How Can We Win Souls For Christ

Pastor Mike will be teaching on how can we win souls for Christ. He will be in John 4:25-32.

And I would think it’s greater happiness to gain one soul to Christ than mountains of silver and gold to myself. I would rather be the means of saving one soul from death than to be the greatest orator on earth.

My words of encouragement to this church family don’t delay. Start sowing, start reaping this great harvest that God has given us today. Here we are again, bringing you God’s word and we are excited that you could join us.

Thank you for taking time to be a part of this great radio program, Hope Worth Having. Today we’re going to study the book of John chapter 4 and verse 25 through 32. Last week we started the study on a fearless soul winner.

Want to continue that. How can we win souls for Christ? Who is our example? Jesus Christ himself. And so let’s look into his life and let’s learn how to be effective for God. So let’s grab our paper, let’s grab our pen, and let’s get our Bible and let’s start learning together.

Lift up your eyes off the problems of this world. Lift up your eyes from the politics of this world. Lift up your eyes from all the stuff that is going on in this world and realize that whatever that drama is and whatever that is going on are nothing but sideshows from the devil designed to distract the church from doing what it is called to do and that is to reach people for the Lord Jesus Christ.

Now lift up your eyes. Don’t focus on earthly things. Some of you have personal drama going on. Lift up your eyes. quit getting caught up in this or that. I know we all have responsibilities. I know we have to take care of things, but ultimately all that you’re going through, whether you are suffering or you are prospering, whether you are struggling or you are striving and thriving, all of it is designed that we might be stronger in our faith so that we might reach more people for the Lord Jesus Christ.

There are too many people that are weighing in the balance of their eternal soul of whether they’re going to heaven or hell for us to get caught up in what I would call silliness and sideshows in our life, in our jobs, or even in our own church.

The church can get sidetracked. God’s people can get sidetracked and they’re not focused. Lift up your eyes. What is the second phrase? Look on the fields. See people as God sees them. Remember it’s a gospel, it’s a chapter of surprises.

Why are they surprised? Because they don’t see people like God sees them. Why would you be surprised that Jesus is talking to a woman? Why would you be surprised that he’s talking to a Samaritan? Why would you be surprised that he’s reaching out to a woman whose life is a wreck and as she has become an outcast in her own community?

Why would you be surprised disciples? Why? Because they don’t see people like God sees them. I know you see purple hair, you see tattoos, you see ear piercings, you see so many stuff that has become a barrier to you that you don’t want to talk to them.

You don’t want to sit down next to them. You don’t want to interact with them. You don’t want to in any way connect with them because again you don’t see people like Jesus sees them. And the way that Jesus sees people is that they have a soul and he went to the cross to die for them and heaven and hell is in the balance for their soul.

And if you and I would just see people, if we would look on the fields and we would realize that every person we talk to, every person we interact with, there’s really one thing that’s important. Are they gonna die in their sins?

It is our responsibility church to tell the world about Jesus. If your co -worker is facing a crisis, who else will invite them to church? Who else is gonna give their testimony to them and how Jesus saved your soul and rescued you?

from heartache and a messed up life. It’s up to us church. This is God’s global evangelism plan. This is how He wants to reach people. He wants to use you. He wants to use me. He wants to use the body of Christ and we must realize that the need is urgent and there is no time to procrastinate and we must be on the cutting edge of reaching people in our community and if anything our church should be accused of is that we are too aggressive.

We are too much on the front line. We’re too much confrontational. I would love for the church to be accused of that but that’s not today. People sometimes come to me and they say pastor so -and -so in your church.

He really offended me because he started talking to me about my soul and I just really feel like he did it the wrong way and I didn’t like how he did it, this and that and I said, you know what, I like that he’s doing it.

And I liked what D .L. Moody said when a woman was criticizing him for witnessing to others and he said, I like my way of doing it better than your way of not doing it. And we all have different styles and we all have different gifts and we all have different abilities.

I’m not here to get down on you for witnessing and the way you do it, I’m just glad you’re out there engaging people in a serious conversation about their eternal destination. Number two, what you need to know about being a fearless soul winner is that sowers and reapers are needed.

Look at verse 36, Jesus unveils this plan. He demonstrates it, he exemplifies it by reaching out to this woman and then she goes on after receiving Christ, she becomes a fearless soul winner for Christ.

Jesus said in verse 36, he that reapth receiveth wages and gatherth fruit unto life eternal that both he that soweth and he that reapth may rejoice together. You are needed in the Lord’s army. There are too many spectators in the church.

There are not enough sowers and reapers. There are too many slackers and not enough workers. I said it. Now I know what’s gonna happen, it happens all the time when I preach. I’m gonna say we need more workers and more laborers for the kingdom of God and those of you that are already spent in 10 places of trying to reach people and being involved in the church and helping people to know the gospel.

