All right, welcome to Pure Words Baptist Church.
This time we'll get started with our singing.
Turn to song 15, "Lead Me to Calvary."
Song number 15, in your hymnals, "Lead Me to Calvary."
Song one, five, "Lead Me to Calvary."
On the first.
♪ King of my life, I crown thee now ♪
For our next song, we'll go to song 232,
"Tell Me the Story of Jesus."
Song 232, "Tell Me the Story of Jesus."
232, "Tell Me the Story of Jesus."
On the first.
♪ Tell me the story of Jesus ♪
♪ Right on my heart every word ♪
This mess, I believe we have a couple more.
Excuse me, bulletins there in the back.
You don't have them, go ahead and raise your hand.
We have there the verse of the week for our memory verse.
Romans 8.6, "For to be carnally minded is death,
but to be spiritually minded is life, peace and life."
We have there on the left our service times,
10.30 a.m. on Sundays.
5.30 p.m. on Sundays and our Thursday night Bible study.
Taking a break through the book of Acts.
I believe you guys have been going through
with Pastor Shelley.
Actually, we're gonna be preaching the book of Acts,
but it's not a Bible study, okay?
It's just a random sermon in the book of Acts.
We have there our soul winning times,
as well with the phone numbers
of the prospective leaders for that.
And at this time, let's go ahead and get a count.
Do we have any salvations from Monday through Thursday?
I know we have one tonight, besides the one tonight.
Okay, one tonight, perfect.
All right, so there we have our memory passage there.
And you guys do the ice cream, right, at Pure Words?
Okay, good.
If you quote it to an adult, you get ice cream.
So make sure you stick up with that.
Also make sure you're continuing to be in prayer
for our expectant mothers here at Pure Words.
And for all the prayer requests
that come in throughout the week,
make sure if you have any of those
to send that in to the email address
and make sure to put that on the list.
Some upcoming events, something not on the bulletin
if you want to make a really long drive
to Oklahoma this weekend, it's worth it.
Pastor Thompson's going up there to preach.
So for some reason, you want a little getaway to Oklahoma.
This is the weekend to do it.
I'm going to be flying to Boise tomorrow.
Pastor Shelley's preaching at Shield of Faith tomorrow.
And then we're flying back the next day
and then driving to Oklahoma City the next day.
And we're like, we're going all over America.
It's going to be a little crazy.
So pray for us for travel safety
and we don't get sick or anything like that.
And then after that, the men's conference,
May 20th through the 22nd.
And I saw you guys had the signup sheet.
Looking forward to that.
Also May 16th, you want a getaway,
but a little less of a drive.
You want to go to Dallas Fort Worth.
Pastor Joe Jones is going to be preaching up at Set Pass Baptist Church on May 16th from
Shield of Faith Baptist Church, so if you've never heard him preach, great preacher.
He was sent out by Pastor Roger Jimenez and started a church where I'm from in Boise,
so that's going to be a lot of fun having him there.
And then as always, send in your prayer request to purewordsbaptist@gmail.com.
And at this time we'll go to our third song, song 363, Wonderful Words of Life.
Song 363, Wonderful Words of Life.
Song 363, Wonderful Words of Life on the first.
Sing them over again to me, Wonderful Words of Life.
Chapter 17, Samson will come read for us, Acts chapter 17.
Acts chapter 17, and the Bible reads, "Now when they had passed through Ephanophilus and
Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where was a synagogue of the Jews.
And Paul, as his manner was, went in unto them, and three Sabbath days reasoned with
them out of the Scriptures, opening, acknowledging that Christ must have suffered and risen again
from the dead, and that this Jesus whom I preach unto you is Christ.
And some of them believed and consorted with Paul at Silas, and of the devout Greeks a
great multitude, and of the chief woman not a few.
But the Jews which, believe not, moved with envy, took unto them certain fellows of the
baser sort, and gathered a company, and set all the city on an uproar, and saluted the
house of Jason, and besought to bring them out to the people.
And when they found them not, they drew Jason and certain brethren unto rulers of the city,
crying, "These that have turned the world upside down are come hither also, whom Jason
hath received, and these all do contrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is
another King, one Jesus."
And they troubled the people and the rulers of the city when they heard these things,
and when they had taken security of Jason and of the other, they let them go.
And the brethren immediately sent away Paul and Silas by night unto Beara, and whom thither
went into the synagogue of the Jews.
These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, and they received the word with all readiness
of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.
Therefore many of them believed also of honorable women, which were Greeks, and of men not a
few.
But when the Jews of Thessalonica had acknowledged the word of God was preached of Paul at Beara,
and they came thither also, and stirred up the people, and then immediately the brethren
sent away Paul to go as it were to the sea.
But Silas and Timotheus abode there still, and they had that conducted Paul brought him
unto Athens, receiving commandment unto Silas and Timotheus to come to him with all speed.
They departed.
Now while Paul waited for them at Athens, his spirit was stirred in him, and when he
saw the city wholly given to idolatry, therefore disputed he and the synagogue with the Jews,
and with the devout persons in the market daily with them that met with him.
And then certain philosophers of the Epicureans and of the Stoics encountered him, and some
said, "What will this babbler say?"
Other some he seemed to be a seller for of the strange gods, because he preached unto
them Jesus and the resurrection.
And they took him and brought him unto Europa, saying, "May we know that this new doctrine
whereof thou speakest; for thou bringest certain strange things to our ears.
We would know therefore that these things mean."
For all the Athenians and strangers which were there spent their time in nothing else
but either to tell or to hear some new thing.
Then Paul stood in the midst of Mars Hill and said, "Ye men of Athens, I perceive that
in all things ye are too superstitious.
For as I pass by and behold your devotions, I found an altar with this inscription to
the unknown God, whom therefore ye ignorantly worship Him, declare I unto you.
God that made the world and all the things therein, seeing that He is the Lord of heaven
and earth, dwelleth not in the temples made with hands, neither is worship with hands
as though He had needed anything, seeing the given to all life and breath and all things,
and hath made of one blood in all nations of men, for to dwell on all the face of the
earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and of the bounds of their inhabitation.
And they should seek the Lord, if happily they might feel after Him, and find Him, though
He be not far from every one of us.
For in Him we live, and move, and have our being, as certain also of your own poets have
said, for we are also His offspring.
For as much then as we are the offspring of God, we also not to think that the Godhead
is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, or graven, by art, a man's device; and at times
of this ignorance God winked at.
But now commandeth all men everywhere to repent, because He hath appointed a day in which we
will judge the world in righteousness by that man who He hath ordained, whereof He hath
given assurance unto all men that He hath raised him from the dead; and when they heard
of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked, and others said, We will hear the again of
this matter.
So Paul departed from among them, howbeit certain men clave unto him, believed among the witch
was Dionysius, the heropathy gate, and a woman named Demarius, and others with him.
Have a word of prayer.
Dear God, thank you for this evening, Lord.
We thank you for everyone here.
We thank you for the other dealing coming down for us and preaching for us.
We'll pray once again that you be filled with your spirit.
In Jesus' name, Amen.
Amen.
All right.
Well, I'm happy to be here.
Again, see you all thank you, Pastor Shelley for allowing me to have another opportunity
to preach and I'm excited for next week as well.
