Church Essentials: Part Four
Soul Winning - Acts 4:37-41, 47
Essential to the continued existence of any God honoring, Christ centered, church community is an outward focus with the intent of winning souls. The early church was actively engaged in soul winning on a daily basis. Carl Nelson, President of Transform Minnesota, observed that "Churches that faithfully and winsomely proclaim the hope of the gospel and hold true to biblical teaching are the churches that are growing." (http://ministrytodaymag.com). Proverbs 11:30 tells us that "He that wins souls is wise." It is a well established fact that when a church loses its passion to reach the lost, the congregation begins to die. This was not the case of the early church as we read of their evangelistic fervor throughout the book of Acts. Acts 2:47 "...the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved."; 5:42 "And daily in the temple, and in every house, they did not cease teaching and preaching Jesus as the Christ."; 8:1b,4 "And at that time there was a great persecution against the church which was at Jerusalem; and they were all scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judaea and Samaria, except the apostles...Therefore they that were scattered abroad went everywhere preaching the word." The early believers were actively evangelizing; the church was reaching their world for Christ. They clearly understood the imperative of soul-winning. There are three keys to understanding what motivated them which also ought to cause us to be active soul-winners - the plight of the unsaved, the heart of the believer, and the command of the Savior.
I The Plight of the Unsaved
A Acts 4:12 " Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved."
B The Bible makes it very clear there is salvation in no one else! Jesus is the ONE and only Savior, and those souls without Him are LOST.
C If a man does not have Christ, no matter how nice a man or lady he or she may be, if a man does not have Christ, He has nothing!
D We must see the unsaved as God sees them. Understanding the condition of people without Christ is not only one of the keys to becoming a personal soul winner, but it is vital in changing our hearts and thinking toward the unsaved
E Romans3:10-12 " As it is written: “There is none righteous, no, not one; there is none who understands; there is none who seeks after God. They have all turned aside; they have together become unprofitable; there is none who does good, no, not one."
F God created man and placed him in a perfect environment. Adam and Eve chose to disobey God by eating of the forbidden fruit (Gen. 3:1-6). By His sin man lost the image of God. God is holy, but man , because of disobedience is unholy. But not only was Adam sinful, every person born has inherited Adam's sinful image. All men are sinners by nature from birth.
G Romans 5:12 "Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.
H Not only are all men sinners, without repenting of their sin and placing their faith in Christ alone as their Lord and Savior they will spend a Christ-less eternity in Hell.
I Someone has said, "If you ever caught a glimpse of the eternal fate of these individuals you would be motivated, to have a burden for the lost; and be encouraged to present the Gospel to those who are headed to this awful place."
J There are 162 references to Hell and eternal judgment in the New Testament alone, and nearly half, 70 of them, were spoken by the Lord Jesus Christ! Consider just a few of them:
1 Matthew 10:28 And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell”.
2 Matthew 13:40 As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire; so shall it be in the end of this world. The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity; and shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth”.
3 Mark 9:43-44 "If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life crippled, than, having two hands, and to go to hell, into the fire that shall never be quenched, where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched.
K No matter how good, how religious, how sweet, how kind, how benevolent, how dedicated, how rich, how poor, or how tormented in this life, regardless of church membership, observance of "sacraments" or rituals, nationality, family ties, or heritage without repentance of one's sin and an acceptance of Christ as Lord and Savior one is headed for an eternity of torment in hell. No one goes to heaven apart from repentance and faith
L 2 Corinthians 5:11 "Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men..." Paul was a soul winner because he knew what it meant for a soul to die unredeemed and go to hell.
M Dr. Bob Jones III of Bob Jones University said that "the most sobering reality in life is that people are dying and going to hell each day."
II The Heart of the Believer
A The Apostle Paul wished he could give up his own eternal life to save his countrymen (Ro. 9:1–4). Charles Finney wept at the thought of people facing a Christless eternity. A. B. Simpson agonized in prayer over the nations where Jesus Christ was not exalted. Hudson Taylor’s nightmare featured millions tumbling into the chasm of hell...Not many of us would say with Paul that we’d give up our own eternal life in order to save our countrymen. Neither do we have the same stress as Charles Finney or A.B. Simpson, both of whom are well-known to have had a burning desire to save lost souls I doubt many of us have ever been wakened during the night because of a nightmare like Hudson Taylor’s watching people plunge to their eternal death in hell’s fire. Yet when faced with the most direct instruction to all disciples, to go into the whole world and make disciples of all the nations, we are at once confronted with the main issue that determines whether or not we actually do what Jesus said – it is the heart (or lack of it) for the lost. - Bill Denton, A Heart for the Lost
B Jesus was focused on those who were lost.
