(Guidelines for Winning Souls) the Effective Use of Questions — Denny Kenaston

Hello, this is Brother Denny. Welcome to Charity Ministries. Our desire is that your life would be blessed and changed by this message. This message is not copyrighted and is not to be bought or sold.

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These messages are offered to all without charge by the freewill offerings of God's people. A special thank you to all who support this ministry. Praise the Lord. It is well with my soul. Praise God this evening.

There was somebody who knew how to win a soul back there the day that you and I needed to become a Christian. Praise God there was somebody who knew how to win a soul. It's well with our souls tonight because of that.

We greet each one in the name of the Lord Jesus this evening. We come to the last lesson on winning souls. I think before we get into the lesson, we'll kneel for prayer. Our Heavenly Father, we come to you in the name of Jesus tonight.

Oh God, we thank you for Jesus. We thank you for the blood that was shed. We thank you, Father, for putting peace within our heart through the blood of Jesus. For taking away the sin so we bear it no more.

Oh Father, we thank you for that this night. Lord God, we come to you, Lord, because we need help tonight. We come to you, Lord, because we need the great teacher to teach us the things we need to learn tonight.

So Father, we just want to commit this session into your hands. We want to commit this lesson into your hands, Father. This lesson on winning souls. And oh Father, we would desire that it would go further than just a lesson that we learn in a room tonight.

But that we would have opportunities. That we would seek out opportunities. That you would lead us into opportunities where we could put to practice the very things that we're learning week by week. Oh God, we commit this time into your hands.

Lord, we pray that you'll use this lesson to teach us. We pray you'll use it to stir us and motivate us to be wise. To be winners of souls. God, we know that's our responsibility. No matter who we are.

Jesus’ Use of Questions in Soul Winning

No matter where we are. So we commit this time into your hand, Father. In the name of Jesus we pray. Amen. All through the Gospels, as you're reading through them, I think that you'll notice what a wise teacher the Lord Jesus was.

All through the Gospels, as you're reading through them, I think you'll notice how the Lord Jesus used questions. He used questions to stir interest. To reveal the need of someone's heart. He used questions.

Questions opened the door to many conversations. Questions opened the door to say some very bold things. Our Lord Jesus used questions. He was a master at using questions. We want to look at that this evening.

In the area of winning souls. I would like to impress upon your hearts this evening the importance of using questions. And the way that I've chosen to do that is just to show you several examples of questions that you can use.

And help you to see how effective they can be when you're winning someone to the Lord. Or when you're approaching somebody who needs to be won to the Lord. Questions can be very powerful. So the session this evening, and by the way, it's the last session.

We're going to look at some questions, 17 of them in total. And then I want to look at some very helpful hints concerning soul winning. And then last of all, we're just sort of summing things up. We want to discuss for a few minutes how you can get into someone's house and tell them about Jesus.

Now I know there's not a lot of experience in this room of getting into somebody's house. But you really can get into somebody's house very easily. And sit down in their living room and have their undivided attention for 30 minutes and tell them about the Lord Jesus.

It's not hard by the grace of God. So we want to look at that this evening also. And then when we've gone over all these things, sort of tying the ends together in these lessons on soul winning. Then we want to open it up for questions.

And several questions have been asked this week and I've pushed it off to this night. We want to open the door for questions on how to deal with different issues. What do you do with somebody who's a Catholic and they believe they're born again?

What do you do with somebody who's filled with works religion? Many questions like this. What do you do with somebody who doesn't believe the Bible? We want to try to answer some of those this evening when we're done.

So first of all, we want to look at some questions. Some ways that you can open up the door to conversation. And we'll begin with one that's very familiar to most of you. And that's simply this. As you're approaching somebody on spiritual matters, you simply ask them, if you died today, do you know for sure you would go to heaven?

Now that's quite a bold statement I realize, but it's also a very revealing one. If you died today, do you know for sure that you'd go to heaven? If you can picture yourself sitting in someone's living room, or standing on a street corner somewhere, or sitting on a park bench speaking to somebody who's lost.

And you know they're lost. And ask them, if you died today, do you know for sure that you'd go to heaven? Now, depending on how they answer, will direct your next question. They may have a right answer, and you won't need another question.

