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

Alright, we're there in Mark chapter number 16 and normally we are going through a series called Happily Ever After and we're learning some biblical principles for marriage but we're going to be taking a break from that today and we're going to be taking a break from it for the next couple of weeks. Of course next week is Easter so we'll be I'll be preaching an Easter sermon on the resurrection but today since next week is Easter and we are getting ready as a church to head into our big soul winning push I wanted to preach to you on the subject of soul winning and the last time that well let me say this before I get into this. Soul winning for those of you that may not be familiar with it is a biblical teaching and it's something that we practice here at Verity Baptist Church. Soul winning is when we go out in the community we knock doors we invite people to church and we preach the gospel to anyone who is interested and the last time that I had brother Matt Barello preach for us he made a statement he said Verity Baptist Church is a soul winning church and I like that and I agree with that. In fact that's what I want to preach about this morning. I want to preach on the subject of soul winning but specifically I want to preach to you on the subject of the soul winning church and what is a soul winning church and why are we a soul winning church and what makes us a soul winning church and why we want to continue to be a soul winning church because whether you realize it or not you are sitting in a soul winning church. This is a church that preaches the gospel we take soul winning seriously I want to speak to you on the subject of the soul winning church. Now there in Mark chapter 16 why don't you notice there in verse 15 you have a very famous passage of scripture it's a passage that is known as the great commission and it says this in Mark 16 15 and he this is of course referring to Jesus said unto them go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. Jesus gave as a command when he left before he ascended after his resurrection to for us for his disciples for those that are saved and follow him to go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. This is not the only place where we see this great commission it's found several times throughout the gospels I'll give you another example go with me if you would back to the book of Matthew chapter 28 you're there in Mark you're just going to go backwards one book into Matthew 28. Matthew 28 another famous passage that deals with this idea of the great commission. I'd like you to do me a favor put a ribbon or a bookmark or something there in Matthew because we're going to leave it we're going to come back to Matthew several times during the sermon and let me say this we're talking about the soul winning church and the fact that our church is a soul winning church but just because we've been a soul winning church in the past does not mean that we're going to continue to be a soul winning church we want to continue to be a soul winning church and I want to give you three thoughts in regards to the soul winning church or specifically this soul winning church and if you're taking notes and I would encourage you to take take notes on the back of your course of the week there's a place for you to write down some things and you can write down number one the purpose of the soul winning church what is the purpose of the soul winning church and let me just put it this way what is the purpose of any church what should be the purpose of every church and the soul winning church understands a church that is soul winning and by the way let me say this most churches in America are not soul winning churches and most churches do not practice soul winning do not even have soul winning you you you walk up to probably the average pastor of America today and ask them about soul winning and they'll say what's that when we take the term soul winning from the book of proverbs where the bible says that the fruit of the righteous is a tree of life and he that winneth souls is wise it is a commission see the soul winning church you say what is the difference between a soul winning church and a non-soul winning church a soul winning church understands the commission of a soul winning church see god jesus the lord jesus christ left for us what is known as the great commission this is the purpose this is the plan this is the reason why he established a local church today if you read business books or entrepreneur books or leadership books you'll hear a lot about having a vision statement or a mission statement and how an organization or a business should have a statement that clearly identifies the purpose and the program what they're trying to accomplish well jesus was ahead of all of these business entrepreneur books because when he established the local new testament church he left us with a mission statement it's known as the great commission matthew 28 look at verse 19 notice what the bible says he says go by the way every time that you look at the great commission or on the subject of soul winning and reaching people the gospel you always find that this is the word that's emphasized go go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature go ye therefore this is what he wants us to do jesus is saying and i won't have time to develop it this morning we'll probably look at it next week on easter but jesus is teaching about the fact that he resurrected from the dead he says all power is given unto me in heaven and in earth and he says because of that go ye therefore the word therefore means because of that reason because of the fact that he died was buried and resurrected he says go ye therefore and why don't you notice there's a three uh a three-step plan for reaching the world he says number one teach all nations now when he says teach there he's talking about teaching