The Nature of Soul Winning Part 1

Pastor Mike will be speaking on The Nature of Soul Winning Part 1. He will be in John 15: 26-27.

In all my witnessing and trying to help people come to Jesus, I never led anybody to Christ because I won the argument. But what I have learned is when you are gentle with people and you respect people, that they will listen to your message if your life is consistent with your message.

This is Pastor Mike Sanders and welcome to Hope Worth Having program. Today, we are excited to be able to share the Word of God with you and we are going to be in the Gospel of John chapter 15 studying the nature of soul winning.

The nature of soul winning, now you don’t hear that word much anymore, soul winning, but it’s talking about reaching out to others and evangelism is a missing word in most churches. But I hope that as we look at this text that we are going to be inspired to reach out to those that God puts in our path and I hope that you will be encouraged to follow the pattern that Christ has given us.

So let’s get into our Bibles today and let’s study the nature of soul winning. If you have your Bible this morning, I want you to come to the Gospel of John chapter 15. Now, we have been studying the book of John for quite some time now, over two years.

I don’t know if you realize that. We’ve made it to chapter 15 and I was just looking at my records and I note that this is the 73rd sermon in the Gospel of John. And you say, I don’t remember any of the other sermons, Pastor Mike.

Thank you. It always encourages me. When our children were little, we would have dinner together after church. And I would say, what did you learn in the sermon? What did you learn in the Sunday school?

And sometimes they didn’t know what to say. They couldn’t remember. And so my daughter, she became very skilled at just learning to give Dad whatever he wanted her to say. I would say, Lauren, what did you learn?

And she would say, we learned about Jesus, Dad. And that’s what we learned. And I said, okay, that’s good, that’s good. But we’ve been traveling through the gospel in John, and we are now in chapter 15, and verse 26 through 27 is two verses that I wanna focus our attention on.

And they are unique verses based upon the context of John chapter 13, 14, and 15. If you have been following along with us, you know that John chapter 13 and 14 and 15, Jesus is expressing his heart to his disciples.

And he is preparing them for his departure. And John chapter 13 is really the love chapter. And it is showing how God has called us to love one another, that the very badge of our discipleship is our love towards each other as believers.

We walked through that and talked about those challenges of loving people that are different. loving people that are difficult, loving people that sometimes we don’t always agree with but this is what God has called us to do and it’s important for us because as the world looks at us and if they see us always fighting and fussing and disagreeing to the point of division they say look I already got that on the job I already got that in my family why would I go join a church to fight right so we’re called to love each other and understand that chapter 14 Jesus begins to offer comfort to the disciples the reality that he is leaving that he’s going to across that he is going to resurrect even though they didn’t fully understand all the complexity and details of that that message was being driven home to them by Jesus and this was beginning to sink into their minds and their hearts and Jesus says you believe in God believe also in me let not your hearts be troubled so Jesus did not want his disciples to be anxious he did not want them to be overwhelmed with the troubles and trials of life and the struggles and challenges so he goes in to teach them wonderful truths to bring comfort and courage in their heart when we come to chapter 15 Jesus really gets real with them because he’s saying to them that look when you follow Christ it’s going to be difficult there’s going to be people who hate you because they hate me meaning Jesus because they hate Christ they will hate his disciples they will hate his followers and Jesus is making the case for them to be ready for this persecution to be ready for this kind of ostracizing by others that the world and even family and friends that we care so much about may look at us differently because of our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

And after sharing this, he finishes with these two verses that I think are so interesting because it’s almost a whole different direction, but in the context it brings clarity. Verse 26 of chapter 15, he says, when the comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth which proceedeth from the Father, He shall testify of me.

I want you, if you like to mark in your Bibles, I want you to make a note of that word testify. He will testify. And then Jesus jumps in verse 27 and says, you shall bear witness because you have been with me from the beginning.

It’s the same idea, testifying, witnessing. testifying, witnessing. The Spirit will bear witness. The Spirit will testify of the Son. And then you and I are to bear witness of the Son. We are to be soul winners.

We are to be those who are out witnessing for the Lord Jesus Christ. Perhaps you’re familiar with the term evangelism. That might be something maybe that relates to you more that you’ve heard the pastor teach about or Sunday school teachers or Bible study leaders talk about.

But evangelism, unfortunately, is a missing word in most churches. When we talk about reaching out into the community, reaching into our families and friends, reaching people for Christ, a lot of people just really don’t grasp it.

They don’t understand it. And it’s unfortunate that churches have gone silent about evangelism. One pastor told me that his church could not do evangelism because they were not ready for evangelism because if people were to get saved, his church would not know what to do with them.

And I thought how odd and strange that is. But perhaps maybe I might be odd or maybe that God’s word and what Christ commissioned us to do that he never said, get the nursery straightened out first and then go reach people.