But many times, most of the time, they'll have a wrong answer. And based on their answer, other questions come. Many times, I've asked the question, if you died today, do you know for sure you'd go to heaven?

And many, many people say, I hope so. I hope so. Well, that brings another question. Well, I'm glad that you hope so. But sir, do you know so? You see, by asking the question, you put him on the spot about his own soul.

And he gave an answer that he thought would satisfy you. He said, I hope so. And he expected you not to say anything else. But his answer requires then another question. I'm glad that you hope so, but sir, do you know so?

Now he's going to have to think a little longer. He's going to examine his heart. By your question, you're bringing him into that place of examining his own heart. Do you know so? Well, no. I guess I don't, is what he's going to say.

No. I guess I don't. Well, you know where to go from there. Here's another answer. Sir, if you died today, do you know for sure you'd go to heaven? Sure. Yes, I do. Well, how do you know? That's a good question.

How do you know? And then by the answers that he gives, you'll know what to ask next. But many times, when you ask that question, how do you know? Why you're going to get an answer like this. I go to church.

I love my fellow man. I give when the offering plate comes around. Many, many times you'll get that answer. And then again, you know exactly where this individual is at. They're not a Christian. They're trusting in their own works.

They think because they go to church, love their fellow man, give when the offering plate comes by, that God accepts them that way. And we know that God accepts no man based on those things. We know that.

I've often said this. When a man answers a question that way or a woman, they give their theology away in just a few simple statements. You know exactly where they're at. They're trusting in their good works and not in the living God.

We know exactly where they are. Here's one that you can ask them after they say. I'm a good person. I go to church. I love my fellow man. I wouldn't want to hurt anybody. That's a good question to ask them.

Sir, based on your answer, I'm assuming that you feel that by the good things you do, you'll go to heaven. Is that right? What can he say? Yes, that's right. That's what he'll say. I often ask this question then.

Sir, if your good works could take you to heaven, why did Jesus die? If your good works could take you to heaven, why did Jesus die? That's a good question. Here's another question that I ask often. Are you a Christian?

And you say, now that's not a very good question to ask because everybody's going to say they are. We'll wait until you hear the next question. First, are you a Christian? Well, sure, I'm a Christian.

Well, sir, are you a real Christian? Now, that's a good question. Are you a real Christian? And I'll say this. Lots of people say they're a Christian, don't they? And they'll agree with you. Yeah, you're right.

And we know they're not all Christians, don't we? And they'll agree with you. Yeah, you're right. Well then, that's why I ask you a question. Are you a real Christian? And many times I'll use that as an opportunity to explain to him what is a real Christian.

A real Christian is somebody who loves God. A real Christian is somebody whose heart is set to live for God. A real Christian is somebody who's been washed in the blood of Jesus and repented of their sins.

And they're living for Jesus right now, and it's the longing desire of their heart to live for Jesus. Sir, are you a real Christian? Are you one of those kind of Christians? No, I don't guess I am, is the answer many times.

I'll never forget, I asked that question on an airplane once, and it wasn't too long ago. And I sat down next to a lady. I believe she went to a Lutheran church. And I asked her, just that way, are you a Christian?

And we went right through the dialogue. I mean, it just worked just like I just explained. Went right down through the dialogue, and she said, well, yes, I am. And I said, well, ma 'am, are you a real Christian?

And she says, well, of course I am. She didn't back off a bit at the challenge of real Christian. So I went and do a little bit of a discussion on what a real Christian is. And by the time I got done and said, are you that kind of Christian?

She said to me, listen here, young fella. I sing in the choir. I go to church every Sunday. Don't you tell me I'm not a good Christian. And I didn't tell her she wasn't a good Christian. What happened?

The Spirit of God began to convict her of the fact that she was just playing church. And she didn't have a real faith in Jesus that was on fire and living for him. But the questions opened the door to helping her to see the reality of her own heart.

Now think with me. It's a little easier to do that with a question than to just sit somebody down and say, you're not a real Christian, are you? I know you're not. No, you can't do that. But with a question, the doors get opened up and reality comes to the heart of the individual.

