Churches With A Big Problem!!!

? Good talented musicians,

? Christians who faithfully attend all the services,

? Christians who will faithfully support the church with God’s tithes and their offerings etc.

Many churches across this nation have these wonderful Christians. However there is something you do not find in many of these churches.

WHAT IS THAT?

That is today it is difficult to find people who are burdened for winning the lost. This is a huge problem for churches all over this nation.

God wants all Christians to be active in soul winning. Just think:

? Torrey was won to Christ through his mother.

? George Mueller was won to Christ by a friend.

? George Whitfield was won to Christ while reading a book.

? Sam Jones was won to Christ by his father.

? D.L. Moody was won to Christ by a Sunday school teacher.

God says this about soul-winners: “HE THAT WINNETH SOULS IS WISE!”

Illus: William Booth was invited to the Buckingham Palace by King Edward VII. The King asked him to write in his autograph album what would sum up his life. He was then seventy-five. He wrote: “Your Majesty,

-Some men's ambition is art.

-Some men's ambition is fame.

-Some men's ambition is gold.

-My ambition is the souls of men.”

? David Brainerd, another great soul winner, once said, “I care not where I live, or what hardships I go through, so that I can but gain souls to Christ. While I am asleep I dream of these; as soon as I awake, the first thing I think of is this great work. All my desires is the conversion of sinners, and all my hope is in God.”

? George Whitfield said, “O Lord, give me souls, or take my soul!”

? Henry Martyn, missionary, kneeling in India, cried out, “Here let me burn out for God!”

? Praying Hyde prayed in India, “Father, give me these souls, or I die.”

? John Hunt, a missionary to the Fiji Islands, prayed this upon his dying bed: “Lord, save Fiji, save Fiji, save these people, O Lord: have mercy upon Fiji: save Fiji.”

Throughout the history of mankind some of the WISEST MEN AND WOMEN who walked on this earth gave their lives reaching the lost for Christ. The great need of the church today is again to have men and women who are actively trying to win the lost.

Illus: We live in an age when we put saints in stained glass windows, but when the New Testament Christians were on earth, they believed that a saint should be put in shoe leather.

Let us look at some of the great soul-winning saints of God we see in scripture.

I. WE HAVE THE EXAMPLE OF ANDREW.

Sometimes the first step in solving a problem is recognizing you have a problem. Some churches recognize the problem but they certainly are not doing things in God’s way in solving the problem.

Illus: For example, recently it has been reported that some of the Southern Baptist (notice I said some, not everyone) are suggesting the reason that many of the Southern Baptist churches are not growing in membership is due to their name. So some have suggested that they delete two things from their name:

(1) They want to delete the word SOUTHERN because of people who move from the north to the south. This does not set well with some of the northern folks.

(2) Secondly, they want to delete the name Baptist because this also does not set well with some people.

IS THIS THE PROBLEM? I do not think so. Listen, it used to be when you went by a church:

? And you saw a church sign that said it was a Baptist church it let you know what they believe about this Bible.

? And you saw a church sign that said it was a Methodist church it let you know what they believe about this Bible.

? And you saw a church sign that said it was a Pentecostal church it let you know what they believe about this Bible.

I do not have time to go down the whole list of denominations, but when you saw those signs out in front of those churches those people were proud of their beliefs. But we live in an age today when you drive by a church and read the church signs and you do not know if it is a church or a dog kennel.

Churches today can hide their names if they so desire, BUT THAT IS NOT THE PROBLEM!!!

The problem is they do not recognize what God’s Word says, “He that winneth souls is wise!” They allowed the devil to shut down their soul winning program and now little or no effort is being made by Christians to go soul winning! Often their growth is from people moving from another church.