(Guidelines for Winning Souls) Drawing the Net — 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. This evening, our lesson is on drawing the net. I want to read some scriptures about that.

The Vision and Commission to Draw the Net

But I think before we read the scriptures, we'll kneel for prayer and ask God's blessing upon us that he might give us a vision of what it means to draw the net. Shall we kneel for prayer? Our Heavenly Father, God, we come to you in the name of Jesus tonight.

Father, we thank you for this day that you've given us, Lord. God, we acknowledge that you're Lord and God over all of it. Father, we acknowledge that you're Lord and God over our lives tonight. We thank you for the song that was sung and the commission that is hidden in that song.

Yes, Lord, we are to have a vision of the world, of a world who needs to hear about Jesus. And, oh, Father, we pray that you'll use the lesson this evening to train some soldiers who can go out and effectively draw the net in and bring the fish, bring the men into the fold.

Dear God, we would ask you to put an anointing upon the speaker and upon the hearers. And, Father, give us a vision which we know comes by the grace of God. Give us a vision tonight, dear God, that even us, that even me, that God can use even me to draw the net and win a soul.

Oh, Father, we just commit the service into your hands. In the name of Jesus we pray. Amen. Turn to John, chapter 21. John, the lesson this evening is very fresh on my heart because of our work in Tennessee.

There was a few more fish brought in by the net this weekend, and we rejoice over that. Two 23-year-old boys, young men, supposedly grew up in Christian homes. Their parents don't believe in going to church.

I'm not sure all the reasons why not. But two of these young men got converted this weekend. Gave their hearts to the Lord, and then a young lady there from the congregation in Woodbury also gave her heart to the Lord this last weekend.

The Fishing Net as a Biblical Picture of Conversion

Well, the lesson this evening is on drawing the net, and I think it's fitting to read a few scriptures here in John 21 so that we get the illustration clear in our minds what we mean when we say drawing the net.

John 21, verse 1. After these things Jesus showed himself again to the disciples at the sea of Tiberias, and on this wise showed he himself. There were together Simon Peter and Thomas called Didymus and Nathaniel of Cana in Galilee, and the sons of Zebedee, and two other of his disciples.

Simon Peter saith unto them, I go a-fishing. They say unto him, We also go with thee. They went forth and entered into a ship immediately, and that night they caught nothing. Now we can just see a little bit of a background here.

That means if they caught nothing all night long, that means they threw their nets out into the water, and they drew the nets in, and there were no fish in it. And they threw their nets out into the water again, and they drew the nets in, and there were no fish in it.

They had been doing this all night. I'm not sure how long it takes to lay the nets out and draw them back in, but I imagine they did it several times through the night, wanting to catch some fish. But when the morning was now come, Jesus stood on the shore, but the disciples knew not that it was Jesus.

Then Jesus saith unto them, Children, have ye any meat? They answered him, No. And he said unto them, Cast the net on the other side of the ship, and ye shall find. They cast therefore, and now they were not able to draw it for the multitude of fishes.

Therefore that disciple whom Jesus loves saith unto Peter, It is the Lord. And by the way, we can say the same thing. When we've been out fishing, and we pull the net in, and see that there's fish in the net, that ought to be our same testimony.

Well, if there's fish in the net, the Lord must be around. And that's what John knew. He saw all those fish, and he knew. It must be the Lord out there on that bank. We can't clearly see him because he's too far in, but it must be the Lord, because only the Lord fills the net full of fish like that.

Now when Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he girt his fisher's coat unto him, for he was naked and did cast himself into the sea. And the other disciples came in a little ship, for they were not far from land, but as it were 200 cubits dragging the net with fishes.

As soon then as they were come to land, they saw a fire of coals there, and fish laid thereon and bred. And Jesus saith unto them, Bring of the fish which ye have now caught. Simon Peter went up and drew the net to the land full of great fishes, and hundred and fifty and three.

And for all there were so many, yet was not the net broken. And Jesus saith unto them, Come and dine. And none of the disciples ask him who art thou, knowing that it was the Lord. So here we have an illustration of the disciples drawing in the nets.

Luke 5 and the Meaning of Drawing Souls to Christ

There are many applications that we could make to the scriptures this evening. We could also go over to, I believe it's Luke chapter 5, where there's another illustration of the same thing. Where they were not catching fish, and then Jesus told them where to drop the nets.

And after he told them where to put the nets, the nets were so full that they break. This time they did not break. But the illustration of drawing the nets and bringing the fish in is a Bible illustration.

The illustration of souls being fish, and the fish being drawn in with a net is a Bible illustration. So thus, the title of the lesson this evening, Drawing the Net. If you'll remember, our last lesson, we talked about how to win a soul.