And most of the time, they're going to answer the question. And most of the time, they're going to answer it honestly. And the very answer of the question is going to convict their heart. Because they'll know while they say it out of their mouth whether it's reality in their heart.

Questions are very valuable when you're winning souls. Here's another one. If you were to die and stand before God today and he asked you why you should enter into heaven, what would you tell him? There's a good question.

Sir, if you were to die right now and you were standing before God and he asked you why should you enter into heaven, what would you tell him? That's a very revealing question. The answer will reveal many things.

You'll be able to tell where that individual is right away. And then you can lead them on. And by the way, not only do you get to tell where they're at, but they get to face where they're at. How can we take them from where they are to where they need to be until they see where they are?

Now, I might add, not every one of those discussions ends with somebody getting huffy. Sometimes the individual just simply bows their heart and says, yeah, you're right. I'm not that. I guess I'm not a Christian and am I?

They'll very freely and very simply give that answer. There's an honest heart. There's an open and an honest heart. Yeah, you're right. I'm not that kind of a Christian. I'm not a Christian and am I? Here's another one.

You begin by asking the question again. Are you a Christian? And they'll say, yes, I am. Then ask them this. Do you have fellowship with God? We know that real Christians have fellowship with God because Christianity is when God and man meet each other again.

That's what Christianity is. So we know that real Christians have fellowship with God. And it's a very simple thing for us. We all know that. So when you ask a question like that, do you have fellowship with God?

And explain that a little bit, you're going to get a good answer. And it's going to be a revealing answer. And it's going to help them to see where they're really at. Not right with God. Here's a good question to ask to an older person.

Many times you meet an old person, 65, 70, 75 years old. I think it's very wise to bring to light in their mind the fact that they're 75 years old. You're not going to live very much longer, are you? Well, they'll agree with you on that.

No, probably won't. When people are 75 years old and they're still alive, they're thinking about death. You can be sure of it. Their friends have died. Their brothers and sisters have often died. Their father and mother have already died.

And they know that they're soon going to die. Use that as an opportunity to focus on spiritual things and ask them. You are an old man. You're not going to live very much longer, are you? No, I'm not.

Are you ready to meet God? Are you ready to meet God? That's a very good question to a 75 year old man. And brought right down to reality where he lives. He knows he's old. He knows he's going to die.

He knows he has no hope for tomorrow. When he's that old, he knows that a heart attack could come. Just like that. He knows in the middle of the night, he could die. Just like that. Old people know those things.

And I think we need to take advantage of the fact that they know those things. And bring them home to their heart. In light of spiritual things. Here's a question that I often ask. Just so I can find out where somebody is.

Do you go to church? Or do you have a church? Where do you attend regularly? That's a very revealing question. Do you go to church? Many people say, oh yes. What is the name of your church? Oh, and they don't know the name of their church.

How many have had that happen before when you ask somebody a question like that? Oh, they feel so bad. They've given themselves away so quickly. They don't even know the name of the church. Now you know they don't go there very often if they don't know the name of the church where they go.

But oh how quickly they'll say that. Well what is the name of the church? Let's see. And they'll come up with some name after they've hemed and hawed. You don't go there very regularly, do you? No, I guess I don't.

Do you see the wisdom of the questions? You can ask some very pointed things. And get them to answer some very revealing things. Out of their own mouth. If somebody says, I don't go to church. If somebody says, when I ask them, are you a Christian?

And they say, no, I'm not. I'll say this often. Just so I can see where they're at in their past. Did you go to church when you were a child? Yes, I did. Multitudes of people will say, yes, I did. Where did you go?

And then again, you know where he's at. Oh, I went to a Baptist church. I went to a Catholic church. I grew up in a Lutheran church. Whatever they may say, it tells you where they're at. Well, how long did you go?

Questions. Question after question. Did you go to Sunday school? Did your parents make you go all the time? Yes, they did. You went to Sunday school? Yes, I did. You can find out a multitude of things about that individual just on that one question.

Whether they went to church when they were little. They may rise up and say, yeah, I went to church. My father and mother made me go. They jammed it down my throat. I couldn't stand it and I can't stand it now.

Right. We needed to know that. If we're going to try to win this soul, it's a good thing to know that that is his attitude about God and about church. Mom and dad jammed it down his throat and he doesn't want to have anything to do with it now.

