Soulwinning

We have hope in and through the Lord Jesus Christ. We know that our Lord died for our sins and was resurrected from the dead. In Him, we have a victorious hope.

In writing to one of his converts, Gaius, John commended him for many things. First, John was pleased that Gaius knew the truth. If we are to be true to God, we must know the truth. In our day with so many tools available to us, there is no reason for any Christian in America to be ignorant of the Word of God. It is vital for our spiritual growth that we read, study, memorize, and meditate on the Bible.

Recently, a dear man in the church where I was preaching asked if we could go witnessing together. It was such a privilege to listen to him share Christ with holy enthusiasm. He has been doing it for over half a century.

There is nothing more rewarding than serving the Lord. But sometimes we get into survival mode and we forget to fulfill the Great Commission. The fields are white unto harvest.

Most Christians know that God has called them to be witnesses for Him and to share the gospel with others. But sometimes—perhaps out of fear, perhaps out of preoccupation—we miss opportunities to do so.

A partnership is when two or more people affiliate together for a common cause or venture. It is a collaboration of assets, efforts, and skills for the purpose of making a profit or an important accomplishment.

I have concluded that it is far easier for God’s people to be different than it is for us to make a difference. In fact, it is often far more comfortable and convenient, even satisfying, to retreat into our minds, our homes, our churches, and celebrate our being different than the world, while smugly thinking ourselves to be a little better. However, that is not what the Lord commanded us to do.

Have you ever heard the saying, “I’m going to squeeze everything out of that turnip?” In essence, the statement refers to making the most out of any given situation. As we think about soulwinning, we should possess the same mentality—I am going to make the most of this visit.

I don’t read a lot of blogs, but I use social media enough to notice an excess of what 2 Timothy 2:23 refers to as “foolish and unlearned questions.” The online world provides a perfect platform for these kinds of questions because there are so many willing participants.

If you could only remember about six to ten Bible verses, what would you want them to be? What if you could only remember about ten minutes worth of material, what would you want that to be?

When I was sixteen years old, I encountered my first Bible skeptic. As student at Bob Jones Academy, I was passing out tracts and witnessing to people in downtown Spartanburg, South Carolina. It was the last Friday night before Christmas break and unusually cold for South Carolina.

It is no surprise that America has become a post-Christian nation dominated by secularism. The news media, major universities, and elite institutions control the conversation of our culture. Skepticism is growing in power and influence.

Several years ago, I wrote a blog that cautioned fundamental leaders about unbiblical attitudes and actions that are driving younger ministers from the ranks of fundamentalism. The article attempted to correct abuses within our movement—abuses that presented us as bitter rather than kind and unscholarly rather than exegetical. Although the article was warmly received, there still is a somewhat alarming exodus. And one of the attracting magnets is The Gospel Coalition.

An article on the front page of a Manila newspaper caught my eye one day when I was at the Iloilo City airport. The story was about a university that was started over 100 years ago. This institution is located on an island not too far from us. Through the years I have met several of their graduates.

We are frequently told that these are terrible times for the work of God and that little if any progress is possible for those who take a sound and scriptural position. The most we can hope for, some suggest, is to maintain our ministries until Jesus comes.

Across the nation, pastors and the members of their churches have convinced themselves the reason they are not reaping a spiritual harvest that could be called “plenteous” is that their town is hard, and unusually unresponsive to evangelism. It is as if we think that souls could be won and churches could be built some places, but not in our town.

In the previous post, we looked at eight indicators of an unraveling culture. We don’t study the needs, however, to become discouraged by them, but to more effectively meet them. I would suggest eight ways New Testament churches should be responding to an unraveling culture.

We recently launched our fall soulwinning season for the thirty-second consecutive year at Lancaster Baptist Church. Of all the different types of outreach we do as a church, nothing beats consistently sharing the gospel one person at a time. And biblically, this is a process that is to be taught and replicated one person at a time as well.

We could list many reasons we don’t share the gospel as we should.But I believe that most of the time we don’t share the gospel because we don’t care.