the gospel preaching the gospel that's what we saw in mark 16 15 go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature in order to teach all nations we must preach to all nations and we must reach all nations and you say well what do we do after that once we've uh went out and we preach the gospel what's the next step notice number two baptizing them in the name of the father and of the son and of the holy ghost that is taking a convert and having them make a public uh profession of their faith publicly uh showing that they are a believer and a follower of the lord jesus christ and then step number three there is found in verse 20 teaching them to observe all things whatsoever i've commanded you and lo i'm with you always even until the end of the world amen what is that teaching them to observe all things that is discipleship see the the commission that god left the reason that god instituted a local new testament church is that he might gather a group of believers and he might uh motivate them and mobilize them i've always taught that a church is a band of believers is a group of believers that are banded together under the authority of a pastor for the fulfilling of the great commission that we might go out and preach the gospel have our converse baptized and then teach them to observe all things teach them everything the bible says everything they're supposed to do in their christian life see the fulfilling of the great commission is why the local church was started you say why do christians have churches why have these uh groups of believers come together in local areas where they they come together and someone stands up and preaches to them and they have these things what is the purpose well i'm not sure why so many churches in america are gathering today but i can tell you at verity baptist church and this is a soul winning church our purpose is the fulfilling of the great commission that's why the local new testament church was started the sad thing is that the great commission has become the great omission it's the it's something that most christians are not doing the one thing that jesus left us on this earth to do is the one thing that most churches don't do see the fulfilling of the great commission is why the local new testament church was started and the fulfilling of the great commission is what most churches are not doing because i'm here to tell you that most churches today are simply social clubs you walk into a church and they've got all sorts of groups and activities and fellowships and this and that and i'm not against those things i think those are good things we have all sorts of groups and activities and fellowships and and and things for you to enjoy as well nothing wrong with that in fact some of that has to do with discipleship and getting to know people and and and connect with people nothing wrong with that at all but i'm here to tell you you say why would we have activities why would we have uh uh groups and teams that fellowship together why would we do all that so that we can help you grow in the christian faith that you might become someone that reaches people with the gospel and helps us fulfill the great commission in this world see the purpose of the local new testament church is the great commission and a soul-winning church understands a their purpose they understand the commission of a soul-winning church they understand that the reason there's nothing wrong with ladies tea we're having a ladies tea there's nothing wrong with men's preaching nights we'll have men's preaching nights there's nothing wrong with activities and and and homeschool group uh pe class and field trips and and all those things you say but we do all those things because look everything we do at verity baptist church falls under these two canopies reaching people and teaching people reaching people with the gospel and teaching them to observe all things see the soul-winning church understands the commission of a soul-winning church but it's more than that it there's more to it than just that you're there in matthew chapter 28 flip back to matthew chapter 9 if you would because simply telling people and stating to people that the lord jesus christ left us here for the fulfilling of the great commission on an intellectual level people understand that even these other churches that maybe wouldn't even know what soul winning is they understand what the great commission is they understand that jesus left us to reach the world with the gospel but what is the difference between a church that actually takes the time to go that actually puts in the time the energy that invests the resources that organizes that motivates and mobilizes what is the difference between a church that actually goes and a church that does not because like i said our church is a soul-winning church see it's more than just the commission of a soul-winning church or that a soul-winning understands the commission but what makes a soul-winning church a soul-winning church is not only that they understand the commission but that they have the compassion of a soul-winning church in matthew 9 36 i want you to notice and in matthew 9 jesus the lord jesus christ is speaking about the harvest and the need for labors and we're going to look at those verses here in a minute but before we do that i just want you to notice verse 36 the context the bible says but when he the he there is referring to jesus saw the multitudes i want you to get the picture here the lord jesus christ is standing there and he's looking over a group of people he sees a multitude of people the bible says when he saw the multitudes i want you to notice these words in fact i'd like you to underline these words in your bible if you don't mind writing your bible the bible says he was notice these three words moved with compassion moved with compassion on them why because they fainted and were scattered abroad as sheep having