You’re the first ones to sail. Okay, here Lord, I’ll do more for you. But I don’t want you to. I’m so happy that you’re doing so much. I’m talking, and I’m just gonna say it, and you’re gonna get mad, but it’s okay, I’m talking to the slackers.

I’m talking to people in our church family who we love dearly, who are part of this church family, but you’re not engaged in reaching lost people. You just sit in a pew, you listen to the pastor on Sunday, it sounds nice, it sounds sweet, but we have no plans to do any more than what we are currently doing.

And I’m just here to tell you, it is a violation of the word of God. What are you gonna say to Jesus? What are you gonna say to Him when He asks why you didn’t do more to reach more for the gospel of Jesus Christ?

Because there isn’t going to be a good enough excuse One of the issues that the church grapples with is the need for more laborers There are many needs in our church family There are needs for people to reach children There are needs for people to reach our young cup our young people in our young families there are needs for people to reach out and go into the nursing homes and to go into the jails and to go into the Highways in the hedges of this community and reach them for the gospel of Jesus Christ,

but nothing Has moved you yet. What’s it gonna take? Matthew 9 verse 37 says this then say if he unto his disciples the harvest truly is plenteous But the laborers are what? if you If you’re already given everything you can for the gospel if you’re already on the front lines with this church family Thank you.

I Am so excited for you. I am so glad for you. I’m so thankful for you What should you do start praying that God would raise up more laborers? That is the key Those of you that are not on the front lines I need you to surrender everything to Jesus Christ and say Lord.

I’m not gonna be a slacker in the church I’m going to step up and Do my part and getting involved in reaching lost people for Jesus Christ now There are many excuses one of them is that people will say they’re tired They’re tired.

Oh I’m glad you brought that up Jesus was tired As a matter of fact in John chapter 4 the Bible says that he was weary and he sat on the well reminding us of his humanity. Jesus was not only 100% God, he was 100% man.

Jesus was faint, and the disciples went to go get him food. They returned, they were surprised, because Jesus was sitting up, he was animated, his eyes were kindled, and he said, I have food to eat, which you do not even know of.

Why? Because I want you to remember this, soul winning is invigorating to the soul and to the body. If we love evangelism, it will kindle our souls, it will renew our spirits, it will strengthen our bodies.

I know you’re tired, but that is no excuse not to reach the loss. Many are expecting a great harvest, and they love to sit on the sidelines and critique. The church, the leadership of the church, they critique us and say, we’re not doing this right, we’re not doing that right.

Listen to me, my friends, when you get out there and make a tackle, and when you get out there and you get involved, then you have the right to critique. Quit holding on till Jesus returns. And you occupy till he comes and get involved.

Here’s what Jesus told his disciples before he ascended into heaven. If this wasn’t important, this would not have been his last words before he ascended into heaven. He said in Acts 1a, you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be my witnesses to me in Jerusalem and all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth.

Are you doing that? What are you doing to reach people in our community? What are you doing to reach people in America? What are you doing to reach people to the end of the earth? Are you engaged? Are you involved?

Are you just leaving that up to the pastor? Are you just leaving that up to the staff? Are you just leaving that up to the church leaders? Friends, the Bible teaches us that these commands are personal, and they are for every believer, they are for every follower of Christ.

So how can I be active, pastor, and aggressive in sowing and reaping? Number one, prioritize. Prioritize your schedule, because another excuse I hear is this, I don’t have time, pastor. I know. Here’s what I want you to understand, church, and young families, you need to figure this out.

You need to figure this out. And that is this. You have to decide what is most important in your life. your kids can’t be in five sports. It’s gonna be okay because your identity is not in athletics.

Your identity is in Christ and you have a commission. Am I against sports? No, all my kids did sports so please don’t misunderstand me but sports never became more important than reaching the loss for Jesus Christ.

It never became more important than touching another life for Christ. What I’m challenging you to do is prioritize your schedule, your activities. I want you to go back to verse 28. I want you to look what it says, the woman then left her water pot and went her way into the city and sayeth to the men.

Now there’s two things there that are really powerful. First of all is that she left her water pot. If it wasn’t important for us to know that she left her water pot, the Spirit of God would not have told John to write it down, but God wanted you to know that she left her water pot.

Why did God want me to know that? Because she decided more important, more important than water was to reach people for Christ. She bought into it. She prioritized. I don’t know what your water pot is.

I don’t know what you need to put down this morning, but you know it. I don’t know what you need to leave behind, but there is something you need to leave behind. It’s not evil. It’s not immoral. It’s not even bad, and it might even be good because there’s nothing wrong as far as I know about a water pot unless it has a hole in it.

But she left it behind. And I think that there are times that we in our Christian life need to leave something behind. We like it. It’s nice. It’s wonderful. But leave it behind for a greater cause. And that is the gospel of Jesus Christ.

