He That Winneth Souls Is Wise No. 16

He replied, "The only thing we need are things which begin with the letter 'A'." He then explained: We need:

• A lot of tanks.

• A lot of money.

• A lot of guns.

• And a lot of soldiers.

In order for us Christians to win this war in soul winning, everything we MUST have also starts with the letter "A". We need:

• A lot of confidence.

• A lot of conviction.

• A lot of consecration.

These are MUSTS. The Bible shows us that without these things we will not be effective soul winners. Without these things we will not get the job done.

Let us look at three MUSTS if we are going to be effective soul winners for Christ. The first is the:

I. THE CONFIDENCE OF A SOUL WINNER.

Illus: A man worked for an insurance company for a number of years and was considered to be an average salesman. He changed to another company and became an above normal salesman. He was asked, "What made the difference, for the first company you were average, but for the other you were far above average." He explained it this way, "When I worked for the first company, I always felt like I was cheating people because that company did not offer the customers what it should offer them for their money, but this new company provides what people need and I feel that now I am actually helping people."

Every good salesman will tell you that if he is going to be effective, he must believe in what he is selling. He cannot just say it with his mouth, it must be from his heart.

Illus: During the 1992 presidential campaign, Patrick Buchanan traveled the country telling the American people how we need to keep American jobs in America and we need to buy products made in the USA. He was gaining ground with this type of campaigning because it seemed to come straight from his heart. He was doing great until it was discovered he bought a foreign car and it made the evening news all around the country. Why did that change things? If you are going to sell someone on using USA products, you must believe in your heart it is right and practice what you believe. He lost his credibility and after that he could not recover his momentum.

If we are going to tell lost people that they NEED THE LORD JESUS, we had better be sure that WE HAVE HIM!

Illus: D. L. Moody said that in all his experience he never knew one single Christian worker worth his salt who was not absolutely sure of his salvation.

Illus: Andrew probably would never have led Peter to the Lord if he had just said, "They have found the Messiah." But, he came running to Peter and said, "WE have found the Messiah." It makes a difference when we have that PERSONAL CONFIDENCE because WE KNOW CHRIST PERSONALLY.

Illus: Charles Trumbull, editor of "The Sunday School Times," tells of a businessman who asked twenty-five different Sunday School teachers in the city of Philadelphia if they KNEW FOR SURE THEY WERE SAVED. Twenty-three of the twenty-five could not say that they knew for sure that they were saved.

We can not teach others how to be saved unless we know for sure we are saved!

Illus: That would be like trying to teach a person about calculus when you had never learned it yourself.

Daniel 11:32 says, "...the people that do know their God shall be strong, and do exploits."

Success in soul winning belongs to those who KNOW GOD. You cannot fool people. The world you are witnessing to KNOWS IF YOU KNOW THE LORD!

We can not have a-

A. False confidence.

Most of us would be in trouble if we based our salvation on how we felt sometimes.

Illus: There is a song that we used to sing in our church that began, "I woke up this morning feeling fine. I woke up with heaven on my mind..." To be honest with you, sometimes I do not feel so fine when I wake up, and it is my guess that sometimes you do not feel so fine when you wake up either!

One day you might catch one of those people who depend on "feelings" and if he is not feeling so good that day you might be able to lead him to the Lord ten times. Why? Because they base everything on feelings.

People like that are as confused as a termite in a yo yo. Their feelings go up, and they think they are saved. Their feelings go down, and they think they are lost.

B. Firm confidence.

Others would answer, "I have faith in God's Word and I obeyed what God told me to do in His Word!" We do not have to wonder from day to day if we are saved.