no shepherd that phrase moved with compassion means to be affected with emotions means to empathize means to connect and to see the need and to be moved with the emotions of that need and by the way let me say this you are not moved with compassion unless you are moved to do something about it here he says that the bible says that he was moved with compassion i want you to remember that phrase move with compassion go up into matthew chapter 18 you say what is there to be moved with compassion about why should i be moved with compassion to be a soul winner to go out soul winning why why would i be moved with compassion to give up a thursday afternoon at 2 p.m or give up a friday afternoon at 2 p.m or give up a saturday morning at 10 a.m or give up a sunday afternoon at 2 p.m why would i be moved with compassion to give up a time that i have that is my time that is free to go out and knock on doors of people that i don't know and and invite them to church and attempt to preach the gospel to them and ask them if they know they're on their way to heaven and if they don't ask them if i they would allow me to uh present the gospel to them that they might be safe why would i be moved with compassion and really i can give you all sorts of ideas and illustrations i can do all sorts of things but it comes down to this there are real people that are going to a real hell i mean it's it's just that plain i mean if you're here this morning and you you're saved if you believe the word of god if you think you're on your way to heaven do you understand that there are people just like you who are going to spend eternity in a literal real hell unless they get saved the bible tells us that jesus looked down on the multitude he saw these souls that were lost and he was moved with compassion i want you to notice that in matthew 18 this phrase move with compassion is used i want you to see it because it might help you illustrate what it means to be moved with compassion in matthew 18 we have a parable and i just want to be uh transparent with you the primary application of the parable in matthew 18 is not about soul winning it's actually about forgiveness but we can use it and you can see that it can be used as an illustration about soul winning because the same phrase is used when jesus looks at the multitude and the bible says that he was moved with compassion on them because they painted and were scattered abroad as sheep having no shepherd that same phrase is used move with compassion in this parable and i think it illustrates for us what it means to be moved with compassion notice there in matthew 18 this is a parable that the lord jesus christ gave and what i always try to teach people is when you're reading these stories in the bible and this is a parable this is not a literal story this is a story that jesus told to uh to to give an illustration but i want you to put yourself in it i want you to consider uh the emotions that would be felt by these people if these people were you by the way that's called empathy matthew 18 and verse 23 notice what jesus says therefore the kingdom of heaven is likened unto a certain king by the way the king in this parable represents the lord jesus christ which would take account of his servants you see that phrase take account that is referring to judgment or the judgment day or reckoning notice verse 24 and when he had begun to reckon you see the word reckon you may have heard of uh the term reckoning being used in in in regards to judgment the word reckon means to calculate or to give an account please understand this every human being will stand before god in judgment the bible teaches that i don't have time to get into it but there are two different judgments one for saved and one for unsaved if you are saved you will stand at the judgment seat of christ you will not be judged for your sin at that judgment you'll be sun you will be judged for what you did with the resources and opportunities that god gave you on this earth you will give an account for what was done in your body unbelievers will stand at what's known as the great white throne judgment they will be judged for their sin they will be cast into hell and by the way all of us will be there to witness which means that you and i will stand there and witness as every unsaved person we know as every unsaved person that we love as every unsaved person that we refuse to give the gospel to is judged for their sins and cast into hell therefore jesus says is the kingdom of heaven likened unto a certain king which would take account of his servants and when he had begun to reckon one was brought unto him i want you to notice how this is illustrates it's not about soul winning it's about forgiveness but you can see the illustration how it could apply to soul winning and salvation because there was one that was brought unto him notice which owed him 10 000 talents the bible says that for all have sinned and comes short of the glory of god the bible says the wages of sin is debt the bible says that we owe a debt that we cannot pay that's why it's silly for people to think oh well i'm just going to live a good enough life and that'll get myself to heaven look all the good things that you can do will not outdo the bad things you've already done i often tell people this when we're out salt winning and people don't understand this or they struggle with it well i'm trying to live a good life and hopefully my good words will outweigh my bad i'll say well look the bible teaches that when you are judge you're going to be it's like a judgment with a judge imagine you were standing in a courthouse imagine that you'd robbed a bank or you're stolen a car and you'd already spent the money or or already got rid of the vehicle and and you're standing at this courthouse and you're being judged for uh uh for robbery or or judge for for for thievery and for stealing and you know if you stand before that judge you