Here's a question that you can ask once you find out that that individual went to church when they were growing up. Is your father and mother godly people? And they'll be honest with you. They'll tell you because they know whether they were or not.

What would they want for you? Is father and mother godly people? Yes. What would they want for you? Now you got him answering again. Well, he knows what they want for him. He knows exactly what they want for him.

Here's another question. May I share with you something that happened to me? Now, when you ask a question like that and get an answer, that means he just gave you 15 minutes. You say, sir, may I share with you something that happened to me?

Or may I share with you what God did to me? And when he says yes, he just gave you 15 minutes. Okay, go ahead. Now he's going to sit and listen and you'll have the floor for 15 minutes. Very simple question.

Do you see the wisdom of opening up the door by asking a question? He gave you an affirmative and gave you the floor and now you can talk for 15 minutes. Here's another question. If you died today, do you know for sure you'd go to heaven?

No. Here's the question. If I could show you from the Bible how you could know that you're on your way to heaven, would you be interested in that? If I could show you from the Bible how you could know you are on your way to heaven, would you be interested in that?

Most people that have any kind of an open heart at all will say yes. Yes, I'd be interested in that. Here's another question. Have you accepted Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior? Do you give much thought to spiritual things?

Do you think about spiritual things? Do you ever think about dying? Question, question, question, question. Do you ever give any thought to spiritual things? Have you ever thought about dying? Most people will say yes.

Yes, I've thought about dying. Where will you spend eternity? If I told you there is a way for your whole life to be changed, filled and blessed, would you be interested in that? If I told you there is a way for your whole life to be changed and filled and blessed, would you be interested in that?

You know, most people will say yes to a question like that. Sure, I'd be interested in that. What do the questions do? They open the door. They open the door for you to go through. They open the door to spiritual conversation.

They open the door for the individual's needs to be revealed to himself. They open the door for him to answer his own needs out of his own mouth. You see, there's a big difference between him saying, No, I don't know if I'd go to heaven if I died.

No, I'm not at peace with God. There's a big difference between him saying those things and you walking up to him and saying, If you died today, you'd go to hell. There's a big difference. Walking up to somebody and just saying, If you died today, you'd go to hell.

And besides that, most of us wouldn't do that. Most of us wouldn't have enough courage to do that. But here is a way that you can get the same truth across without hurting or offending, by not having any tact.

Just simply asking a few questions and getting him to tell you the answers and thus convicting his own heart. Remember the questions that Jesus asked to the woman at the well? Remember the way that he stimulated her?

And got her answering things? This is the wisdom of a soul winner. And when we open up for questions, we'll open up for questions also. If anybody has any other questions that you've found to be effective as you're witnessing, we'd be glad to hear them.

Practical Guidelines for Witnessing

Let's move on now to some helpful hints. As you're winning souls, here are some things that will help you. Number one. Be friendly. He that has friends must show himself friendly. Be friendly to the people that you're talking to.

Number two. Trust the Lord. Be trusting that the Lord will do His work while you're talking to the individual. If you have no faith in God while you're sharing the gospel with somebody, you'll probably get nowhere.

You'll probably have no fruit from what you're saying. So, trust God. While you're speaking, have a faith in God that He is working in the heart of the individual and will change that person's life while you're talking.

Number three. Get their name. Get their name and then use it. If you're going to talk to this individual for 30 minutes, it'd be real good if you knew what his name was. And then use it. If you're going to ask him, and you could easily ask him 10 questions before you're done.

If you're going to ask him 10 questions, it'd be a real blessing if you could say, John, let me ask you a question. If you died today, would you go to heaven? Use his name. Find out what it is and then use it.

This will help you. Number four. Be clean and neat. Be clean and neat. Don't let your appearance be an offense to the person that you're talking to. But be clean and be neat. Number five. Don't get sidetracked.

Many, many times, and I've found it takes real wisdom and it takes perseverance to keep from getting sidetracked when you're trying to tell somebody about the Lord Jesus. Because, you see, once you start speaking about spiritual things, his mind is going to go back to something that happened and he's going to want to run down a rabbit trail.