Lord willing, I'm going to be here Thursday and then that Sunday as well.
But last time I thought that I got like the most sick I'd ever been in my life.
So I don't know if it's the water in Houston or what I got to be careful, I guess around
here, but looking forward to it again for sure.
And tonight we're in Acts chapter number 17 and let's read verses one and two.
The Bible says, "Now when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came
to Thessalonica, where was the synagogue of the Jews.
And Paul, as his manner was, went in unto them, and three Sabbath days reasoned with
them out of the scriptures."
The title of my sermon is "Five Attributes of an Effective Soul-Winner."
Five Attributes of an Effective Soul-Winner.
Acts chapter 17 is a great chapter of many great exploits being done for the Lord.
You see Paul preaching the gospel in two different places in this chapter and really what I want
to do is I want to break down some attributes that the Apostle Paul had when he was preaching
the gospel and other great men of God in the Bible and just get a few principles that we
can learn of what effective soul-winners look like, some things that they do, some attributes
about themselves that make them very effective soul-winners.
So let's read verse number 2 again where it says, "And Paul," and notice this, it says,
"as his manner was, went in unto them, and three sabbaths day reasoned with them out
of the scriptures."
The first thing I want you to notice is that an effective soul-winner makes soul-winning
a habit.
If you notice there in verse number 2 it says, "Paul as his manner was."
So this was not something that Paul thought, "Man, am I going to go to the synagogue and
reason with them today?
Am I going to go to the synagogue and preach the gospel?"
No, this was just something that was what Paul did.
It was just his manner.
It was just his way of life.
It was who Paul was as a person.
You know, people want to talk about lifestyle evangelism.
You know, this is lifestyle evangelism on a different level.
This is your whole lifestyle is evangelism, is what the Apostle Paul's life was.
And so it was his whole manner.
It was his whole habit was preaching the gospel.
And go ahead and turn a few pages to the right in Acts chapter number 20.
I'll show you another scripture that proves that in Acts chapter 20.
Look at verse 18.
It says, "And when they were come to him, he said unto them," this is verse 18, Acts
20, "You know from the first day that I came into Asia, after what manner I have been with
you," and then look at this, "at all seasons."
So he's talking to the elders that are at Ephesus, and he's letting them know, "Hey,
this is the manner that I've been with you at all seasons."
So we see the Apostle Paul, he is a man of habit.
He is a man that has a manner about him, and just like in Acts 17, his manner was to preach.
Now he's about to tell the elders at Ephesus what his manner is like.
Now, the dictionary.com definition of manner is a way of doing, being done, or happening,
a mode of action, occurrence, etc., or the prevailing customs, ways of living, and habits
of a people.
And that's what we're talking about, is that how an effective soul owner makes soul winning
a habit.
And that's exactly what Paul did.
Look at verse 19 of Acts chapter 20.
So he's saying, "You know what manner I've been with you at all seasons?"
What has he been doing?
"Serving the Lord with all humility of mind and with many tears and temptations, which
befell me by the lying in wait of the Jews, and how I kept back nothing that was profitable
unto you, but have showed you and have taught you publicly, and from house to house, testifying
both to the Jews and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus
Christ."
So what was Paul's manner?
How has he been at all seasons as he's declaring under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit?
What has his lifestyle been?
Well, it's been going from house to house every day and it's been from testifying to
the Jews and Greeks, all the counsel of God.
So Paul's manner, just like in Acts chapter 17 and 20 tells us, soul winning was a habit
for him.
No wonder he lit the whole world on fire with the gospel.
I mean, this guy was obsessed with soul winning.
He was doing it every day.
He had made this a habit.
You know, I wonder if you and I can say you've known my manner, how I've been with you at
all seasons, that I am a soul winner.
I preach the gospel.
Can we honestly say that?
You know, God willing, some, if not all of us in this church can, that's the goal is
that all of us, our lifestyle, our manner about us is that we are soul winners, you
know, and that's the goal.
That's where we want to be.
That is absolutely where Paul was at in his life, where he could honestly say to the elders
at Ephesus, "You know my manner, that I am a soul winner."
Go to Luke chapter number four and we'll see that Jesus, he had this same attribute where
he was a man of habit.
He had a manner about him or a custom about him.
Luke chapter number four, we'll start reading in verse number 16, and he came to Nazareth
where he had been brought up and look at this, as his custom was.
He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day and stood up for to read.
So what was Jesus?
He had this habit, he had this manner, he had this custom that on the Sabbath day he
would go into the synagogue and he would read.
Now what does he go read?
It says there in verse 17, "And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet
Isaiah, and when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written.
The spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to
the poor.
He hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and
recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach
the acceptable year of the Lord."
So he reads this passage in Isaiah and then what does he do?
"And he closed the book and gave it again to the minister and sat down.
And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him.
And he began to say unto them, 'This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears.'"
It's a pretty awesome passage of scripture, just imagining the Lord Jesus Christ getting
up as His custom is, as His manner is, as His habit is.
Every Sabbath day He's reading the scriptures in the synagogue and He reads in the prophet
Isaiah.
He closes the book, sits down, everyone's staring at Him and He says, "This day, this
scripture is fulfilled in your ears."
I mean, that's just so powerful.
And what's the scripture fulfilled?
Preaching the gospel to the poor.
So you know what that tells me?
It tells me that Jesus, His custom, His habit, His manner of life was to preach the gospel.
He had made soul winning a habit in His life.
And this is something that you'll see with almost all the effective soul winners in the
Bible.
Of course you have Jonah, okay?
He exactly, He didn't have soul winning as His habit.
He was like trying to run away from soul winning, but He was still effective.
But as a majority, you see soul winners in the Bible that are really effective, they make
soul winning a habit.
It's their manner of life.
It's who they are.
It is their lifestyle.
Let's go to Matthew chapter 28.
We'll get there in a little bit, but I have this article from Psychology Today and it's
called "Building Healthy Habits."
It says, "Are you struggling to build healthy habits?
Let's face it, despite our best intentions, maintaining our well-being in a busy world
can be challenging.
But did you know that studies have found that it's not necessarily more willpower you need
to stick with your habits, but three simple hacks that can make your habits a far more
enjoyable experience?"
So this article is going to give us three tips on what they found helps people develop
healthy habits.
Because there's good and bad habits, right?
I mean, people smoke, people do all sorts of gambling.
Everyone's going to have habits.
We want to make sure we have good habits.
What better of a habit than soul winning?
I mean, that's going to make you an effective soul winner right there.
So first off it explains, it says habits develop from what you do rather than from your decisions
or what you think.
Now that's interesting because we think that we're in control and our mind tells us what
to do.
But really a lot of times it's just we're just on autopilot a lot of times.
Smokers are not thinking, "Shall I buy this next pack of cigarettes?"
It's like, "No, they're just buying it.
They're just buying it for 20, 30 years."
And it could be that same way with good habits as well where you're not necessarily thinking
about it, you're just doing it.
How do you do that?
It says, number one, shape your context.
Context refers to everything in the world surrounding you except yourself.
It includes the location you are in, the people you are with, the time of day, and even the
actions you perform.