say well judge i realize that i did those things but from now on i'm gonna live a good life from now on i'm gonna help little old ladies cross the street from now on i'm gonna buy all the girl scout cookies from now on i'm gonna be the best employee i'm never gonna be late to work from now on i'm gonna get live a good life you think that judge is gonna say okay you're free to go here's the thing you've already broken the law none of those good things are gonna make up for what you've already done and look when it comes to salvation no matter how much you try to repent for your sins no matter how good you try to be you're already a sinner you're already in debt you already owe notice and when he had begun to reckon one was brought unto him which owed him ten thousand talents you say who does that represent that represents you that represents me that represents every human being that's ever lived we all owe a debt we cannot pay notice verse 25 but for as much as he had not to pay you're saying you can't repent enough to be saved you can't get baptized enough times to be saved you can't go to church enough to be saved for as much as he had not to pay you're saying that's what salvation is i owed a debt i could not pay i had not to pay i had no ability to make it right i had no ability to to be forgiven but as for as much as he had not to pay his lord commanded him to be sold look get into the story here you have a man who owes a debt he can't pay it he's standing before the king the judge and he's not able to pay and then the command is given his lord commanded him to be sold and his wife what about his wife his wife to be sold and children what about his children his children to be sold and all that he had what about all that he had all that he had to be sold commanded for him to be sold for his wife to be sold for his children to be sold for all that he had to be sold and payment to be made and this is righteous this is just please understand this when god sends somebody to hell he's not unjust it's a righteous punishment i want you to notice verse 26 see if you're saved this morning verse 26 is you if you're saved this morning verse 26 the guy the way that this guy gets forgiven is the same way that you and i got forgiven the servant therefore fell down and worshipped him saying lord have patience with me and i will pay thee all this man understanding the judgment that is upon him that he will be sold his wife will be sold his children will be sold all that he has will be sold and payment will be made that he has a debt he cannot pay he asks and he cries out for mercy he says i'll try to pay i'll try to pay every religious person every unsaved religious person in this world today is trying is saying i'll try to pay i'll try to pay please don't send me to hell i'll try to pay i'll try to pay notice verse 27 then the lord of that servant don't miss it and the lord the king the judge looking down on someone that was not able to pay the debt that was due to them was moved with compassion and lose him and forgave him as dead you know why you and i are saved not because we're good not because we deserve it not because of anything we've ever done simply because the lord was moved with compassion he looked down at somebody that had a debt they could not pay and he was moved with compassion and the bible tells that jesus was moved with compassion he came to this earth the bible says to seek and to say that which was lost and glory to god for it glory to god that jesus came down and saw a sinner just like me that was condemned to hell that was helpless and hopeless and he was moved with compassion to bring salvation his emotions were affected he empathized notice the lord forgave him he did not pay he lose and forgave him his debt the debt was forgiven he never paid for it praise god he was moved with compassion hey aren't you thinking aren't you thankful you're saved amen aren't you thankful your sins have been forgiven as far as the east is from the west the bible says that he has forgotten them he has thrown them in the back of his forgetfulness in the sea of god's forgetfulness they're gone my sins are gone see if you're saved this morning this illustrates your salvation if you're here this morning and you're saved it illustrates the fact that you had a debt you could not pay and he paid a debt he did not owe and we received salvation as a result but i want you to notice something else in this parable see if you're saved this morning you are illustrated in this picture of a man who was forgiven his debt but let me say this if you're here this morning and you're saved and you're not a soul winner you're also illustrated in this parable notice the parable goes on verse 28 but the same servant what servant the guy that just got forgiven the same servant what servant the guy that had impending doom and punishment upon him the same servant what servant the guy that said i'll try to pay but i can't pay and the only way that he was able to pay was because he was forgiven all the same servant went out and found one of his fellow servants which owed him in hundred pence and he laid his hands on him and took him by the throat saying pay me that thou always remember remember that this man owed the king the bible tells us that that he owed the king a huge amount ten thousand talents this man now finds someone else that owes and he takes him by the throat and he said pay me that thou always notice verse 28 but the same servant went out and found one of his fellow servants which owed him in 100 pence and he laid hands on him and took him by the throat saying pay me that thou always and his fellow servant fell down at his feet and besought him saying a patience with me and i will pay thee all here now you have a man who's been forgiven he finds another man who's also needing to be forgiven but notice his response verse 30 and he would not do you understand how hypocritical it is that