His mind may pop on something about the Bible. His mind may remember somebody who said something and he may want to ask the question to you and see what you think about this question or that question, and you can get completely off the track that you were on.

Don't get sidetracked. Let that be a discipline in your own mind that while you're speaking to an individual about the Lord Jesus, that you're going to be very sensitive not to get off the track and on to something else.

And again, you'll have to use some discretion on how you do that because they're going to ask questions. He may say, I watched PTL Club a couple times. What do you think about what went on there? Now that's a good question.

But now you're going to need to turn that thing back around or you may spend 15 minutes talking about the PTL Club. So what do you do? You say this simply, Sir, I'd be glad to answer that question a little later.

Could we stay on what we were talking about right now? Most of the time, a gentle, a little gentle leading right there will get the thing right back on track and you can continue asking your questions and helping him to see his need of salvation.

But you must remember that in your own mind, I cannot get sidetracked. It's going to hinder me. It's like this. Here you are. You're asking questions. If you can remember the plan of salvation that we were speaking about.

You're helping him to see that he's a sinner. You're helping him to see that sinners go to hell. And here you are right in the middle of this plan of salvation and these things are being revealed to him as you're speaking and you're looking at the Bible and all of a sudden something like that will pop into his mind and he'll say, what about the PTL club?

Now if you stop and talk about all that, by the time you get back to where you're at, his mind will be completely on something else. You need to bring it back where you're supposed to be for now. And that can be done very simply with a little gentle leadership on your part and persuasion.

Number six. A helpful hint. Know some of these questions that I just gave. Know them. If you know them, you'll use them. If you know them, you'll see the opportunities and you'll use them. If you don't know them, you may grasp to know what to say.

And I realize that some of you in this room, you have enough experience that you don't need to memorize any questions but I think that there are some in this room. It would be very helpful to you if you just learn a few of these questions.

Just learn them so that you can ask them. Number seven. Leave the door open for someone else to talk to this person about Jesus. Leave it open. There are many ways you can leave it open. There are many ways you can slam that door and you'll never be able to talk to that person or no one else will be able to talk to him again.

So, be mindful to keep the door open. I like to put it this way. Get as much as you can said in a polite yet persuasive way. Get as much truth into that heart as you can in a polite and persuasive way.

And then leave the door open for someone else who may come along after you to do the same again. Here's another helpful hint. Don't argue. Don't argue. Some people just want to argue. You know, if you're going to spend 30 minutes arguing with somebody about the Bible or about God or about Jesus, you're probably not going to get very far.

If you can find somebody who will listen to you, why should you spend a half an hour arguing with someone? Don't argue. And God must give us the wisdom to know because sometimes it's good and right to have a healthy debate with somebody about what God wants for their life.

Sometimes it's good and right. So, we need the wisdom to know when it's out of the debate area and into the arguing area. That's just a waste of time. Another helpful hint and this pertains to oh, maybe if you're going into someone's home, don't go in when something is already taking their attention.

Go back another time. Let's say you walk up to somebody's house and you knock on the door and as you knock on the door and someone comes and the door opens up, you can tell there's five or six visitors in there and they're right in the middle of conversation.

It's not time then for you to try to tell somebody about Jesus. They have company. They're interested in their company. They're in the middle of conversation and it's just not the right time unless God would strongly impress you otherwise.

You need to wait for another opportunity when their attention is not somewhere else. Another helpful hint and this is to the partner that goes along. Many times we go two by two. For the most part, the partner should be silent.

If the door opens up that John is telling about Jesus and Joe is along with John, Joe's part for the most part needs to be a silent part. I have seen so many times where one individual was moving in a certain direction telling someone about Jesus or even giving counsel to somebody and here came the other partner in and started talking and took it in a completely different direction.

For the most part, one needs to be silent and the other needs to move forward and speak to the individual about the Lord Jesus. I found that it works the best that way. There are many things you can do that the second person that is along, if you're in a home, you might find the opportunity to babysit.

You can pray silently. You can fit in wherever you're needed. You could give a Bible verse for what that verse was over there in Isaiah. You could give a Bible verse. Be a help in any way you can, but don't be the one who redirects the conversation when it's already heading in one direction.