So just as professional chefs set up their kitchens before they start cooking, by gathering
implements and prepping food to make it easier to cook a meal, you can organize your context
to make it easy to want to do and repeat the same thing.
For example, if you want to create a habit of having a healthy lunch break away from
your desk each day, ask a buddy to share your lunch hour and prompt you to leave your desk
or go eat at a place that offers healthy food and it goes on and on and on.
So it says the first thing you need to do is to shape your context, your surroundings,
what are you trying to accomplish?
So what's the context for a local New Testament church?
Isn't it to preach the gospel?
Isn't it the great commission?
You're there in Matthew 28, look at verse 19, "Go ye therefore and teach all nations,
baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost."
Verse 20, "Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I've commanded you, and lo, I am
with you always, even unto the end of the world."
Amen.
So we know our goal.
We know the mark that we need to hit.
We need to evangelize the whole world.
That should be every single person's goal in here.
That's the goal of Pure Words Baptist Church, is to preach the gospel to everyone.
So now, according to this outline, the first thing you need to do is make it easy for yourself
to actually go out and do that goal.
Take away every obstacle possible to where your goal of going soul winning is met.
So how can you do that?
Practically speaking, don't schedule anything that conflicts with the soul winning time.
Or even before that, pick a time that you want to be your soul winning time.
Say hey, I want to be Saturday is my day.
For me, my favorite day to go soul winning is Saturday.
If I could pick one day to go, if I could only go to one, that's the one I really like
to hit.
I feel like it's when people are most willing to talk to you, and hopefully they can come
to church the next day, so Saturday is my day, so I don't schedule anything Saturday
morning.
You know, if something comes up with work, it comes up, but there's nothing that I purposely
schedule Saturday morning.
What is that?
That's called shaping your context.
And you know, another thing you could do to make it easy, carpool with a friend.
If you know someone's going to your soul winning time, go carpooling with them, ask them if
they'll be your soul winning partner, set yourself up for success, set your clothes
out the night before, whatever you have to do, think about your context and don't let
anything get in the way of that goal.
Number two, it says invest in repetition.
So you've set your context, you know what your goal is, invest in repetition.
Repeating an action increases its accessibility and salience so that if you're in the same
context again, that action quickly comes to mind.
So a habit will only build if you're consistent.
It's not enough to do it a few times.
In fact, studies suggest that it may take six to nine months to build a habit.
This can mean that over time there's a risk that you may find the habit experience less
rewarding.
So keep habits for the things you really want to structure into your life and for the things
that you want to experience and appreciate each time.
So then this is the hard part of building healthy habits.
It's all about repetition and people sometimes wonder, man, you know, I go soul winning for
a couple months and then I fall off the wagon.
I get backslidden.
I go for a couple months and I fall off and I get backslidden.
It's I mean, this thing is saying that you need to do it for about six to nine months
to build a consistent habit.
But you know, I'm preaching in the choir here on Thursday night.
People that come to church on Thursday night usually have a habit of going to church, right?
So you've built some habits in your Christian life.
It's usually not the people that come to church on Thursday nights that are like, uh, am I
going to go to church?
I don't know.
I know it's usually the people that are diehard, that are plugged into church, that are steadfast
Christians that are going to be showing up on a Thursday night.
And so you already know in some way of your life how to make a habit.
You have to do the same thing with soul winning.
You can't just go soul winning once a month and then expect yourself to be a good soul
winner.
It's not going to happen.
You can't just go, you know, when the weather is nice in the time of year, you know, which
whenever that is in Houston, let me know.
It's too hot.
I'm just kidding.
Today, today is great, right?
You can't use, you can't make your schedule like that.
You have to be very, very consistent.
And that's why I think the best time to do this is the first year of a Christian salvation.
When they're on fire, when they want to be soul winning, that is the best time to build
your habits that are going to carry you through the rest of your Christian life.
Because if you do that when you are motivated, you're more likely to get that repetition.
And when you get that repetition, you get that habit built in.
Like this is saying, you run the risk that you may find the habit experience less rewarding.
So it's really hard when you've been a lukewarm Christian for 15 years and now you're going
to try to become a soul winner every week.
That's a lot harder than when you just get saved and you're on fire.
You're excited about the Lord.
You're excited about salvation.
You're wanting to tell people about it instinctively, "Hey, that's the time to build those habits."
And by the way, that's the time to build those habits in your converts.
That's the time to build those habits in your children right as they get saved.
If you're trying to help someone along and disciple them right as they get saved, that's
the best time to get them plugged in to reading their Bible, to praying, to going to church
and to soul winning, which is our context that we're talking about tonight.
I'll read for you Acts 542.
It says, "And once a month in the temple."
No, it says, "And daily in the temple, and in every house, they cease not to teach and
preach Jesus Christ."
You want to know why the apostles, why Paul, why Peter, why these men were such effective
soul winners?
It's because daily in the temple and in every house, they cease not to teach and preach
Jesus Christ.
Hey, I guarantee you your soul winning presentation would be rock solid if you preached every
single day, right?
Now obviously, that's not going to be everyone.
These were apostles.
These people, their full time job was preaching the gospel, this new religion basically.
The Lord Jesus Christ had just risen from the dead.
We got to tell the whole world about it.
And they succeeded at that, why?
Because daily.
They made it a habit.
It became their manner.
And even if you can't go soul winning every single day, obviously you could be looking
for opportunities in your life to preach the gospel every single day.
Hey, and at least hopefully you can go once a week.
At least you can make it a habit to where you can say, hey, it's my manner, it's my
way of life of being a soul winner.
And I'm not talking when you're nine months pregnant or one week postpartum, I'm not talking
about anything like that.
You know, people, people go too crazy, but it should be your lifestyle of being a soul
winner, not, well, I'm a woman, so I don't need to go soul winning.
You know, that's just not my, what I'm called to do.
No, God has called every single person to be a soul winner, man, woman, boy, girl, every
single person has the great commission to them.
And so we all should have that goal, we should all set that context and we should all invest
in that repetition.
So the third thing it says to do, it says number three, to build healthy habits, rev
up rewards.
It says context will smooth the way and repetition will jumpstart the engine.
But if you aren't even getting a minor rewards for your efforts along the way, you won't
get a habit to start operating on its own.
To have a role in habit formation, rewards have to be bigger and better than you would
normally experience.
This is why we give ice cream to the kids for memorizing scripture, because you want
to trigger that reward for their habit that they're building and think about it.
If a child starting at age five, age six, whenever they could really start memorizing
scripture, if they do that every week until they're 18, you think they're going to have
a habit built of memorizing scripture?
Absolutely.
Every single week they're quoting a verse of the Bible.
I mean, that is tons of verses that they're going to be memorizing.
And then what, when they turn 18 and the ice cream goes away, are they just going to stop?
No.
Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he's old he shall not depart from
it, right?
So when they're young, give them that incentive, give them the ice cream for the memorizing
scripture.
That's great because we want to build those habits.
But even for us as adults, if we get saved later in life, we're trying to build a habit
of soul winning.
If we don't already have it, there's nothing wrong with rewarding yourself for that.
There's nothing wrong with saying, "Hey kids, if we go soul winning, we're going out to
lunch today after soul winning.
