He That Winneth Souls Is Wise No. 7

We understand the importance, as Christians, of not following the many bad examples that many lost people display in their lives, but NEW CONVERTS do not hear much, or see much, about following the good examples the Bible tells about and the stories of great Christians through the years have set for them to follow.

Instead they are left to follow the of professing Christians. Sad to say, many of these set bad examples for them to follow.

Illus: The story is told of the church service where some new converts were listening to some Christians who had been saved for many years.

• One jumped up and said, “I have been smoking three packs of cigarettes a day and I am going to quit!"

• Another one jumped up and said, “Well, I have been telling some things that are not exactly the truth, and I am going to quit!”

• Another one jumped up and said, “Well, I haven't been doing a thing, and I am going to quit!”

It is amazing how little effort some make to obey the Lord, but their bad examples rub off on new converts who do not know that God would have them to be soul winners.

Illus: Someone said, “Most church members are” 100% willing. They are willing workers. And the other 50 % are willing to let them work.

When we are not willing to obey the command to go into the harvest field and win souls as God has commanded us, we are setting a terrible example for young converts who do not know what God requires of them.

Illus: A little boy and his parents always sat near a family who did not love to give their tithes and offerings. The little boy noticed that when the plate was passed every week the man would just thump the bottom of the plate to make it sound like he had dropped some money in. After the little boy had seen him do this several weeks, one Sunday morning, while the offertory prayer was being prayed, the little boy tapped this man on the shoulder and said, “Here mister, I will give you my dime to put in the plate, I can hide under the seat!'

Many are influenced in a negative way by older Christians in many ways.

For example, they see people who profess to be saved not witness week after week and they conclude that soul winning must be optional. That is not so!

Soul winning is not a CHOICE, it is a COMMAND!

One of the last things Christ said to the church was, "Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teachinng them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, Lo, I am with you always. even unto the end of the world."

Notice that the promise that God will be with us, "... unto the end of the world," was given to those who would carry out His Great commission.

God is omnipresent (every where), and He has promised to be with the soul winner in a very special way because soul winners are carrying out His command to evangelize the world.

Every Christian who has ever been saved any length of time should be an example to younger Christians that God wants them to also be soul winners.

You see, it is going to be rough on a lot of Christians when they stand before the Lord and not only give account of the fact they have wasted their own lives, but they have used their influence to cause young Christians to waste their lives! Our influence can be used for good or bad. But once we use it for good or bad, only God knows to what degree it will affect so many around us.

Illus: For example, a Christian man had the chance to visit the high school he had graduated from. He was absolutely shocked to discover the change that had transpired in the twenty years since he had graduated. The students were using foul language, which one might expect because they hear it at home so much, but what redly OVERVWHELMINGLY SHOCKED him was that the boys were openly touching the girls where they had no business touching them. He left thinking that when he had been there if a young man would have done that he would have been in big-time trouble. Why? For at least three reasons:

1. Because the girls back then had the decency to wring a fellow's jaw and he would think twice before he ever layed his paws on her again!

2. Secondly, because when she went home and told her dad what he did, the dad would then find him and exert strong, repeated, pressure to his jaw, or his posterior extremity.