you're here this morning and someone cared enough about you to give you the gospel someone was anxious enough and stressed out enough and thinking to themselves i really like this girl i really like this guy and and they're my friend and and i'm i'm not sure how they're gonna take it but i care about their soul and i don't want them to go to hell i really care about my neighbor i really care about my co-worker i really care about my daughter i really care about my uncle and i'm not sure how they're gonna take it and they might think i'm a religious nut but they i know they've got a debt that they can't pay and they came and they brought you the gospel and you were gloriously saved and then you are forgiven and here's how we would illustrate your soul winning he would not he would not share the same forgiveness that he received with somebody else he would not share see the difference is one was moved with compassion and one simply was not he was not he would not he would not be moved with compassion he would not go knock on a door he would not go share his forgiveness he would not help someone else have their debt paid see you say what is the difference between a soul winner and a non-soul winner here's the difference compassion compassion makes the difference to be moved with compassion makes the difference this is why jude says and of some have compassion making a difference and others save with fear pulling them out of the fire hating even the garment spotted by the flash you say pastor i think you're trying to guilt us into showing up for soul winning if you feel guilty that's your own guilty conscience and the holy spirit of god i'm just pointing out the hypocrisy that someone took the time to give you the gospel someone cared enough about your eternal soul somebody cared enough to knock on your door somebody cared enough to give you uh the plan of salvation and you sit there and he would or she would not it's hypocrisy it's a shame and i have to ask the same question that jeremiah asked when he saw the judgment of god upon his people in lamentations 1 12 he says is it nothing to you is it nothing to you are you the past mind is it nothing to you that your co-workers are real people with real souls that will spend eternity in a real hell is it nothing to you is it nothing to you that your family are real people with real souls that will spend eternity in a real hell is it nothing to you paul said but if our gospel be hid it is hid to them that are lost so you say what makes this a soul-winning church i'll tell you what it makes a soul-winning church a soul-winning church a soul-winning church is filled with people that understand the commission of a church but it's also filled with people that have compassion that understand that they were forgiven much that understand that they were only forgiven because someone else was moved with compassion and they're also moved with compassion to bring the gospel you're there in matthew keep your place in matthew go back to mark chapter 6 if you would we talked about the purpose of a soul-winning church let me give you secondly this morning the program of a soul-winning church you say what's the program of a soul-winning church here's the program see when it comes to the program of a soul-winning church you say what is the program it's the agenda the the idea the plan that we have the process and procedures that we've developed in order to be able to do so i want you to send that we didn't come up with this there is a scriptural pattern for this god told us how to do this he told us to do it the great commission and he told us how to do it you say well how do you do it mark chapter 6 verse 7 notice what the bible says and he this is jesus speaking and he called unto him the 12th mark 6 verse 7 and began to send them forth how do you send them forth notice by two and two and gave them power over unclean spirits jesus gathered his initial first 12 apostles and he sent them out two by two go to luke chapter 10 oh that was just the 12 apostles okay luke chapter 10 look at verse one luke chapter 10 that was just the chief 12 the the original 12 luke chapter 10 look at verse one you're there in march just flip over to luke chapter 10 verse 1 after these things the lord appointed others 70 also and set them notice two and two before his face into every city and place whether he himself would come see the bible gives us a scriptural pattern how do we do it how is it done well it's done two by two that's why i buried baptist church when you show up for solving time we partner you up with somebody and we send you out two by two at least two by two yeah i thought you guys got that from the jehovah's witnesses i thought you got that from the mormons no listen to me the devil always wants to take what's in the bible and counterfeit it the devil always wants to see why do you why do you take this concept of going out two by two and gave it to the two most annoying religions in the world and by the way what a shame what a shame that they're the ones known for knocking doors hey what to god that very baptist church what to god that in sacramental california instead of a baptist knocking on somebody's door and having somebody open the door and say oh you're a baptist i thought you were a jehovah's witness hey you know what i would rather is that a jehovah's witness knocks on somebody's door and they open the door like oh you're a jehovah's witness i thought you were one of those very baptist church members they knock on our doors so much around here see the program is based off a scriptural pattern it is to go two by two but it's not just that go to act chapter five you're there in the luke you're gonna go past john into the book of act act chapter five not only is it to go out two by two but it is also to go out from house to house and daily in the temple notice and in every house they cease not to teach and preach jesus christ go to act