Hey, if you want to go soul winning with me, I'll get you a coffee after soul winning.
I'll get you ice cream after soul winning."
There's nothing wrong with doing that.
That is providing that incentive to build that habit, and that's something that you
should do with your kids, with your wife, whoever you're discipling, or even with yourself.
Put in the work to get this habit built into your life if you want to be an effective soul
winner.
Let's go back to Acts chapter number 17.
Acts chapter 17, let's look at verse 2 again.
It says, "And Paul, as his manner was, went in unto them, and three Sabbath days reasoned
with them out of the Scriptures."
Number 2 tonight, an effective soul winner uses the Scripture.
An effective soul winner uses the Scripture.
Notice not only was it his manner of life, but he went in and he reasoned with them in
the synagogue out of the Scriptures.
And you say, "This is too basic, Brother Dillon, you don't need to talk about it.
We know to go soul winning with Scripture."
Well, you know, a lot of people don't know this actually, because I've seen people go
soul winning without a Bible.
I've seen people just show up with the invite and they're just going to tell them in their
words what salvation is.
It's like, no, a good soul winner needs to be using the Scripture.
And there's lots of bad methods of evangelism out there today.
You have lifestyle evangelism, which isn't what I was talking about earlier.
Some people teach a different form of lifestyle evangelism where they teach basically if you
just let your light shine and you're just happy and people can just see that God loves
you and they're just going to want to get saved by your lifestyle.
Okay, that isn't real.
That doesn't happen.
That's not how you're going to get the gospel out to every creature.
It's a bad form of evangelism and another way you see often in like the NIV, New Evangelical
type churches is testimony.
They'll basically invite a bunch of unsafe people in and then someone will give this
really moving testimony about I was a prostitute, but God dragged me out of the depths.
I was a drunk.
I was this, this and that and the other.
And basically it's just them giving, you know, telling you every wicked thing they've ever
done and how Jesus cleaned them up basically, which isn't even the gospel.
Bible says that we're saved by his life, not by our life.
So the only testimony I want to focus on is the testimony of the Lord Jesus Christ anyways.
But that's not what the Bible says is what is what brings people to salvation.
That's not what the Bible says has the power to get people saved.
Go to first Peter chapter number one, first Peter chapter one, and look at verse number
twenty three when you get there first Peter chapter one verse twenty three says being
born again not of corruptible seed but of incorruptible by the word of God which liveth
and abideth forever for all flesh is as grass and all the glory of man as the flower of
grass the grass wither it and the flower thereof falleth away.
But the word of the Lord endure forever and this is the word by which the gospel is preached
unto you.
It means that we're born again not of incorruptible seed or not of corruptible seed but of incorruptible
and by that word the gospel is preached unto us.
So what saves the word of God or the gospel?
Both because the gospel is preached to you by the word of God and the only way you're
going to get someone saved is if you're actually using scripture.
You cannot get someone saved by just explaining in your own words the Romans wrote.
You can't just walk up to someone and say you know we're all sinners we all deserve
hell Jesus died for our sins he's God he rose again from the dead all you have to believe
in him and once saved you're always saved you want to pray.
That does not get anyone saved.
The power of the word of God is the word of God.
You have to get people saved with the scripture and this is what you see good soul winners
in the Bible doing.
We just saw in Acts chapter 17 he's reasoning with them in the synagogue out of the scriptures.
Look at 1st Corinthians chapter 15 and if you want to put a bookmark here we're going
to come back here later in the sermon 1st Corinthians 15 look at verse number one it
says moreover brethren I declare unto you the gospel, he's preaching the gospel which
I preached unto you which also ye have received and wherein ye stand by which also ye are saved
if ye keep in memory that which I preached unto you unless ye have believed in vain.
For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received how that Christ died
for our sins according to the scriptures and that he was buried and that he rose again
the third day according to the scriptures.
So in two places what do we see Paul doing, using the scripture to get people saved.
You know this is why you got to bring your Bible out soul-winding okay.
Not just like a lot of these old IFB churches do where they show up with a tract and there's
a couple of verses on the back and they knock on the door and like read off the tract.
No, bring your sword, bring the sword of the spirit to the spiritual warfare that we're
going out and engaging in.
We need to get the word of God to people.
Go to Romans chapter number 10, Romans chapter number 10.
Romans chapter 10 describes the process by which someone gets saved.
Look at verse 13, "For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved."
Now that is true.
How does a person get to the point though where they want to call upon the name of the
Lord?
It says in verse 14, "How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed?
And how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard?
And how shall they hear without a preacher?
And how shall they preach except they be sent?
As it is written, how beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace and
bring glad tidings of good things.
And it says in verse number 17, "So then faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word
of God."
So how does someone get saved?
By calling upon the name of the Lord?
How do they call upon the name of the Lord?
By believing?
Well, how do they believe?
By hearing it?
How do they hear it?
By a preacher?
What is the preacher preaching?
The word of God.
Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God.
These preachers that go out and just give their testimony, their stupid lifestyle evangelism,
it gets no one saved.
It does nothing whatsoever.
And you don't see a single soul winner in the Bible just letting their light shine of
their lifestyle and that's just somehow magically getting someone saved by osmosis.
No, they're reasoning with them out of the scriptures.
They're showing them that Jesus was buried, that he died, that he rose again according
to the scriptures.
And that is what a soul winning church does.
That's what makes us different than a lot of people.
A lot of people, you know, a lot of churches don't even go soul winning anymore.
It's because they lost this.
They lost that the power of God is not in your fancy building.
The power of God is not in your excellent music program.
The power of God is in the Bible.
The power of God is when you go out and you reach someone with the words of life, beautiful
words, wonderful words of life, not wonderful words of Dylan, not wonderful words of Jeffrey,
not wonderful words of any of us.
It's the words of God that saves people.
And that is what we need to be using if we want to be effective soul winners.
We're here in Romans chapter 10.
Look at verse number 18.
It says, but I say, have they not heard?
Yes, verily.
Their sound went into all the earth and their words unto the end of the world.
But I say, did not Israel know?
First Moses saith, I will provoke you to jealousy by them that are no people.
And by a foolish nation I will anger you.
But Isaiah is very bold and saith, I was found of them that sought me not.
I was made manifest unto them that asked not after me.
You want to know why Isaiah was an effective preacher, an effective prophet?
Is because he was preaching the words of God and he was going to people that weren't asking
for him.
That's what soul winning is.
We're going to people who weren't asking us to knock on their door that day.
We're just showing up uninvited and we're giving them something that they don't even
think they need.
They don't even think they want.
We're not asked of them.
We're not sought of them.
But what are we giving them?
The word of God.
Churches are doing this completely opposite.
They're only wanting people that want to come into church.
They want to fill up their altar full of people that come down the aisle, people that are seeking
after church, after God.
And then they don't even give them the gospel.
You know, they don't even read them the scripture, and it's like everything's completely backwards.
The state of churches in our nation is just getting worse and worse, and the reason why
is because we're getting farther away from what the word of God says.
But we, if we want to be effective soul winners, we need to be preaching the words of God.
Go to Acts chapter number eight.
We'll get another example of a soul winner doing just this, using the scripture to get
someone saved.