I just want you to think in your heart, what do I need to leave behind? If your life is too crammed with stuff in it, that you’re so busy that you don’t have time to be active in the gospel of Jesus Christ, you don’t have time to reach out to other people, you don’t have time to tell one more person about Christ, then here’s what I would say, find something and leave it behind.

Find it. It might be good, but just leave it behind. Because friends, it’s not as important as reaching others. It’s just not. She went her way into the city and sayeth to the men. I already told you.

I already told you, but I want to keep telling you. She took the initiative to break down barriers. Men did not talk to women. Women did not talk to men publicly. I know it sounds crazy in an American society, pluralistic society like America, it sounds bizarre to us.

But if you could just understand this, if you went into the Middle East, you might experience some of this, as you understand some of the cultural dynamics, but she did not care about cultural dynamics.

She did not care about any barriers. She left and went her way into the city and sayeth to the men. You see, you not only have to prioritize your schedule, you have to plan your schedule. And you see, it’s not just going to accidentally happen.

You’ve got to purposefully plan to engage. reaching others. She left it and she went, she took the initiative, she prioritized it, she knew that it was important, she was proactive in reaching out to others.

I’m just asking you, are you proactive? Are you planning? Look for open doors is the third thing I would tell you to be active in sowing and reaping. You see the Lord makes divine appointments. We already mentioned this before, but Jesus had a divine appointment.

You have divine appointment. God’s putting people in your path and I want you to be open to that. I want you to be submissive to that. Remember what Jesus said? Remember that He taught us that His, that it was His desire to do the will of Him that sent me.

Verse 34, the will, His desire was to obey God. His desire was to follow God’s plan and, you know, I just think that sometimes we just don’t want to and we resist it and we fight it and we need to say, God, if you put people in my path, I’m not gonna be afraid to talk to them.

Not gonna be afraid to witness to them. I’m not gonna be afraid to ask them to church. I’m not gonna be afraid to give them a track. I’m not gonna be afraid to share my testimony with them. How can I be active tactfully?

Bring up questions about Christ. Jump down to verse 29 and and I want you to see what she says to the people. Come see a man which told me all things that ever I did is, here’s the question, is not this the Christ?

Even though she busted the culture barrier, she still was very respectful and said, is not this the Christ? She is saying to them, here’s what he did in my life, here’s the evidence of what he did to change my life.

Is he not the Christ? I think questions are powerful to cause people to think. Most people don’t think. Most people aren’t even considering their spiritual life. I think you need to learn some powerful spiritual questions like the question in your opinion, what does it take for a person to go to heaven?

I love to ask that question, why? Because when I ask that question, people tell me all kinds of things and whatever they tell me, I know whether they’re a Christian or not. Like what does it take to go to heaven and when they start saying, oh, I guess you gotta be good and go to church, I know they don’t understand the gospel.

But if they say, man, you gotta put your faith and trust in Jesus Christ, you gotta repent and believe, I know that they’re believers. And when they say, give me their answer, I don’t attack their answer, I just simply say, do you mind if I share with you how the Bible answers that question?

and eight out of 10 people have always told me yes. I get a few that say no, but that’s okay. At least I tried, I took a sway. And all I’m trying to say is that this woman engaged unbelievers through questions, and I’m challenging you to learn spiritual questions.

Look at verse 39, and many of the Samaritans of that city believed on him for the saying of the woman which testified, he told me all that ever I did. She knew that Jesus was different. Next I would encourage you to commit to do the Father’s will.

That is to be obedient to God. I already mentioned that to you, but let me simply say this. Some of you used to be on the front line, but you quit. And I’m gonna tell you that sometimes we quit because we don’t see all the results we want.

And listen, here’s the thing is this. You are not measured by how many people get saved. You are measured by your obedience and faithfulness to God. If we only look at the results, we’re gonna get discouraged and defeated because you’re gonna find a lot of people who will reject the gospel.

But my goal is to do the will of him who sent me. And Jesus said, as I was sent, so send I you. I have been sent by the Savior, and I am gonna obey God to witness for him. I’m gonna obey God to invite people to church every week, every day, every opportunity I have.

I’m gonna do it. And if people turn me down, that’s their problem between them and God, not mine. And my identity is not ruined. I do not live by their receptivity. I am not hurt by their rejection. I just keep trucking forward for the Lord Jesus Christ.

You gotta get beyond this. I can’t handle rejection. I’m afraid what they’re gonna say to me. You gotta get beyond this, my friends. Because ultimately, That is pride that is hindering you from obeying God.

And then I would encourage you to reject laziness. Reject laziness. And I’m not saying that you’re lazy in your job. I’m not saying you’re lazy at home. I’m just saying in the Lord’s work, you’re lazy.