We have discussed what an individual who's lost needs to know in order to be converted. We've discussed how to take somebody from that place where they're seeking the Lord up to the place where we're ready to draw the net.

And that's where we ended the last lesson. We had an individual sitting in our living room. He was a seeking soul. He desired to be converted. And we sat him down and took the Bible and showed him from God's Word the truths that he needed to know in order to be converted.

So we've brought him all the way up to this point. We've showed him the truths. We've asked him, do you understand them? And he has said, yes I do, yes I do. And down the line, he's acknowledged his understanding of the Scriptures.

Reviewing the Five Conditions Before Conversion

And now we're ready to draw the net. First, as we approach the drawing of the net, after you've gone all the way through those five points that we spoke about, and you're ready to draw the net, I believe it's wise for you to briefly touch each one of them again.

In his mind, just briefly touch each one of those. Do you see that you are a sinner and that you have offended God? And you're just looking for a simple answer now because you've done the deep work already, you've done the heart-searching work already, you've done all that, so you're just going to briefly touch these points and you go over them again and ask him, do you see that you are a sinner and that you have offended God?

You get an acknowledgement from him. Do you see that the punishment that is due for this offense is hell? Do you see that? Again, we're looking for an affirmative. Do you see that the sacrifice is for you?

And I'm just going right down the points again. Do you see that the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on Calvary was for you? Number four, are you willing to repent? And number five, do you understand what God is asking you to do?

And at that point, we're ready to draw the net. If we get an affirmative all the way through all of that, we're ready to draw the net. And I might say, if we could just put ourselves into a fishing boat for a few minutes this evening and realize how important it is when you're drawing the net in.

That's not some slipshod job to draw the net in when it's got fish in it. It requires much care to pull the net in the right way or you'll lose the fish that are there inside the net. So, I would recommend a real earnestness of heart and a real carefulness of spirit and a prayerful attitude at this time.

There ought to be within your heart a cry to God at this point as you're realizing here you have a soul who's acknowledged all of these truths that they understand what they need and now they've said, yes, I... that's what I want to do.

I know God wants me to do something and I want to do what God is asking me to do. There ought to be an earnestness of spirit upon our hearts. And then, some good Scripture verses to read at this time would be 1 John 5 and we'll just turn there and read.

1 John 5, verse 11, 12 and 13. And this is the record that God has given to us eternal life. And this life is in His Son. He that hath the Son hath life. And he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.

These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God that ye may know that ye have eternal life and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God. And with those Scriptures I think it's wise just to explain to this individual that God wants him to know where he is going before this night is over.

In fact, we'll get into some of the questions that you can ask to open up a conversation, but one of them that I often ask is, if you died today, do you know for sure that you'd go to heaven? Well, here is a good time to bring that question right back into view as you speak to the individual and say, these verses are telling us that if you will do what God is asking you to do, you can know tonight and have the assurance in your heart that if you died, you'd go to heaven.

You needn't fear anymore. And then another verse to read again and explain is Romans 10 .13. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. He is going to need to call on the name of the Lord.

He's going to need to cry out to God. Remember, this man doesn't know how to get converted. It may be that he's never heard anything before. He doesn't know at this point that you're going to ask him to get down on his knees in a minute and cry his heart out to God.

He doesn't know all that. So we're still preparing him. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Are you willing to call on the name of the Lord? Would you like to know tonight that if you died, you'd go to heaven?

Trusting God's Promise and Calling on the Lord

Now, it's very important at this point to lay a foundation of faith for the individual. You see, we believe God's word with all of our heart, but he may not believe God's word with the joy and the confidence that we have.

So we need to explain to him that he can trust in what God says in the word to be converted. So, a good way to explain it would be like this. You've read these verses. Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.

Just simply explain to him that this is a promise. It's a promise in the word of God. And God never lies. God never lies. So, if you'll do what God says to do, God will do what he said he would do. That is a promise and God never lies.

If we'll do our part, God will do his part. Here's some questions that are good to ask him. Do you believe the Bible is the word of God? By the way, he needs to believe that if he's going to get converted.

Do you believe the Bible is the word of God? We're just going to assume this evening that he'll say, yes, I do. Would God lie to us? No, he wouldn't. Do you believe that God would keep his promise? Yes, I do.

Do you believe if a man were to meet God's conditions, that God would meet his conditions? Yes, I do. Do you believe if you called on the Lord tonight that he would save you? Yes, I do. Wonderful. Would you like to turn your heart over to God and ask him to have mercy upon you and forgive you?

Yes, I would. You see what we're doing? We're drawing the net in. We're just drawing the net right in. And we're just bringing that person right up to the place where he won't have any problem at all if he's sincere to just get right down on his knees there in the living room and cry his heart out to God.