C Mark 6:34 "And Jesus, when He came out, saw a great multitude and was moved with compassion for them, because they were like sheep not having a shepherd."
D Warren Wiersbe noted that, “The Christians you meet in the Book of Acts were not content to meet once a week for “service as usual.” They met daily (2:46), cared daily (6:1), won souls daily (2:47), searched the Scriptures daily (17:11) and increased in numbers daily (16:5). Their Christian faith was a day-to-day reality, not a once-a-week routine. Why? Because the risen Christ was a living reality to them, and His resurrection power was at work in their lives through the Spirit.” (p.34). -copied
E They had the mind and heart of Christ.
F John 3:16 "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life."
G Charles Cowman, missionary to Japan, declared "By the help of God they shall hear if it costs every drop of my life's blood. Here I am, Lord, send me, send me." Charles Spurgeon, speaking to the church said, "As Rachel cried, 'Give me children, or I die,' so may none of you be content to be barren in the household of God. Cry and sigh until you have snatched some brand from the burning, and have brought at least one sinner to Jesus Christ." The constant prayer of George Whitefield was, "Give me souls or I die." And awakening came to Scotland because of the cry of John Knox, "Give me Scotland or I die." Do you care this much? - copied
H Romans 10:1 "Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved."
I Ask God to infect you with the gospel-germ and the disease of evangelism. You will discover this is one disease for which you will not want a cure. - copied
III The Commands of the Savior
A Acts 1:8 "But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
B Mark 16:15 "And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature."
C John 20:21 " So Jesus said to them again, “Peace to you! As the Father has sent Me, I also send you.”
D "Every Christian must be a soul winner", declared an African church planter who oversees a fellowship of more than 18,000 local churches. Alex Mitala, the general overseer of the National Churches of Uganda, pointed to the Bible and said the Scripture said "all believers are called to participate in a soul-winning campaign. He wants people to believe Him after repenting of their sins, to grow and then after to become disciples." Mitala said, "Every believer must be a soul winner. Every believer is empowered according to the Bible. God calls people to serve in different ways, Mitala said. But whether they are a businessman, a farmer or a musician, a believer has to be a soul winner." - Christian Post
E God calls all of His children to soul winning and to not do so would be sin.
F If we do not carry the Gospel to those who don't know Christ or are not outward focused we are guilty of:
1 Disobedience to the main command of Jesus Christ. We commonly refer to the last two verses of Matthew as the “great commission,” (Matt. 28:19-20). When you are not telling others about Jesus, you are disobeying this command (Mk. 16:15).
2 Lack of love for Jesus. The measure of your love for Jesus is whether you’ll do what he said. If you love him, you will keep his words. If you don’t, you won’t (Jn 14:23-24).
3 Not following Christ. Jesus said, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men,” (Matt. 4:19). That’s what happens when you follow Jesus. If you are not fishing for men, you are not really following him.
4 Not abiding in Christ. Jesus said, “I am the true vine,” (Jn 15:1). When you abide in him, you bear fruit. He has ordained you to bear fruit (15:2), to bring forth more fruit (15:2), and to bear much fruit (15:8). And he has ordained that your fruit should remain (15:16). If you are not bearing fruit, you are not abiding in him. - John R Rice.
G It is only half right to say that “Only the Holy Spirit can win souls.” I say half right because it is true that it is only by the convicting power of the Holy Spirit that people are saved; but, you are half wrong because it is through human instrumentality that the Holy Spirit does His work... “Only the Holy Spirit can SAVE souls”...When we willingly yield to God in the matter of soul-winning, or any other work, then the Holy Spirit flows through us and out of our “belly shall flow rivers of living water... When we allow God to use us, then we, by the power of the Holy Spirit flowing through us, are partners together with God in the winning of souls to the Lord Jesus Christ! Dr James Wilkins
H It is not our way of putting the gospel, nor our method of illustrating it, which wins souls, but the gospel itself does the work in the hands of the Holy Ghost, and to Him we must look for the thorough conversion of men. A miracle is to be wrought by which our hearers shall become the products of that mighty power which God wrought in Christ when He raised Him from the dead, and set Him at His own right hand in the heavenly place far above all principality and power; and for this we must look out of ourselves to the living God. Must we not? We go in, then, for thorough downright conversion; and therefore we fall back upon the power of the Holy Spirit. If it be a miracle, God must work it, that is clear; it is not to be accomplished by our reasoning, or persuasion, or threatening, it can only come from the Lord. - The Soul Winner, Spurgeon