And I know it’s hard to swallow this. I know it’s hard to digest this. And we don’t like the directness, but I’m here to tell you that for some of us, we need this tough talk, this tough love to get out of this spiritual apathy that we are in so that we can reach people for Christ.

Now my last point and I must hurry is I want all of us to know that are actively engaged in sharing the gospel, that there are rewards in this harvest. Jesus said both he, verse 36, he that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice together.

Soul winning work has rich. rewards church. God will reward all we do for Him and He will reward all that we try to do for Him. He will reward our faithfulness. He will reward our obedience. He will reward us.

What is the pay? What is the reward for sowing and reaping? I think first of all it is joy. It is joy. Did you catch that? He said we’re gonna rejoice together. How wonderful it is. You know what? When a church is fighting what they need to do is get refocused on soul winning.

Quit focused on each other and the differences of each other and the shortcomings of each other and get out there and start winning people to Christ and when people come to Christ there’s gonna be great joy in your own heart and there’s gonna be great rejoicing among God’s people.

Amen? I mean friends I love to hear how people are coming to Christ. I love to hear testimonies of what God is doing. I love to hear that the Lord is at work in people’s hearts and they are willing to share the gospel and friends it only brings joy to me but listen one of the greatest joys apart from knowing Christ as my Lord and Savior the greatest joy is to sit down with a person open the Bible show them the plan of salvation and watch them receive Christ and ask the Lord to be their Savior.

There is nothing more joyous apart from your own salvation than to see others come to Christ. Amen? Can I tell you something? I mean we’ve already made you upset might as well make you more right? Some of you’ve got a joy problem.

You do. You’re critical, you’re negative, you’re hateful, everything’s wrong. Let me tell you what will help you. Go out there and win somebody to Christ. Get out there and do something to reach people for Christ.

God will fill your heart. Did you know all of heaven rejoices when one soul comes to Christ and one person gets saved and we’re critical and negative and find fault about it? What’s wrong with us? We need God’s joy and you’re going to get God’s joy when you’re out there.

I think there’s also unity. I think there’s unity that even now we have the unity of God. Evangelism links the workers of God in unity together. The Bible says, he that reapeth and receiveth wages and gatherth fruit in the eternal, both he that soweth and reapeth may rejoice together.

Do you see the unity in that verse? Do you see them working together when a church gets divided? Let’s get back to working together for the gospel of Jesus Christ. You remember church when this whole platform was filled of shoe boxes?

Do you remember it? Do you remember it or were some of you sleeping? Were some of you sleeping? You remember it was all over here? Remember, Bill, it was, how many high, how many high? Do you remember?

Seven, eight high boxes. Remember, it was four deep. Do you guys remember that? Or was I the only one here that Sunday? Just talk to me, church. It’s okay, it’s okay. You can talk to me. But listen, remember how happy we were?

Remember how it was, we all came together and prayed over it. Do you remember it, church? Do you remember when we were up at the gym and we put all those Bibles together? Do you remember when we prayed over those Bibles?

Do you remember how we united together? Nothing brings a church together like evangelism. And I’m challenging you to co -labor together. Some of us are gonna plant, some of us are gonna water, but God is gonna give the increase and wherever we’re the sower or we’re the reaper, we’re just all in together and we’re working together for God’s glory, amen?

First Corinthians 3 .9, we are laborers together with God. So much more, but I wanna leave you with encouraging words from great sowers and reapers of the past. Matthew Henry, many of you know Matthew Henry commentary.

He said, I would think it’s greater happiness to gain one soul to Christ than mountains of silver and gold to myself. Charles Spurgeon said, I would rather be the means of saving one soul from death than to be the greatest orator on earth.

My words of encouragement to this church family, don’t delay, start sowing, start reaping, this great harvest that God has given us today. Well, these principles that we’ve been learning for the last two weeks, they are designed to equip us so we can be more effective for Jesus Christ.

He is the courageous one. He is the one who’s willing to help us. willing to go to the ends of the earth to bring the gospel to every heart and every home. And today I hope that you’ll commit in your heart to be a fearless soul winner just like our savior and that you will commit that you’ll do what it takes to bring others to Jesus Christ.

We are blessed to have the opportunity to learn from the gospels and to learn from the life of our savior. I wanna encourage you that if you’d like to receive a copy of today’s message, you can write us at Hope Worth Having 600 Miller Street, Chambersburg, Pennsylvania 17201, or you can call us at 717 -264 -3266, or even go to our website, hopeworthhaving .com, and simply make a request for today’s message,

a fearless soul winner. For a donation of any amount, we’ll be glad to send you a copy of this message in its entirety, and you will be encouraged and reminded. how important it is for us to be fearless soul winners.

This is Pastor Mike Sanders reminding you that in Christ there is hope worth having.