Run To Win Series

A drunken man got on the bus late one night, staggered up the aisle, and sat next to a woman who was clutching a Bible.

She looked the wayward drunk up and down and said, “I've got news for you, mister. You're going straight to hell!”

The man jumped up out of his seat and shouted, “Oh, man, I'm on the wrong bus again!” (Keith Todd, www.sermonfodder.com)

Sometimes, in our attempts to witness, we fail to connect with those we’re trying to reach. The fact is that 98% of believers here in the United States have never had the privilege of leading someone to faith in Jesus Christ.

Oh, if you’ve never had that privilege, you don’t know what you’re missing. I don’t know of any greater thrill! For me, there is nothing greater in this life than being there when a person puts his or her faith in Christ and their life is eternally and dramatically changed. I wish that all of you could have that experience just once, if not several times over, in your lifetime.

I know that Jesus Himself also wants you to have that experience too. He didn’t intend for 98% of his followers to be fruitless Christians. In fact, He said, “If a man remains in me and I in Him, he will bear much fruit” (John 15:5). When the seed of His Word falls on good soil, he expects it to “produce a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown” (Matthew 13:23). His last words to us, before He ascended into heaven, were, “Go and make disciples of all nations” (Matthew 28:19-20). It is Christ’s express desire that believers multiply themselves in other followers of Himself, 30, 60 or 100 times over.

Is that your desire? Do you want to be a fruitful Christian? Do you want to bear “much fruit” for the Savior? Do you want to introduce a friend, family member or co-worker to Jesus Christ? Do you want to reproduce yourself naturally and organically in other followers of Christ? Do you want to win people as a normal part of your everyday life? Then turn with me, if you will, to 1 Corinthians 9, 1 Corinthians 9, where we see how the Apostle Paul did it.

1 Corinthians 9:19 For though I am free from all, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win more of them (ESV).

Literally, that I might “gain” more of them. Paul wants to gain as many new believers in Christ as possible. It’s the same word used in Matthew 18:15, where a brother speaks to a sinning believer to win him back, or to gain him back from his sin. It’s the same word used in 1 Peter 3:1, where the wife submits to her unbelieving husband in order to win Him from His unbelief. If you want to win people out of unbelief to faith in Christ, then…

SUBMIT YOURSELF TO THEM.

Enter their world before they enter your world. Accommodate yourself to them. Yield to them. Adapt to them. Identify with them, before they identify with you. Paul “made himself a servant” to the ones he wanted to win.

1 Corinthians 9:20 To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though not being myself under the law) that I might win those under the law (ESV).

When Paul was with Jews, he behaved like a Jew to win Jews.

1 Corinthians 9:21 To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (not being outside the law of God but under the law of Christ) that I might win those outside the law (ESV).

When Paul was with Gentiles, he behaved like a Gentile to win Gentiles, but not without boundaries. Even though he accommodated himself to every man, Paul never accommodated himself to sin. He never violated the principles of God’s Word. You don’t have to get drunk to reach alcoholics. You don’t have to prostitute yourself to reach prostitutes. You just have to meet them in their world, not yours.

Until the COVID-19 pandemic, Roman Khripunov didn’t realize the missionary potential of video games. Khripunov ran soccer academies for refugees and immigrants in Houston, using the sport as a platform to share Christ with children. When the coronavirus paused in-person outreach, the ministry came up with an alternative: Soccer coaches would begin playing video games on the livestreaming platform Twitch and invite players to watch and ask spiritual questions. On Twitch, participants talk with each other as they play or type back and forth in a chat box.

It was a hit. Teenage soccer players reluctant to spend 15 minutes discussing spiritual matters in person were willing to engage for three to four hours over video games online. Eventually, the ministry opened its Twitch channel to the public and began to establish a presence on other gaming platforms as well, with coaches talking with people online.