We're drawing the net in. Would you like to turn your heart over to God and ask him to have mercy upon you and forgive you? Yes, I would. Now we're to the point of prayer. Why don't we just kneel here, right here by the couch, and talk to God?

Guiding a Sinner Through Confession and Repentance

Now, I believe that an individual, if he's truly repentant, he won't have any problem at all getting down on his knees to pray. He won't have a bit of problem. In fact, we've done it a couple times in New York City, right out in the middle of the park.

Just got them right down on their knees and they didn't have a bit of problem getting down on their knees when they were sincere. Not a bit of problem. So, at this point then, we're going to ask him to get down on his knees there, and we're going to get down on our knees and if I were you, I wouldn't ask him.

I'd just say, let's just get down on our knees in prayer and I'd just get right down on my knees there in the living room and most times he'll just get right down on his knees next to you. And I would recommend that you pray a simple prayer for his salvation.

I usually do something like this. I say, now I want you where I'm going to ask you to call out and cry out to God here in a minute that I'm going to have a word of prayer for you first and then I usually lead out in prayer and have a simple prayer for the salvation of this soul and ask God to meet with him and ask God to bring things to his mind that he needs to confess and ask God to help him to repent of all of his sins and ask God to help him to cry out to him to be saved.

And by the way, it's very important that he hears what you pray because again, you're preparing his heart for what he's going to need to do. So, after I would pray a simple prayer like that, then I'd ask him to pray.

And if he needs direction, I'd give him direction. But I would encourage you to encourage the individual just to pray from their heart and confess their sins. That's the first thing they need to do. It's not time to call on the Lord to save them yet.

They need to clear up. They need to clean up. And we want to say a few things about that. But there's nothing wrong with giving a little bit of direction to an individual while they're praying. We do it all the time.

In the prayer rooms here. If I'm not satisfied with what I'm hearing, I'll help them. I'll encourage them. Say it this way. Many times, someone will say, Lord, I did this and I did that. And that's all they'll say.

And if I hear that, I'll say, tell the Lord, I repent of it. I like to hear those words. Lord, I repent of it. So if I don't hear those words, I'll encourage the individual. He's down on his knees. I'm down on my knees.

His eyes are shut. Mine are shut sometimes. Sometimes they're not. I keep my eyes open sometimes. And if I don't hear the right words, I'll encourage him. Tell the Lord, I repent of that. Lord, I've been an adulterer.

Tell the Lord, I repent of it. Tell Him. And usually, they're glad for a little bit of encouragement on what to say and how to pray. And they'll say, Lord, I repent of it. And just lead them right on through.

Clearing the Heart and Renouncing Witchcraft

And usually what we do, after a person has confessed their sins a little while, we'll ask them a question like this, Are you clear? And you'll hear these words. Invariably, you'll hear these words. If they're not clear, if there's some sin that's still on their heart that they don't want anybody to know about, you'll say, Are you clear?

And they'll say, No, I'm not. Alright, at that point, I usually pray another prayer. Lord, help this man to see what it is in his heart that he needs to repent of next. Lord, bring it to his mind right here while he's on his knees.

And then I'm silent again. And it's amazing to watch the Holy Spirit bring things to the mind of that individual because you see, God wants that sinner cleaned up every whit hole. And God won't stop until He's clear.

And it's exciting to be co-laborers with God, especially at a point like this. You pray a little prayer and then you're silent. And it'll come up one after another. Oh yes, I used to do this. Tell the Lord about it.

And there's a little conversation going on back and forth between me and the individual who's repenting of their sins. Anytime that I feel the need to speak to them, I'll talk to them. They'll have their heads bowed and their eyes closed, but we'll be talking back and forth a little bit.

Is there anything else? Anything else on your heart? And at this point, we have learned to probe a little. One question we always ask. Have you ever been involved in witchcraft? And if we find that they've been involved in any kind of witchcraft, we help them.

You just renounce that in the name of the Lord Jesus. Pray like this. And we'll tell them. You pray like this. Dear Lord Jesus. And they'll say it. And we'll just lead them right through it for two or three of them and then they can pray it on their own.

It doesn't matter if we give them the words and then they say them. If their heart is broken and they want to get clear, they'll be glad to have the words to know what to say. And we'll just lead them right through.

Say this prayer. Dear Lord Jesus. Dear Lord Jesus. I renounce witchcraft. I renounce witchcraft in the name of the Lord Jesus. And they'll say that. And I ask You to break the power of it. And I ask You to break the power of it in the name of Jesus.

And they'll pray that. Alright. Anything else? And this little dialogue may go on for 15 minutes. We may be on our knees for 15 minutes just back and forth. Is there anything else? What about when you were a child?

