(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

So many people today are working hard in the Christian life. And when I say that they're working hard, I mean that in the sense that there's a lot of movement. They're sweating, they're moving, they're doing stuff, they're working, they're busy, getting up real early, work hard all day, go to bed at night. But here's the thing, sometimes they're not accomplishing that much. Even though they're putting forth a lot of effort, a lot of work, a lot of money, a lot of time, a lot of energy, that does not mean that they're being effective, okay? Now the Bible says in Proverbs 11 30, the famous verse, the fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, and he that winneth souls is wise. The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, and he that winneth souls is wise. So think of dull weapons or dull tools as ineffective methods, dull methods for serving the Lord, dull methods for serving Christ. How about this, handing out tracts? You can put a lot of work into handing out tracts. You can put a lot of effort into handing out tracts. You can put a lot of money and time and energy. I know because I've done it. I remember when I was a teenager, going out and handing out 10,000 tracts and basically seeing zero results. A lot of work, a lot of effort, a lot of motion, a lot of activity, but I was chopping with a dull ax. If I would have put that exact time, effort, energy into soul winning, into actually just the simplicity of just walking up to somebody and asking them, do you know for sure if you died today, you go to heaven, and offering to show them from the Bible how to be saved, if I would have put my effort into that, I would have come home rejoicing, bringing my sheaves with me. I would have had people saved. I would have accomplished something because I would have been chopping with a sharp ax. Soul winning is the sharp ax. The tracts are the dull ax. Okay. He says, the fruit of the righteous is a tree of life and he that winneth souls is wise. Wisdom is profitable to direct. Wisdom is the opposite of having the dull tool or the dull weapon. So soul winning's the sharp ax. I think of other methods like, for example, street preaching. You know, a lot of people, you see them, they're out on the street corner, holding up a sign, screaming at cars that are driving by. Nobody's listening. Nobody's interested. They're yelling at no one in general or no one in specific, and you know, they don't see results. I've talked to these guys. I've taken them aside and asked them about the results and the results are weak. The results are minuscule. Now you say, well, no, they got a guy saved. Look, I'm sure eventually you're gonna get somebody saved even using the dullest method, even using the weakest method, if you're preaching the correct gospel and using the word of God, eventually you're gonna get somebody saved even with the worst possible methods. But I don't wanna sit there and beat on a tree with a dull ax all day and all night and keep coming back day after day just, and then I cut down one tree. You know, I'd rather just go out there and just be chopping down tree after tree after tree cause I know what I'm doing. Look, I saw a video the other day where these guys were cutting down a giant tree and they had to cut down in like three minutes and it was a massive tree. Why? Because these guys are experts. It's all they do all day, every day. They say, if you do something for 10,000 hours, you become an expert at it. So these guys, all they do is cut down trees. And man, they were like a well-oiled machine. They knew exactly where they lay that ax. They hit it with the ax. They hit it with the saw. They use the tools of the trade and it fell exactly where they wanted it to fall. They knew exactly which way that tree was gonna fall. They were done in a couple of minutes. It was very impressive. Why? Because they had wisdom. They had training. They had knowledge. And if we take our weapons that we have, sharpen them up, what does that mean? Getting knowledge, getting wisdom, getting training, doing things the right way, following the Bible, we can be so much more effective. You don't get an award in heaven for most effort.