Or he never said, make sure all your lights are working. All those things are important and make sure that you know how to teach them. But the bottom line is he said that he would give us power and that we were to go out and be witnesses for him.

When you look at churches across America, last night I was driving home and I had the radio on and so I was listening to this program about mega churches around the United States. And they were talking about the different mega churches.

churches, and the guy, the reporter had never been to a mega church, and he thought it was odd that you could get latte for the Lord at the church. And I thought, how ironic that they would alliterate latte for the Lord, and that’s what pastors are accused of.

But anyways, really, I have noticed that many times these large churches, and I’m not here to put them down, okay, so don’t misunderstand me. I mean, our church is a good -sized church, so we praise God for everyone that’s here.

But many times, whether a church’s attendance is small or large or in between, that most of the growth or the increase is nothing more than one church member changing their membership to another church, and who has the best show in town, and who can do this better or that program better, and so they run to this or that.

and it’s so unfortunate because I really think that when we look at the early church, the expansion and the great growth was the result of every Christian being involved in evangelism. That every Christian testified, every Christian was witnessing for the Lord Jesus Christ.

Adolf Harnack writes these words and I quote, we cannot hesitate to believe that the great mission of Christianity was in reality accomplished by means of informal missionaries, end of quote, meaning that he’s trying to say that everybody took on this mantle and this role of being a missionary in the early church and that as the flock gathered and was inspired and motivated and encouraged in the worship services and the Bible studies and the prayer meetings,

they fanned out into their communities as missionaries, inviting people, reaching people, sharing Christ with individuals that they came across and God blessed that and he used that to reach so many people.

And Jesus is telling us, he is telling us in this text this morning, that as you face opposition and that as you transition into this new phase for his disciples from his presence being consistent in their life physically, that this transition that he is challenging them, that they are now going to have to bear witness, they are going to have to go out as ambassadors for Christ and the cause of the gospel of Jesus Christ and he is reminding them that his departure means the Christ.

the coming of the Holy Spirit. And the Spirit of God would live and dwell within all who believe in Jesus Christ. And that it is the Spirit who would work in the hearts of people and prepare the world for the message of the gospel.

And that it is our job to take that gospel to every person. So this morning I want to share with each one of us the nature of what I call soul winning or evangelism or reaching out to others. And I want you to note first in our text that soul winning is to lost people.

And I wanna begin in verse 27. That when Jesus said, you shall bear witness because you have been with me from the beginning. That he is implying to us. that this world that hates you, this world that is in opposition to you, this world that rejects biblical truth, this world that does not embrace your godly values that you’re learning through the word of God and through the power of the Spirit working in your heart and mind,

this world is the world that you are called to reach. Now think about that, really. Think about that, most of us, if we wanna share a message, we wanna go to people who are receptive, people who are friendly, people who are kind, people who smile and say thank you, Mike, for telling us the message.

I have to tell you that in my serving as a pastor, the biggest shock that I have ever experienced when I was a younger pastor, I know that I’m still young, amen? I’m 49, I’m still young, hangin’ on. And I’m gonna be 49 for the rest of my life.

I just have decided that. My wife is 39, I’m 49, we’re all okay with that, okay? And I just want you to know that I don’t want any more celebrations for Mike’s birthdays, okay? We’re just gonna stay right there at 49.

And I may lose a few more hair, but it doesn’t mean I’m getting older. It just means I’m a pastor. I mean, I had a full head of hair when I first started pastoring, but then I became a pastor, and I’m just kidding.

Anyways, not funny, I understand. But the biggest shock to me, I thought when I left Bible college, and I would get up there and preach, that everybody would be so thankful and happy to hear me preach the Bible to them.

And little did I know that on the way out, people would tell me different things about what was wrong with my message. I never knew, I couldn’t believe people would do that. And then, thanks to technology, you know, I’m very thankful for technology, but the one thing technology has done has made me more accessible to complete.

And so, now they can email me and tell me every detail that’s wrong with my sermon. And that was shocking to me. I thought that the church would be happy to have a pastor and the church would just love to hear the Bible preach to them and that the church would always be thankful.

But I learned quickly that there are many little theologians out there that are sitting in the congregation. And I also, because of technology, learned very quickly that every statement I make, you guys are Googling.

And so you’re making sure, is this really true what Mike just told us? Did he just tell us that? And you know when my kids were little, I would make sometimes outrageous statements just to get them all riled up.

And I loved getting my kids riled up and they would kind of believe it, but then they got a phone and I’d make an outrageous statement and they’d Google and they’d say, dad, that’s not true. Google says this.

And so I was left now that I had to finally be careful what I say, right? And so that’s what happens. But when you go out there and share Christ with others, when you go out there and you are inviting the lost, you need to recognize that you will face opposition.