Acts chapter eight, you have the story of Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch, and for sake
of time we'll start reading in verse number 30, it says, "And Philip ran thither to him,
and heard him read the prophet Isaiah, and said, 'Understandest thou what thou readest?'"
And he said, "How can I accept some man should guide me?"
And of course we know that the Bible says that the word of God is spiritually discerned,
you have to be saved to understand the Bible, so of course this unsaved man, he is seeking
after God, but he doesn't understand what he's reading, because the unsaved mind cannot
understand the spiritual truths of the Bible, and he asks him, "How can I accept some man
should guide me?"
And he desired Philip that he would come up and sit with him.
The place of the scripture where he read was this, "He was led as a sheep to the slaughter,
and like a dumb lamb before his shearer, so opened he not his mouth.
In his humiliation his judgment was taken away, and who shall declare his generation,
for his life is taken from the earth?"
In the eunuch answered Philip and said, "I pray thee, of whom speaketh the prophet this,
of himself or of some other man?"
So, the Ethiopian eunuch, he's reading in the book of Isaiah, and he's coming to this
portion of scripture, which is a beautiful scripture that's foreshadowing the Lord Jesus
Christ, and he's saying, "What is this about?
Is this about Isaiah?"
He's like, "Is this scripture?
Is this Isaiah?
Does this have to do with him, or is he speaking of another man?
He has no clue."
And it's like, you can tell this guy's unsaved when you're reading Isaiah, and it's like,
"Who's this about?"
It's like, "Uh, Jesus?"
You know?
Everyone should know that.
But, of course, he's unsaved, so he doesn't.
In verse 35, "Then Philip opened his mouth and began at the same Scripture and preached
unto him Jesus."
Philip did not open his mouth and give his testimony.
Philip did not open his mouth and say, "Look at my wonderful life and how well-behaved
my children are."
No, he just began at the Scripture and preached unto him Jesus.
Why?
Because, "Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God, not by anything else."
Hey, I'm sure Philip had a great testimony.
I mean, he was a man of God.
He's used in the Bible.
We're reading about him in the eternal word of God.
I'm sure he has a great testimony.
If it could have saved, I'm sure he would have done it.
But the only thing that could save this Ethiopian eunuch was the scripture and it being expounded
by a saved person.
So out soul winning, hey, the illustrations are great.
The stories are great.
Make sure you use illustrations to know that people understand what you're saying.
But don't only use those things.
Don't only use your own words when you're out soul winning.
The meat and potato needs to be the scripture.
You need to be turning to a lot of scripture when you're preaching some of the gospel.
You should have a lot of scripture.
I recommend in the back of your Bible writing a bunch of stuff on different doctrines you
may encounter.
Doctrines about Mary, doctrines about Jehovah, doctrines about hell, doctrines about repentance,
doctrines about whatever you may face when you run into people out soul winning.
You need to have a lot of scripture to back up what you believe because that's the power.
That's what's going to change people.
That's what's going to get people out of the chains of darkness.
Being captive by the devil is the words of God.
That's the only thing that's going to help them.
That's what's going to make you an effective soul winner.
Go back to Acts chapter number 17, sorry, Acts chapter 17.
So far we've seen an effective soul winner make soul winning a habit and an effective
soul winner preaches the word of God.
What else do they do?
Look at verse number three again.
It says, "Opening and alleging that Christ must needs have suffered and risen again from
the dead and that this Jesus whom I preach unto you is Christ."
Number three, an effective soul winner preaches the gospel.
An effective soul winner preaches the gospel.
What is it that Paul is focusing on?
He's focusing on the death, the burial, and the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Now surprisingly, throughout my years of soul winning, something that's really, really common
I see people do is they preach the whole gospel and they don't talk about the death, the burial,
resurrection of Jesus Christ.
They don't talk about His birth.
They don't talk about the fact that He's God.
They don't talk about the fact that He's the Son of God.
They don't talk about any of it.
They're just like, they're so focused on, okay, the doctrine, believe, believe, believe
only.
Faith alone.
Okay.
You can't lose your salvation.
You can't lose salvation.
It's like, who are we believing in?
I mean, who are we believing on right now?
Who can I lose my salvation from?
Hey, we have to focus on the gospel.
We have to actually be preaching the gospel.
That's what has power, is what Jesus Christ did for us.
And of course we need to make sure they believe faith alone.
Of course we need to make sure that they believe once you're saved, you're always saved.
But you know what you should do first before you explain any of that?
Preach the gospel.
I'll read for you Romans 10, 9 it says, "That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord
Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt
be saved.
For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto
salvation."
You have to believe that God raised Jesus from the dead in order to be saved.
If you don't believe in the resurrection, you're not saved.
If you don't believe that Jesus is God, you are not saved.
If you don't believe that Jesus was sinless, you are not saved.
You must be preaching these things to people.
And I think the reason why this happens a lot of time is a lot of times people don't
start the gospel at the very beginning.
Sometimes you'll run into a person and you'll say, "Hey, can I show you one verse?"
Or they'll say, "You know, I think you have to repent of your sins to be saved."
And you'll say something like, "Well, can I show you the Bible where it actually says
that it's not repent of your sins, it's actually faith alone?"
And maybe you're starting your gospel in a place you don't usually start in.
I think that's where most people get messed up is they start in a weird place and then
all of a sudden they forget to circle back.
And so what I think the best thing to do is if you ask a person, "Can I show you one
verse to basically just prove whatever they said?"
As soon as you're done with that verse, ask them if you could show them another verse
and then just start at the beginning again.
Just be like, "Okay, you know, before we move on, I just want to make sure we're on the
same page on a few things, Romans 3.23, for all of sin and it comes short of the glory
of God."
That way you're not going to forget, "Oh, did I hit this part in my gospel?
Did I hit this part?"
It's like sin, hell, gospel, faith alone, you can never lose it, call upon the name
of the Lord.
If you're in that order every single time, you're never going to forget one of those
steps.
But if you're having to start in weird points in your gospel, the best way, and sometimes
you can't do this, but the best way is just get it back to the beginning as quickly as
you can.
Go to Acts chapter number two, and we'll see that the Apostle Peter and also King David
preached the resurrection of Jesus Christ, they preached the gospel.
Acts 2 22, it says, "You men of Israel, hear these words."
This is Peter speaking, "Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles
and wonders and signs, which God did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also
know."
He's talking about Jesus' life, his wonders, his miracles.
I think you should preach that stuff when you're preaching the gospel.
Number 23, "Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken
and by wicked hands have crucified and slain," there's the crucifixion, "whom God hath raised
up," there's the resurrection, "having loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible
that he should beholden from it."
There's the pains of death.
It could be him being in hell.
And one thing I want people to really focus on is, you can see the passion that Peter
is preaching with.
He is really just pleading with these people to understand the gospel.
And I think sometimes what soul winners do is instead of preaching the gospel, they read
the gospel.
They're like, "So Jesus died, and then Jesus went to hell, and he rose again three days
after that."
And it's like, that is not preaching the gospel, okay?
Reach the gospel.
You should be very emphatic and really just trying to show these people the truth.
