm sure this will come out throughout the lesson is the need for the Holy Spirit approach or what to say rather than the the book memorized praise.

Yes, amen. You know, open doors come through like the woman at the well some natural illustration you need a drink and give me a drink and you I'm going to give you some green water you'll never thirst again and that brought that whole thing out and I think that was really an opportunity.

I know a man who was one of my instructors when I was in school who is a master in his wisdom in that area right there. He can walk in into any kind of a situation and see a simple illustration and take it and open up a conversation about the Lord in it and end up you know really having.

A good witness and a challenge to an individual about their soul and I guess he just learned to do it because of his desire. He had such a desire to tell others about the Lord Jesus that he was always open and watching for a way that he could open up a conversation about it using something that was right there like a water fountain.

Any other thoughts or questions? It seems like.

As we work together with God and as God is here involved in us and God shows us the meaning of God's soul we can understand.

What the person's need is or where they're at spiritually and work together with the spirit of God to get them to the point where they can be doing. It's the urgency to do something about the spiritual condition that becomes a reality to us.

It's not like we're forcing something that we can't force at all. But the way that it matters is such a great urgency for them to do something about it themselves. No one can do Amen. Yes, Luke? Yes. Amen.

Yes, we have all the prerequisites for good salesmanship. We know our product and we know that it works. We have all the prerequisites for good salesmanship. Although I personally don't feel real good about approaching this matter of dealing with the souls of men in light of salesmanship.

I've heard it presented that way. I mean, right down the line you could take the sales pitch out of a sales book and the presentation of the gospel and run them right next to each other and the only difference is they're different words.

I'm a little not too much in favor of that. Of taking that approach but the illustration is exactly right. We have a product that we know works and it's the answer of all humanity and we believe in it with all of our heart.

I guess the important thing there is to bring an individual to a point of decision and then the decision is theirs. But that is the challenge of winning souls is to bring an individual to a point of decision and that's the hardest thing.

It's easy to share with somebody what Jesus can do. It's easy to share what Jesus did do but to bring them to that place of decision where like King Agrippa had a response that he had to make and said almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian but not yet.

Then, if I may say it this way, we wash the blood off of our hands when we can take an individual up to a point of decision like that and they say I see what you're saying but I don't want anything to do with it.

I feel then pretty well you've washed your hands of the blood of that individual, that soul. And that's surely good to do. Well, I want to be careful when I say, when I answer that, can I say yes and no?

You know, I feel yes with a burdened, broken heart. If we go and plead with an individual and they get bothered because of the conviction of the Spirit of God upon their heart, I do feel that there's nothing wrong with that.

But if we, with lack of wisdom and arrogant attitude, go forth and push the gospel on somebody and they get bothered, then I feel like that's not right. There's a right way and a wrong way and we'll discuss some of that in the lesson.

That's a very good point. Well, now, let's just look at that for a minute. That's a real good one to look at for a minute. Do we need the prompting of the Spirit of God to go to our neighbor and tell them about Jesus?

Haven't we already been given the command to go? And since we've been given the command, aren't we responsible to go and tell them what are our thoughts? Yes, in the back. Amen. That's good, brother. I know that's right.

And I think that's right also. Yes, yes, because many times the Spirit of God will lead you right up to a ripe fruit to pluck. And that's right also. But, we don't need the voice. We don't need it. We've got a verse.

I like that. Someone else had their hand up in the back. Someone else had their hand up? Yes. He said, he heard a missionary say from the Philippines, he doesn't need a voice where he has a verse. And he doesn't need a call where he has a command.

In other words, he's pointing back to the scriptural verses and commands about our responsibility to win souls. Yes. The need is the call. Yes. Amen. Amen. Sounds good, huh? Amen. I agree with you. I think we're going to go on.