This world that hates godliness, yes, they’re fine with a baby Jesus and they’re fine with Easter bunnies and they’re fine with all that stuff. And if it gets them a day off, they love religious holidays.

They’re okay with that. But to really say that Jesus Christ is the only way to heaven, my friends, that’s very upsetting. In a pluralistic society that believes there are many roads to heaven and here we are as believers saying that Christ is the only way to heaven, that’s a difficult message for people to swallow.

But what I want you to get is that you are reaching out to this lost world and we are sent to bear witness of Christ to those who will not always agree with us. But remember the words of Jesus in Acts 1 .8, 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.

It is our ambition and goal to recognize that we have a great mandate upon us. We have a great commission that is upon us and it is to take the gospel to the end of the earth. It is to take it to every heart, every home.

It is to take it to every individual. It is to take it to every person. Now what people do and how they respond to that, whether they’re upset or whether they are receptive is not up to us. But it’s important for us to remember that this responsibility that we have, we are called to follow.

fulfill it and that every generation must take the gospel of Jesus Christ to the loss and in order to help us we are promised the power of the Holy Spirit our witnessing is through the power of the Spirit of God some of you are saying man Mike I just don’t know what to say and I wouldn’t know how to have a conversation and I wouldn’t know how to answer certain questions but I tell you this morning that the Spirit of God lives in you and that he will continue to give you the words to say and the courage to speak up on his behalf now the Apostle Peter gave us some advice about our witnessing and he said in chapter 3 of verse 15 in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy meaning keep God first in your life if you want to be an effective soul winner to the people If you want to be effective in reaching others for Christ,

keep him number one in your life. That’s very important. And have that reverence and have that commitment to follow him in your life. But he goes on to say, always being prepared. Now that’s where we struggle sometimes.

We’re not always ready. We’re not always prepared. And we have want you to know that in our church family there are many opportunities for you to be prepared. And you can take classes and you can take courses.

But I tell you I’ve learned this, that the best way to be prepared is that more is caught than taught. And I would encourage you to team up with leaders in the church. Other people are good at witnessing for Christ.

And to go out and make visits with them and learn how you can share Christ with others through watching their life. But he says be prepared to make a defense or to make the case to anyone who asks for a reason for the hope that is in you.

Yet do it with gentleness and respect. And so as people are watching our life, as we follow Christ, that people ought to see something unique about us. They ought to see something unique about us. Now through the years I’ve learned how to speak diplomatically to people.

It’s not that I always do it, but I have learned how to do it. I just don’t always activate it. But one of the things that I would always say to my kids, they would say something about someone. And I’d say, well look, let’s just not judge them and let’s not put them down.

Let’s just call them unique. Unique. They’re unique people. Okay. And so people are unique. And yet we recognize that we’re called to be unique. And that we’re called to be distinct and different in this culture.

That we actually stand out. That there are things about us that are not normal when it comes to the ways… of the world, and that as people see that in our lives, that they begin to ask questions, why are we so different?

And why is it that we have this hope? You know, you go into work and you know, you’re always down and you’re always negative and it looks like you just got baptized in lemon juice and you’re discouraged and the world’s falling apart and everything is a mess in your life in the sense that you’re always thinking negatively about everything that happens in your life.

I’m gonna tell you, the world’s gonna be like, man, stay away from that person, because they have no hope. They have no peace in their hearts. And what they got, please, let’s not get it. But what we really ought to be is living such a different lifestyle, such a unique lifestyle, if you will, that even as we walk through trials and we walk through tragedies, and we walk through transitions in our life,

that we are not falling apart because we have confidence. in the Lord. We have our trust in the Lord, and that we know that God’s got a plan and a purpose, and he’s up to something special in our life, and that there’s joy in our hearts, and that joy just seems to overflow, and it comes out, and people see it, and they say, man, what’s the matter with you?

You know what I mean? What’s the matter with you? You keep coming in here singing. You keep coming in here smiling. We would like for you not to smile so much. Have you ever met people who smile too much?

Well friends, I want you to know that we have the opportunity to give a defense of what we believe, and that as we do it, we do it with gentleness and respect. We don’t grab people and drag them down to the altar, and we don’t push and argue with people to get to the cross.

You know, I want you to know that in all my witnessing and trying to help people come to Jesus, I never led anybody to Christ because I won the argument. Now I have won some arguments. I have won a few arguments, but it didn’t help the cause.

It helped my pride to swell, because I knew the answers to these difficult questions that they would come up with. But what I have learned is when you are gentle with people, and you respect people, that they will listen to your message if your life is consistent with your message, and that if you choose to walk in a way that honors Christ, the Spirit will empower us that we may be able to share Christ with others.