You know, when I talk about Jesus, I get done with sin, I get done with them deserving hell,
and I start with the virgin birth.
Have you heard that Jesus Christ was born in the Virgin Mary?
Most people, 99% of people say yes, so I don't have to spend a lot of time on that.
And I'll be like, "Yes, that's right."
And because of that, I mean, that's a miracle.
He had no earthly father.
He only had an earthly mother.
And so because of that, he was 100% man, just like me and you, but he was also 100% God
in the flesh.
Do you believe that Jesus is God?
Boom, you're knocking off some important doctrines that they need to understand, right?
That Jesus is sinless.
And then I tell them, you know, Jesus lived his whole life and he never sinned one time.
Maybe quote 2 Corinthians 5.21 to them and say, you know, when he was 30 years old about
that age, he started his ministry and he did a lot of amazing miracles.
He raised people from the dead.
He healed the blind.
He healed the lepers.
He did all these amazing things.
He walked on water.
Have you heard of some of those miracles?
They're like, yes.
What are you doing?
You're preaching the gospel.
You're preaching all the, why did Jesus do all those miracles?
To testify that he's the son of God, to testify that he's got in the flesh, you know, they're
useful tools in preaching the gospel.
Talk about those things real quick.
And if they know the story of Jesus, which we're in Texas, most people do, you don't
have to spend a lot of time on it, but hit those things and then be like, say, yeah,
you know, but the most important thing he did was he preached the word of God and because
of that, the Jews hated him. They crucified him. They killed him on the cross. You know,
the Bible says that his face was marred more than any man. He was almost unrecognizable.
He was beat so bad. They ripped his beard out of his face. They spit in his face. They
put a crown of thorns on his head. He was bleeding. He was in agony. He was in pain.
He was praying to God. You need to actually tell them about these things and, and get
them to know what Christ actually did for them, that he actually did all those things
for them. And that's powerful to people. When you preach what Christ did, and then you tell
them he died on the cross, they pierced his side, they put the nails through his hands
and his feet, and they buried him in the tomb. You know where his soul went when he was buried
in the tomb? Do you think he went to heaven or hell? And they'll always say heaven. And
you say, well, actually the Bible says, we're right here in Acts chapter two, look at verse
number 31. He's seeing this before. Now this is David preaching this. Peter's quoting David.
He's seeing this before, spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in hell,
neither his flesh did see corruption. This Jesus hath God raised up, wherever we are all witnesses.
It's also very powerful to tell people that after Jesus Christ died, that he actually went to hell
and paid for our sins for us and took our punishment that we deserve. That's powerful
to know that God loved us so much that not only did he die a gruesome death on the cross,
but he actually experienced the pains of death, which he was loosed from eventually.
But sorry, Manly Perry, he was in pain in hell. That's what the Bible teaches. And you know what,
that's not a blasphemous thing to say. That's not a bad thing to say. That actually causes
people to appreciate how much God loves them, how much Jesus Christ did for us. And when you're
preaching this to people, this is going to move people and the word of God is going to cause faith
in their hearts a lot better than you going, "Yeah, he died. He buried. He was resurrected."
Moving on. So faith alone, faith alone, faith alone, faith alone. No, you'll get there. You want to
hammer faith alone, but make sure you put in their heart what the Lord Jesus Christ did for us.
That is powerful. That's what got me saved knowing what Christ did for me. That's what got all of us
saved. Anyone who's ever saved knows what Christ did. But it's a really silly thing when soul winners
just skip the gospel. The power is in the gospel. Go back to Acts chapter 17,
Acts chapter 17 really quickly and we'll see he was in another city in this chapter. He was in
Athens preaching in Mars Hill and look at verse number 29. Let's see him focusing on this. "For as
much then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold or
silver or stone, graven by art and man's device. In the times of this ignorance God winked at,
but now commandeth all men everywhere to repent, because he at the point of the day in which he
will judge the world in righteousness, that by man whom he hath ordained, whereof he hath given
assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead. And when they heard of the
resurrection of the dead, some mocked, and others said, we will hear the again of this matter.
So in Acts chapter 17, first he's in Thessalonica, he preaches to them, he's using the scriptures,
and what is he focusing on? Opening and alleging that Christ must needs have risen from the dead.
He's focusing on the resurrection. Then he goes to Athens in the same chapter, and what is he
preaching? The resurrection. He's preaching the gospel. Paul was a great soul winner. Why? Because
he focused on the gospel. You know, that's the only thing that he was focusing on. Acts chapter
number 26. Actually, for sake of time, we'll skip that and go back to 1 Corinthians 15. I told you
we'd come back here. 1 Corinthians 15. We already saw how at the beginning of the chapter, he said
that he preached to them, how that Christ died, was buried, and rose again the third day, according
to the scriptures. Later on in the chapter, he talks about why this is so important. Look at verse
number 12 of 1st Corinthians 15, "Now if Christ be preached that he rose from the dead, how say some
among you that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there be no resurrection of the dead,
then is Christ not risen. And if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith
is vain also. Yea, and we are found false witnesses of God, because we have testified of God that he
raised up Christ, whom he raised not up, if so be that the dead rise not. For if the dead rise not,
then is Christ not raised. And if Christ be not raised, then your faith is vain, and you are yet
in your sins. If someone has faith in Christ, but they don't believe he rose again from the dead,
that's a vain faith, and they're yet in their sins, you know. And a lot of people deny the
resurrection, and some people are just ignorant of the resurrection, but regardless your excuse
for not believing the resurrection, if you don't believe it, you're not saved. You're not in your,
you are still in your sins. So if you're preaching someone the gospel, and you skip over that point,
don't count it as a salvation, because you don't know if they already knew about that or not.
Chances are, like I said, a lot of people you run into here, you don't have to spend a ton of time
on each of these points. They know the gospel, but it's still important for us to be emphasizing
that and making sure. And if they don't know it, spend as much time as needed. They don't know the
virgin birth, turn to Matthew 1. They don't know these things, turn there and preach them. It is
what gets people saved. Go back to Acts 17, and I'll read for you Romans 1-16, says, "For I am not
ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth,
to the Jew first and also to the Greek." That is what the power is in, is in the gospel of Jesus
Christ. Now Acts 17, let's look at verse 3 again, "Opening and alleging that Christ must needs have
suffered and risen again from the dead." So he's focusing with the scriptures, he's focusing on the
gospel, but then pay attention to the last part, it says, "And that this Jesus whom I preach unto you
is Christ." And number four, an effective soul winner explains who Jesus is, not just what Jesus
did, that's what the gospel is, that's very important, all the things we just talked about,
but also explains who the Lord Jesus Christ is. He talks about how he's resurrected from the dead,
he says, "This Jesus that I preach unto you, he is Christ, he is the Messiah." It is important to
know that in Acts chapter 18, look at verse number 24, it says, we're gonna read about a man named
Apollos. It says, "In a certain Jew named Apollos, born at Alexandria, an eloquent man and mighty in
the scriptures, came to Ephesus. This man was instructed in the way of the Lord, being fervent
in spirit. He spake and taught diligently the things of the Lord, knowing only the baptism of
John. And he began to speak boldly in the synagogue, whom when Aquila and Priscilla had heard,
they took him unto them, and expounded unto him the way of God more perfectly. When he was disposed
to pass into Achaia, the brethren wrote, exhorting the disciples to receive him, who, when he was come,
helped them much, which had believed through grace. For he mightily convinced the Jews,
and that publicly, showing by the scriptures, that Jesus was Christ. So Apollos, he only knew
the baptism of John, but the baptism of John was the baptism of repentance, which Acts 19
describes as believing on Christ. So the Apollos here was preaching something good. He was preaching
the gospel, but what was he doing? He was showing by the scriptures that Jesus was Christ. Now,
what does Christ mean in the Bible? Go to John chapter number one, and the Bible defines to us
what this means, and we'll see why this is very important for us to preach and for people to
understand in order for them to get saved. Verse number 34 of John, so John the Baptist says,
"And I saw and bear record that this is the Son of God." So here's another great soul winner,
John the Baptist, and what is he doing? He's explaining who Jesus is, is he not? He's saying,
"I'm bearing record this is the Son of God." So there's another example of someone explaining
who Jesus is. Look at verse 35, again the next day after John stood and two of his disciples,
"And looking upon Jesus as he walked, he saith, 'Behold the Lamb of God.' And the two disciples
heard him speak and they followed Jesus. Then Jesus turned and saw them following and saith unto them,
'What seek ye?' They saith unto him, 'Rabbi,' which is being interpreted, 'Master, where dwellest thou?'