The next point, keep the gospel simple for the common man. Keep it simple and lastly, be tactful and I'll just give a little definition of being tactful. Being tactful is the wisdom of saying or doing the right thing at the right time in the right way.

That's being tactful. The opposite of tactful is crudeness. Harsh, unkind, hard words, that's crudeness. God doesn't want that. That will not work. I've grown up in the youth of my Christian life going to Chicago many times and being crude in the youth of my Christian life and oh, I've grown over some of the things that I did all in the name of wanting to get the truth to the individual.

My heart was sincere. I did it ignorantly, but as I look back on it, there are many things that I said and did that I wish that I hadn't done and that's the wisdom of saying or doing the right thing at the right time in the right way.

Entering a Home for Spiritual Conversation

It wasn't that at all. We need to be tactful while we are winning souls. Now, I want to say just a few things about getting into someone's home. As I said already, it's very possible to get into someone's home.

It's very possible and very probable to go on the streets and actually go and knock on the doors where people live and get inside the house where there's no distractions, where there's no cars going by, where there's no loud music playing, where there's no people going hither and yon, where there's no friends that they know that just walked across the street, where they're just sitting there in their living room listening to you.

Now, I'm sure we'd all agree that if you get into someone's living room and lay before them from the Word of God, the plan of salvation, how do you get into somebody's house? Well, the first thing you do is you ask if you can come into their house.

That's how you get into somebody's house. You ask them, may I come into your house and tell you about the Lord? You say, well, many will say no. Well, many will say no and you say, okay. When you approach a house, the first thing you should do is observe the yard.

Just look around a little. Be alert to what you see. If you see a bunch of tricycles, make note of it. That means there's some little children there. If you see four or five cars in the driveway, make note of that.

That means there's probably visitors there. If you see everything neatly trimmed and the grass is growing nicely, make note of that. If they tell you what kind of person lives in the inside of that house, all of those things will help you when the door opens up and you look face to face with somebody that you've never met before.

So, the first thing you need to do is just be mindful of the yard and the house that you're walking up to. Secondly, you need to knock loudly. When you go up to that door, if there's no doorbell, you need to knock loudly to knock on their door.

Number three, greet them with a smile. Greet them with a smile. Don't greet them with a fearful look on your face. Greet them with a smile. If you greet them with a fearful look, they'll be afraid too and they won't want you to come in.

Greet them with a smile and introduce yourself. Here are some things you can say when you stand at the door and look at somebody Hello. My name is John Smith. This is... And you introduce your partner.

We go to Charity Christian Fellowship and we're just in the neighborhood doing some visitation. Do you have a few minutes that we could talk with you? That's all you need to say. Some of them will say, Sure.

Could we come in a moment? Sure. Come on right in. But you'll never get in to any house if you never try. You'll never get in. What am I saying? I guess I'm just motivating you a little to try. Because I know that if you'll try, you'll get into somebody's house.

Okay? Once you get into the house, here are some thoughts for you once you get into the house. They've opened their door. They've invited you into their home. The first thing you need to do is meet everyone that is in the house.

And you're going to walk into a house. You don't know where the living room is, but you're going to walk in there. And as you walk in there, you may see somebody in the kitchen. You may see a child over there playing.

You may see a husband sitting in the living room watching television. You may see all that when you walk into the door. The first thing you need to do is introduce yourself and greet all the people that are there in the house.

They may be from the church, Charity Christian Fellowship. We're just out doing some visiting. And we'd like to visit with you for a few minutes. And sit down. Now, you told them you're from Charity Christian Fellowship.

And they know you're going to talk to them about spiritual things. They know that. They let you into the house based on your question and based on your statement to them of where you come from. You're out visiting.

Visiting people in the neighborhood from Charity Christian Fellowship. So they know what you're going to talk about eventually when you get in their house. You're going to talk to them about, well, they have all kinds of ideas.

Maybe he's going to invite us to church. Maybe they're going to invite us to the church. Maybe he's going to tell us about their church. But they know that you're going to speak about spiritual things.

So the door is wide open already. It's wide open. So as you go in, you meet everyone that is in the house. Number two, you want to be a gentle leader. They're expecting it. You ask them, could we come into your house?