Soul Winning… Agape Love Finds a Way (pt.4)

By: Paul Joseph

Most of what we, believers, do every day should be geared to reach the unreached, not the reached. That’s what “seeking first the kingdom of God” means. Reaching the lost cannot be left to pastors, ministers and evangelists. In each and every church, we must revisit the whole concept of evangelization. We must encourage each other about winning souls. We must talk about it, share testimonies, and set ourselves on fire for Christ. We must address the subject until we become an evangelizing church.

The gospel has to be preached outside the church to the unsaved. A crop of souls must be harvested and then trained. No farmer is going to sit around in the barn and wait for the crop to walk in on its own two feet; he has to go out there in the field where it is and harvest it and bring it in! “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen.” (Mat.28:19,20). 

The key is for every Christian to be a witnesser, and a disciple-er. We have been ordained to do so. “Ye have not chosen Me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in My name, He may give it you.” (Jn.15:16). 

Did you know that less than 5% of the people attending church have ever led a soul to the Lord? And less than 1% have ever given a Bible class? We cannot be spectators in the arena. We must get into the fight and be doers. Ninety percent of the unconverted do not go to church. We must leave the 99 in the church, and go for the one who’s hurting. Jesus commands us to reach out to everyone. “And they went forth, and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them, and confirming the Word with signs following. Amen.” (Mk.16:20). 

We can’t hide behind “callings and ministries”, saying, “I’m not really a soul winner, I’m a prophet, I’m a pastor, or I am a singer, or a worship leader, etc.” When you leave the church you enter the mission field. You do not need a special calling to be a soul winner.  Christ’s light makes you a light bulb. Success is assured as you shine your light. The darkness flees of its own when you turn on the light. The greater the darkness, the brighter the light. Don’t ever think because there’s so much darkness that it’s no use to have such a small light, because even one candle can be seen a mile away when it’s dark!

We don’t have to wait till we feel led. I once heard a Bible teacher say when asked by someone, “How and when should I feel led to witness?” He replied, “Carry a piece of lead in your pocket, and whenever you are in front of someone, go ahead and ‘feel lead’, so that you will share the gospel with him. Feel ‘lead’, and do it.”

A lot of people want to be spiritual, they want to walk “in the Spirit and not in the flesh“. Walking in the Spirit is simple. The most spiritual walk anyone can walk is to witness. It’s simple, it starts with obedience. Many believers so wish they could hear the voice of God, and I usually tell them, “If you commit to obeying His voice, He’ll definitely speak to you”. The voice of God will become so clear to you if you’re faithful to obey. If He knows you to be a trustworthy witnesser, God will give you plenty of assignments. He’ll even wake you up at night, to call a friend who is so alone, so hurting, so depressed, even close to suicide. It may appear so bizarre to you that you should call him so late, yet this friend will be so thankful for a true friend to reach out to him in time of need.

Let’s find a way for the gospel to be preached. If there is a genuine reason why we can’t spare an evening to go out winning souls, then we must finance or somehow facilitate others to go. Jesus said He will come back when the gospel is preached into all the world. There are multitudes of people who have yet to hear the gospel. –Including our own kids and their generation. The world is not that big, when you think about it. If each one of us was to reach two people in only one month, the world would be saved in just a few years. No dream ever gets accomplished without legs and without a mouth. You can deny your faith just by keeping your mouth shut.

“And the gospel must first be preached to all the nations.“ (Mark 13:10). There are over 3,000 languages in the world and a third of them have nothing in their language. And we’re still sitting in our small groups studying the Word hoping we’ll one day be “equipped” enough to go out. A soldier may not understand how a bullet is made, but to do the job, all he needs to learn is how to fire it. You can win a lot of people to the Lord with only John 3:16. John 3:16 was God’s part–1John 3:16 is ours! “By this we know love, that He laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers.” 

It’s the witness the devil fears. The devil fights witnessing more than anything in the world, why? Because, he knows there’s a walking Jesus in every witnesser. “And now, Lord, behold their threatenings: and grant unto thy servants, that with all boldness they may speak thy word.” (Acts 4:29). Many evangelists have said: “Let’s not let the gospel stop with us because we are silent.”