He saith unto them, 'Come and see.' They came and saw where he dwelt and abode with him that day,
for it was about the tenth hour. And one of the two which heard John speak and followed him
was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother. He first findeth his own brother Simon." So this is a good picture
of soul winning. He found Jesus and he's going to go tell his brother, "And saith unto him,
we have found the Messiah, which being interpreted is the Christ." And he brought him to Jesus.
So Andrew, he's explaining who Jesus is. He is the Messiah, which is the Christ. So those terms are
interchangeable in the Bible. It just means the Savior. He is the Christ. He is what the Old
Testament was prophesying of, that redemptive Savior that was coming. And so what do effective
soul winners do? They explain who Jesus is, that, hey, Jesus is the Son of God. Jesus is God in the
flesh. Jesus Christ is the Messiah. Jesus Christ is the Christ. They have to understand that. And we
need to make sure that people understand that. Let's keep reading. And he brought him to Jesus,
verse 42. And when Jesus beheld him, he said, thou art Simon, the son of Jonah, thou shalt be
called Cephas, which is by interpretation a stone. The day following Jesus would go forth into Galilee
and findeth Philip, and saith unto him, Follow me. Now Philip was of Bethsaida,
the city of Andrew and Peter. Philip findeth Nathaniel, so now he's going to go tell someone,
and saith unto him, We have found him, of whom Moses in the law and the prophets did write,
Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph. He's saying, hey, this is who Moses was writing about. This is
who all the prophets were writing about. You know, chew on that verse for a while, dispensationalists,
saying that, you know, the Savior is a new plan. You know, going to the Gentiles is a new plan.
It's like, no, Moses was writing of Jesus Christ. He was always the plan. He was always plan A.
He was always salvation through Jesus Christ. That's why they were reading the Bible. And when
he came, they're like, wow, this is who Moses was talking about. You have to explain who Jesus is,
the Christ, the Messiah, the son of God. I'll read for you. You could stay there. I'll read for you.
First John five, one, it says, whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God. You must
believe that. And everyone that loveth him that begat, loveth him also that is begotten of him.
Verse 10, I'll read, he that believeth on the son of God hath the witness in himself, but he that
believeth not God hath made him a liar because he believeth not the record that God gave of his son.
And this is the record that God hath given to us eternal life. And this life is in his son.
He that hath the Son hath life and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. How much can this
chapter be hammering in that you must believe Jesus is the Christ, you must believe he is the
Son of God. Hey, the record that God gave that record is of his son. You must have that record.
That's why the people who believe in oneness, Pentecostalism, they deny the eternal sonship
of Christ. They believe that God is just one person. Guess what? They're denying the record.
They are denying eternal life. They are not saved because this life is in his son. You must believe
that Jesus Christ is the son of God. You know, and even Jesus himself, even Jesus himself,
when he was soul winning, when he was preaching, he explained who he was. Let's go to John chapter
number four. John chapter number four, you should be really close. John four, look at verse 21. He's
preaching to the woman at the well and he says, "Jesus saith unto her, 'Woman, believe me, the hour
cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem worship the Father. Ye worship,
ye know not what. We know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews. But the hour cometh,
and now is, when the true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth. For the Father
seeketh such to worship him. God is a spirit, and they that worship him must worship him in spirit
and in truth. The woman saith unto him, 'I know that Messiah is cometh, which is called Christ.'"
That's who you need to believe on to be saved. "When he is come, he will tell us all things. Jesus
saith unto her, 'I that speak unto thee am he.'" So even Jesus gave us that example where he himself
is explaining, "I am the Christ. I am the Messiah." That is super important for people to understand.
Flip the page a couple pages to John chapter 9. John chapter 9, and he says the same thing to
a blind man that he had healed. Look at verse 35. "Jesus heard that they had cast him out,
and when he had found him, he said unto them, 'Dost thou believe on the Son of God?' He answered and
said, 'Who is he, Lord, that I might believe on him?' And Jesus said unto him, 'Thou hast both seen
him, and it is he that talketh with thee.'" So what is he saying? I'm the Son of God. So don't skip
this in your soul and presentation. Don't only hammer faith alone. Don't only hammer eternal
security. Definitely hammer all those things, but make sure they know what Jesus did and who Jesus
is. If you miss those things, then that person is not going to get saved unless they already have
perfect knowledge of all those things anyways. Unless they maybe grew up in church and they already
know those things, which you do run into those people. But I'm saying this, you'll be a much
more effective soul winner if you check those things and not just leave those things to chance
that they already know. Make sure that they believe those things. We're almost done here tonight,
but go back to Acts chapter 17. The last thing, let's read verse number three. It says, "Opening
and alleging that Christ's must needs have suffered and risen again from the dead,
and that this Jesus whom I preach unto you is Christ. And some of them believed and consorted
with Paul and Silas, and of the devout Greeks, a great multitude, and of the chief women,
not a few." So the result of Paul preaching the gospel is the result we all want,
lots of people getting saved. But that was not the only result that he got for preaching the gospel.
Look at verse number five. It says, "But the Jews," whenever you see that phrase, it's about to get
bad in the Bible. "But the Jews, which believed not, moved with envy, took unto them certain lewd
fellows of the baser sort, and gathered a company, and set all the city on an uproar, and assaulted
the house of Jason, and sought to bring them out to the people." Number five is this tonight. An
effective soul winner does not let persecution stop them. An effective soul winner does not let
persecution stop them, because I'm here to tell you, if you preach the gospel, you will
encounter persecution. It's just a matter of time. Now, for most of us living in 2021 in the United
States of America, especially in Texas, the most you're usually going to run into is some Karen
that's upset that you're preaching the Bible, some apartment manager that's upset, someone maybe calls
the cops or something like that. But that's not the type of persecution that the apostle Paul is
facing. The guy was stoned multiple times. The guy was beaten with rods multiple times. He was shipwrecked.