What about when you were a child? Did you ever do anything evil when you were a child? Did you ever do anything unclean? And we'll just begin to probe. And all the while, this person's on their knees and they have their eyes shut.

And we'll just probe a little bit. And it's amazing if you'll depend upon the Lord, He'll prompt you. And it's always different with different individuals. The Lord might prompt you. Ask Him if He's bitter toward His father and mother.

Are you bitter toward your father and mother? Yes, I am. You'll have to forgive them. I can't forgive them. God won't forgive you. If you can't forgive your father and mother, God won't forgive you. And we stop right there until they're able to say, Lord, I'm sorry for the bitterness that I have toward my father and mother.

Please forgive me. I love them. And then we can move on from there. You see? We want that heart to be clear. And when that heart is clear, then he can cry out and say, God, be merciful to me. I'm a sinner.

Please save my soul and wash me in the blood of Jesus. And if you can get them to that place where all those things are cleaned out and dealt with, then when they cry out to the Lord, they'll have a sweet conversion experience.

In fact, we've noticed this. We noted it this last weekend. There's a couple of the boys down in Finger, Tennessee who are still struggling. They seem to be struggling. Oh, they're alright for a couple of days and then they don't care and they've given up the faith.

We've noticed this, that if somebody doesn't clean up and clear out, if there's a couple of things in there that they're holding on to saying, I don't want anybody to know I did this. I'm not telling anybody about this one.

Then that's the very thing that will stop them. And the blessing will not be there in its fullness. We have noticed that. But, on the other hand, when someone is dealt with thoroughly and then they cry out to the Lord to save them, they just seem to be solid.

It's not that they don't have any struggles, but they find their way through those struggles and they find the grace of God to be sufficient to carry them through. Okay. So, we're drawing the net and right now we're on our knees and he has confessed his sins and we're satisfied that he's clear.

We've asked him, Are you clear? And he said, Yes, my heart is clear. Does God bring anything else to your mind? No, nothing else comes to my mind. Alright. Now, at this point, I'd remind him of the promise that we had reminded him of before.

Remember we talked about the promise, For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Do you believe that promise? Yes, I do. Call on the Lord right now and just ask Him to save you.

Ask Him to come into your heart. Ask Him to fill you with His Spirit. Right now. And I'd just lead him right along in those things and help him to know what to pray. And I think it's very important at this point when you know the individual is clear and you know the individual has called out to God, and you ask him, Did the Lord save you?

Yes, He did. Oh, what sweet words. Yes, He did. That's wonderful. You don't have to take a bunch of verses and convince them. If you deal with them thoroughly and properly on the matter of repentance, you won't have to take a bunch of verses and convince them that they got converted that night.

All you need to do is ask them, Did the Lord save you? Ah, yes, He did. Yes, He did. At that point, I usually lead them to pray a prayer and ask the Lord to fill them with the Holy Spirit. To fill them with the Holy Spirit.

Receiving the Holy Spirit and Assurance of Salvation

A very simple prayer. Luke chapter 11. Luke chapter 11. It's scriptural to ask the Lord to fill you with the Holy Spirit. In fact, it's scriptural to do it every day. In fact, it's scriptural to do it many times a day.

Ask the Lord to fill you with the Holy Spirit. So, if it's scriptural for us, it's surely scriptural for this new baby to have all the strength and power they need. Ask the Lord to fill you with His Holy Spirit.

Alright? At that point, then we usually close in prayer with a prayer of thanksgiving and just thank the Lord for what He has done and for saving this soul. And we pray prayers of strength for this individual that they'll go on, that they'll be a blessing, that they'll open up their mouth for Jesus and tell others about the Lord Jesus.

Then I usually like to ask a few questions like this. If you died today, where would you go? Of course, if you did everything right there, He'll say, I'd go to heaven. I'd go to heaven. Here's another thing you can ask Him.

If somebody asks you, did you become a Christian? What are you going to tell them? Here's another question you can ask. Do you believe that today is the day of salvation for you? Another question you can ask.

Are you willing to tell others that God saved you? Are you willing to tell others? And a good verse for you to read is one that you already read. If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.

And at this point, it's good to encourage them to tell others what God has done for them. Alright. That's basically the lesson this evening on drawing the net. We want to open it up for questions, for discussion at this time, for any other input that any brothers may have.

Yes, in the back, Brother Bill? Yes. Okay. Did everyone hear that? Do I need to repeat it? Okay. If you'll speak up real clearly as you share or ask questions so the others can hear, that's good.

Renouncing Rock Music and Demonic Influence

Someone else? It seems a matter of importance when dealing with people from the world and many times from churches to ask whether there's been involvement in rock music. If there's a depth of involvement in rock music to any extent, a lot of times you have to be a little special in that situation.

Yes, amen. Because of the demonic influence from it.