The Apostle Paul told the Corinthians in chapter two, verse four, that his speech and his preaching were not with persuasive words or of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of the power.

I tell you friends, it is not gonna be your eloquence and your ability to reason or debate that is gonna make you an effective witness for Christ. It is gonna be your submission and your yielded. to the power of the Holy Spirit of God.

And that as he feels you, you will sometimes say things that you cannot believe came out of your mouth. And you say, I didn’t even know that I knew that. But that’s the power of the Spirit of God. He can work.

There are times I preach and say things and people say, pastor, thank you for saying that. And I say, what did I say? And they say, pastor, you said this. And I said, really? Boy, I didn’t know it was that good.

And you know, I’m just telling you that’s the power of the Spirit of God is that he can give us wisdom and he can give us thoughts and words that we might say to others to help them through a crisis, to help them in a challenge in their life, to continue to guide them through the trials and to help them to see that Christ is the answer.

It is sad that many Christians never confront their friends, their families, their coworkers, their neighbors, even strangers with the gospel. Jesus Christ. The Apostle Paul asked the Ephesian believers to pray for him and as he asked them to pray for him he said he didn’t ask them to pray for his physical health but he said to them in chapter 6 verse 19 of Ephesians as for me that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel.

One of the things we should pray for each other is that God would help us as believers to speak boldly for him in these days. The gospel is commanded to be preached to all. It is commanded that we share this faith to all people to every person and you and I have that responsibility.

Now the second thing I want you to note about the nature of soul winning is that soul winning is really from the Father. Look at verse 26. The Bible says that when the Comforter is come whom I will say unto you from the Father even the Spirit of truth which proceedeth from the Father.

Did you see that? Twice Jesus said in the text sent unto you from the Father proceedeth from the Father. He’s talking about the Spirit of God. He is referred to in the King James translation as Comforter.

Other translations have it translated as helper or advocate. It is the same Greek word which simply means pericalitas and it is the idea of a legal assistant, someone who is pleading your case, someone who is coming alongside of you to help you.

The very effort and the very power of being able to be effective of sharing Christ with others comes from the Comforter. It comes from the Father through the Comforter to each and every one of us. The Bible teaches us that this is an important word, that the Spirit of God lives in us, and He dwells in us, and He is our comforter, He is our advocate, and He is our helper.

We see four times that Jesus uses this. Just take your Bible and go back to chapter 14, just one page, hopefully, for you. And verse 16, Jesus takes His disciples through a process of coming to the realization that the Spirit of God is going to come in His absence and His ascension and live inside of all believers.

Verse 16, chapter 14, I’ll pray the Father and He shall give you another comforter, or paracleteus, that He may abide with you forever. The disciples, they’re worried Jesus is leaving them. They’re worried Jesus is going to be gone.

But Jesus said, it’s necessary that I leave. and I will pray that the Father will send the Comforter, the Pericalitas, the Helper, to live in you and to dwell with you, that his presence may be with you.

Look at verse 26 of the same chapter. But the Comforter, or the Pericalitas, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall what? Teach you all things and bring all things to your remembrance whatsoever I have said unto you.

It’s a twofold promise, a promise to the apostles that they would remember what Christ taught them, they would remember his words, they would write those words down in the gospels that we have, that they would remember the parables that Jesus taught, but a promise also for us, that the Spirit of God will not leave us to where we are helpless or that we are orphans or we have no direction, we have no guidance,

he will not leave us. He’s often referred to as the counselor, the Spirit of God, the Pericalitas, and he will not leave us, but rather teach us and he will help us and he will guide us and he will bring all things to our remembrance.

This is what the Spirit of God does in us. Again, we jump to chapter 15, where we were just at in verse 26. The comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father. We go to chapter 16, verse seven.

Nevertheless, I tell you the truth, it is expedient for you that I go away, for if I go not away, the comforter will not come unto you, but if I depart, I will send him unto you. A lot of churches are growing, but they’re not growing through evangelism, it’s just shifting the sheep and people are jumping from one church to the other, whoever has the best whatever program.

that they’re looking for, but the truth is God wants his church to grow by us reaching the lost with the gospel of Jesus Christ. He doesn’t want us to use gimmicks. He doesn’t want us to use any particular style.

He just wants us to share the pure unadulterated Word of God and that we would use that to help people to understand that they’re sinners in need of a Savior. And I hope today that you have been inspired and encouraged about what it really means to win the lost and how you can bear witness for the Lord Jesus Christ.

Now I want to remind you that we’re on Facebook and make sure you check out our social media because you can watch us live as we’re streaming on Sundays. In addition, we’re continuing to put content out there, information.

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and how He is doing it. This is Pastor Mike Sanders reminding you that in Christ there is hope worth having.