I mean, they were trying to kill him everywhere he went. But never did the apostle Paul stop
preaching the gospel. Never did he let that persecution stop him. Second Timothy 312 I'll
read for you. "Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution." You know,
even though we don't see a lot of persecution right now for preaching the gospel today,
doesn't mean we won't see that in a year from now. Doesn't mean that America won't be very
different in five years from now. Ten years from now. You should prepare your mind right now
that you will not allow persecution to stop you from doing the work of God. Now, Matthew chapter
10 turn to Matthew chapter 10 and I'll get there in a second but I'll read for you in Acts chapter
17 verse 8. So after after the Jews are gathering these people against them they're stirring people
up lewd fellows of the baser sort. Here's what happens and they troubled the people of the rulers
of the city when they had heard these things and when they had taken security of Jason and of the
other they let them go and the brethren immediately sent away Paul and Silas by night unto Berea
who coming thither went into the synagogue of the Jews. These were more noble than those in
Thessalonica in that they received the word with all readiness of mind and searched the scriptures
daily whether those whether those things were so. Therefore many of them believed also of honorable
women which were Greeks and of men not a few. So what happens? He's in Thessalonica. He gets
persecuted. He has to flee to Berea and when he gets into Berea what does he do? Well since the
Apostle Paul has a manner of preaching the gospel he immediately goes to the synagogue and starts
preaching the gospel because that's his manner. And what does he do? Well he uses the scriptures.
He explains who Jesus is. He explains who Jesus was. He mightily convinces them with the scripture
and then what happens? Multitudes believe. Not only that the Bible says these were more noble.
The people in Berea were more noble than the Christians in Thessalonica because they received
the word of God with all readiness of mind and searched the scriptures daily and a great
multitude got saved. So what happened? Paul gets persecuted and he ends up just going to a place
where he gets more people saved anyways and people who are more receptive, better people.
So persecution often is just God sending us to people that are more receptive and we don't
understand that when it's happening. Paul's like, "Man, why am I getting persecuted?" But he goes to
this next city and there's tons of people are getting saved and they're just receptive to the
word of God. They're just receiving the word of God with all readiness of mind. And so we don't see
how God is working on the other side of things. But we have to have the faith to realize that God
said all that live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. And hey, there's a reason for
that. God is using that for His will and ends up being a great thing happening. Many people get
saved. It makes me think of Pastor Mejia with all these sodomites that were protesting him in El Monte
and they wanted him out of the city of El Monte and they're persecuting him super hard. They're
stealing his van. They're stalking his family, doing all those horrible things to them, blow up
their church building. And oh yeah, they succeeded, right? Their church building is no longer in El
Monte. Well, whatever city they're in now, I bet you anything that more people are going to get
saved there than would have gotten saved at El Monte. Maybe that's why God allowed it to happen.
Maybe the people of whatever city they're in now, you know, are more noble than those at El Monte
because they receive the word with all readiness of mind. Maybe that's why God allowed that to happen.
And hey, so what if El Monte California judges themselves, you know, unworthy of eternal life?
That's on them. But Pastor Mejia and First Works Baptist Church, they're being a great example
because they're being like Paul. They're just going to the next city and what are they doing?
Preaching the gospel. As their manner was before, nothing changed with them. You know what changed?
Hopefully they get some more receptive people to preach the gospel to. Maybe that's what changed.
Would be, would be to God that that would be the case. Matthew chapter 10, look at verse 22.
Jesus said, and he shall be hated of all men for my name sake, but he that endureth the end shall
be saved. But when they persecute you in this city, flee ye into another. For verily I say unto you,
you shall not have gone over the cities of Israel till the son of man be come. This is a biblical
principle anyways. Jesus says, if you get persecuted in this city, go to the next. Hey,
if El-Mahni is unworthy of eternal life, you know, shake the dust off your feet and move on to the
next one. That's what Jesus Christ taught. And you know what? All things work together for good to
them that love God. And so you know what? I know for sure that things are going to be working good
for Elm, for First Works Baptist Church. It works good for Paul. It works good for the kingdom of
God. More people got saved, people who are more receptive to the Bible anyways. So remember that.
Put that deep in your heart now so that when you're in the fires of the trial of persecution and,
you know, you have all these emotions running through your head. You could realize, hey,
God used persecution in the Bible so that more people would get saved. Jesus said, "Flee to
another city." You know, God is going to use this for good. Settle that faith deep in your heart now.
Settle that firm foundation now so that you could be steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the
work of the Lord when that trial comes. That's what's going to make you an effective soul winner
because the Christian life is measured in decades. Better is the person that wins 10 people to the
Lord every year for the rest of their life than one person who's on fire gets a hundred people
saved in a year. A little persecution comes in their life and they quit. It's better to just
settle that deep in your heart now and get that rock solid foundation so that when trials and
temptations come you can stand strong and you can be steadfast in the faith. Matthew, we'll just skip
this for lack of time. You know, in conclusion here, let's go back to our sermon text in Acts
chapter 17. This will be the last verse that we turn to. Acts chapter 17. I skipped a few verses
here because I want to show you this is the result of effective soul winners. Look at verse number
four. "Some of them believed and consorted with Paul and Silas, and of the devout Greeks, a great
multitude, and of the chief women, not a few." So you get one result, soul saved. Number two,
"But the Jews, which, believe not, moved with envy, took under them certain lewd fellows of the
baser sort, and gathered a company, and set all the city on an uproar, and assaulted the house of
Jason, and sought to bring them out to the people." Number two, you see persecution. "And when they
found them not, they drew Jason and certain brethren unto the rulers of the city, crying." Now pay
attention to this phrase. "These that have turned the world upside down are come hither also." And
you know what the end result of effective soul winning is? You know what the result would be
if every single person in Pure Words Baptist Church would decide to put these principles
into effect and to become an effective soul winner is that this city would be turned upside down with
the gospel of Jesus Christ. And if every single church in America would get a vision for soul
winning and they would focus on sharpening up their soul winning and that they would want to
become better soul winners, you would see this nation turn upside down with the gospel of Jesus
Christ. You would see this whole world upside down with the gospel of Jesus Christ. It happened
before we're reading about it right here and you know that could be said of the soul winners in
this room if we would just make sure that soul winning becomes a habit, if we would just make
sure that we use the scriptures, if we would just make sure that we focus on the gospel and if we
would just make sure that we don't allow persecution to stop us in that work then Pure Words Baptist
Church can turn the world upside down with the gospel. Let's close in a word of prayer. Lord,
thank you so much for this day and thank you for the scriptures Lord and I just pray that every
single person in here would become a better soul winner and that by your help Lord that we could
become a church just full of excellent soul winners that are very effective in their gospel
presentations and that this church would be able to get many many people saved as a result of it
Lord and that it can be said of Pure Words Baptist Church that this church has turned the world
upside down and in Jesus name we pray amen. All right for our last song here we're going to go to
song 228 you're gonna have to help me sing it out and lose my voice a little bit here so 228 I love
to tell the story 228 I love to tell the story 228 on the first I love to tell the story
of seeing things above us on his glory of Jesus and his love dismissed