He That Winneth Souls Is Wise No. 6

In the first half, the big animals were winning. The score was 70 to nothing when half-time came. When the second half began, the big animals got in their huddle and planned their strategy. They decided to send the elephant down the left side with the ball. They threw him the ball and he ran hard as he could and just as he was about to step across the goal line he crashed and didn't make it. This caught the big animals by surprise, but not to be discouraged, they made a new plan. They decided to send the giraffe down the right side with the ball. Well, all went well until he was about to step across the goal line and he crashed. When the big animals regrouped the coach said, "We are going to send our fastest player right down the middle.” The ball was thrown to the zebra and he, like the others, got almost across the line and he was smashed before he could step over.

Well, there was no small stir among the small animals by this time. The coach called for time out and gathered them together and said, "Now I want to know who tackled that elephant!" A little voice in the back said, “I did.” It was the centipede. The coach then asked, “All right, then who smashed that giraffe?" Again, the centipede admitted that he had done it. The coach asked, “And, I want to know who stopped that zebra!" For the third time, the centipede said, "I did.” The coach asked him, “Well, where in the world were you during the first half! The centipede answered, "I was in the locker room getting my sneakers tied...”

In every church there are some soul winners who could do an outstanding job for the Lord if they would just get out into the harvest field, put their spiritual shoes on, and begin doing what God has called them to do!

The New Testament is full of stories of the Christians who chose to put their spiritual shoes on and work diligently in the harvest field, winning souls. God had this all recorded in the sacred pages of His Book so we might follow their good examples. Let us look at one of the examples today and pray we will be influenced to follow in his footsteps.

WE HAVE BIBLE EXAMPLES FEARLESSNESS.

There are FIVE THINGS in Acts 8:9-13 that tells us about Simon, the sorcerer:

I. SIMON'S DEALINGS.

Look at verse 9, We read, "But there was a certain man, called Simon, which beforetime in the same city used sorcery, and bewitched the people of Samaria, giving out that himself was some great one."

The Bible tells us Simon "...used sorcery…”

Also, notice, the Bible tells the RESULT of his WITCHCRAFT. “...Simon ... bewitched the people of Samaria...”

The word translated "bewitched" here, means: "To entrance or charm the people.”

Evidently both meanings of this word applies to what Simon did to the people because they had been both CAPTIVATED and CHARMED BY HIM.

Look at the last part of verse 9, it says of Simon, the sorcerer, "...giving out that HIMSELF was some GREAT QNE.”

So we see that Simon DEALT IN WITCHCRAFT.

Now one might ask, “What is wrong with witchcraft?”

There are MANY things wrong with it! For one thing, it causes people to DIRECT THEIR ATTENTION and TRUST toward an individual instead of toward God.

For example, a psychic that advertises on television, tells people to call her on her 900 number if they have any problems and she will give them an answer and the customer will be charged $4.95 for each minute. The ad shows her eyes peering out from beautiful clouds, as if she is some kind of god, looking down on mankind.

• Today we see and hear of witchcraft more than ever before. We can ride down the highways and see signs advertising palm readers who claim we need to go to them for GUIDANCE and UNDERSTANDING.

• We see ads on television of people who claim they have psychic ability and can tell you everything you need to know if you will call their 900 number. They are all a bunch of MONEY HUNGRY DEGENERATES who will SAY ANYTHING and DO ANYTHING for your money.

They would love to "bewitch' every person alive so they will be dependent on them, so they can become rich. They do not know any more about the future than you do.

James 4:13-15 says, “Go to now, ye that say, To day or to morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain: 14 Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away. 15 For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that.”