Soul Winning Techniques Of The Master (Pt 1) Series

Soul Winning Techniques from the Master.

Luke 18:35-41

(INTRODUCTION)

I haven’t been preaching too long. Only been preaching for 6 years. My first sermon was in this building, a little over six years ago. And if you think my messages today are bad, you should have heard them then! I would always get really nervous before I preached. There’s something about taking the inerrant, infallible word of God, and studying it and preparing it and presenting it, that’s just intimidating.

And I would always get incredibly nervous, before I preached. I’m not the only one.

(ILLUSTRATION)

I heard a story of a young gentleman who surrendered to preach. This young man had a great home church. The church's pastor thought he would give the young man some experience by letting him preach one Sunday evening. The young man eagerly accepted, and prepared diligently for hours and hours in his study and prayer time. He had never preached before, but he wanted to make sure he really nailed it!

Sunday night came, he dashed up to the pulpit, he threw his arms back, he looked straight at the congregation... and his mind went completely blank. The only thing he could stutter out was…. "D-D-D-D-D-D do you all know what I’m about to tell you?"

The congregation shook their heads no. The young preacher nervously stated, "Well, neither do I," and he set back down.

The pastor, wanting to encourage the young man, went to him and said, "Son, gather your thoughts and preach! Tell this congregation the message God has given you!"

So obediently, the young man dashed up to the pulpit after collecting his thoughts, he threw his arms back, he looked straight at the congregation... and his mind went completely blank. The only thing he could stutter out was…. "D-D-D-D-D-D do you all know what I’m about to tell you?"

Caught up in the moment, and wanting to encourage this young preacher, they nodded their heads yes!

To which the young preacher responded, "If you know, then there is no point in my telling you!" And he sat back down.

Once more, the great Godly pastor, wanting to encourage this young man, went to him and told him to get up there and preach!

So obediently, the young man dashed up to the pulpit after collecting his thoughts, he threw his arms back, he looked straight at the congregation... and his mind went completely blank. The only thing he could stutter out was…. "D-D-D-D-D-D do you all know what I’m about to tell you?"

This time the congregation was confused. Some nodded their heads yes to try to support the young man, some shook their heads no because they were just plain confused.

To which the young preacher responded "Those of you who do know, tell those of you who don't! And he went and he set back down.

The pastor of the church got up, and said "I’ve been preaching for over 40 years, and in one statement, this young man summed up over 40 years of ministry."

Those of you who do know, tell those of you who don’t. Those of you who do know Jesus, tell those who don't. Those who have a born-again relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ, must tell those who don't.

You see, in finality we’ve been given a great and awesome task to share the Gospel with everyone we know. We’ve been given an awesome charge to go to the nations and tell the world about Jesus. Those of us who do know are supposed to tell those who don't know.

But the problem is, those who do know aren't telling those who don't know!

Statistics tell us that 95% of Christians have never won anyone to the Lord.

Why is that?

Maybe we don’t know how to witness, or we don’t know how to lead people, or where to find people, or what to do?

With that in mind, the main point of the next few weeks is for us to look at these Scriptures in Luke 18 and 19, see the evangelism of Jesus and learn “Soul Winning Techniques from the Master." So that we can evangelize too! The whole point of these messages is for us to look at these texts and say "hey, I can do that!"

Let's look at Jesus' evangelism, and see that our evangelism should model or imitate His.

The Christians evangelism should be provocative. (v.35-38)

Look here at Jesus’ evangelism. It was provocative.

What does provoke mean? To stimulate or incite a strong emotion. Just by passing by, Jesus stimulated this blind man, Jesus incited this blind man to produce a very strong emotion.

Look at the text.

What are you saying preacher?

I’m saying when Jesus came around, this blind man, knew who He was and what He did.