chapter 20 if you would look at act chapter 20 and verse 20 this is normally uh sometimes referred to as the acts 20 20 vision acts 20 and verse 20 notice what paul says he says and how i kept back nothing that was profitable unto you and in every house they notice what paul says he says and how i kept back nothing that was profitable unto you but have showed you and have taught you publicly and notice from house to house see in the bible there was a scriptural pattern for believers to go out two by two from house to house two by two from house to house two by two from house to house to reach the world you begin in jerusalem and then judia and then samaria and into the outermost part of the world and here's what i'm telling you is if every local church actually did this we would reach the world now i'm not in control every local church does but i can't try to influence what this local church does see the program of a soul winning church is that we have a scriptural pattern what is it two by two house to house two by two house to house and people say oh you know that doesn't work really then then why is it that these politicians whenever there's a campaign going on they're just knocking on my door all the time can we count on your vote for you think these politicians all the money they have they don't realize they're just spending their time doing something that's ineffective you know why they knock on people's doors because it works right god doesn't give us things that don't work knocking on somebody's door asking you say well not most people don't get saved well our job is not trying to get everybody saved our job is to try to give everybody the opportunity to be saved we call it soul winning and that's a scriptural term but you know it's another scriptural term soul warning it's up to them what they do with the gospel it's what to them what they decide to do with the with the opportunity our job is to make sure that everyone has an opportunity to hear the gospel see the purpose of a soul-winning church is that they understand the commission and the purpose of a soul-winning church is because they have the compassion but the program of the soul-winning church is based on a scriptural pattern and let me say this we here at verity baptist church have a systematic plan i mean we have a thought out thought through plan for reaching our community the gospel of jesus christ maybe you're aware of it maybe you're not let me help you become aware of it first we have soul-winning meetings every thursday every friday every saturday every sunday we have soul-winning meetings where you can show up and there'll be a soul-winning captain who will partner you up with somebody to go out so as you say well i don't know who i'm gonna go with you don't have to worry about that you show up we'll find someone for you well i don't know i i you know i i'm not what when i when do i go and how do i do it and who will teach me show up to a soul-winning meeting and not only do we have soul-winning meetings on saturday morning we have a soul-winning rally because our saturday morning is our main soul winning times the one we emphasize and focus on the most we have a soul-winning rally we get up and sing you show up for soul-winning on saturday morning this coming saturday morning we'll stand up and we'll sing a song and and and and and i'll stand up and preach a sermon this week uh we have men that stand up and preach uh five ten minute sermons every every saturday morning helping you sharpening you in your ability to go soul-winning we partner you up and we go out hey praise god yesterday morning last saturday morning at 10 a.m in this auditorium we had 110 soul winners at our soul-winning rally praise god for it you said i don't like i don't i can't do soul-winning because i i i get bored by myself you won't get bored with 110 people we'll find someone for you we've got soul-winning meetings we've got soul-winning partnerships so i don't know what to say don't worry about it you show up if you're a silent partner we will partner you up with somebody who knows what they're doing who knows what to say you don't have to do anything you have to say anything you can go with them in fact if you don't know what to say we asked you not to say anything something i've learned about silent partners is that they're often not very silent we asked you do you know how to preach the gospel no i don't okay you're gonna be a silent partner okay you know what that means what does that mean you stay silent your job is to be there with a soul winner to encourage them to fellowship with them their strength in numbers for protection is good to be with somebody else when they start to give the gospel somebody to pray silently quietly in your mind in your heart maybe if you feel comfortable help with distraction some little dog walks up you know pet the dog or kick the dog i don't know do something and and and and help hey you say well i don't know how to be a soul winner no problem we'll we'll we'll partner you with somebody who knows we'll hand you a soul you say well where am i going to go we'll hand you a soul-winning map at every one of our soul-winning meetings you will show up and we'll partner you with somebody behind your soul-winning map it'll be two pages stapled together one page is an actual map with an outline a literal line that says we want you to do this area these streets in the middle of this outline is what we want you to do we'll give you an address where you can meet your soul-winning partner at that address and it's a starting point for that map on the second page there is directions from our church building to that location that tells you how to get there from here to there and of course if you have a gps you can just put the address into your gps and meet your soul-winning partner there we virtually have mapped out the entire city of sacramento with soul-winning maps sometimes we have maps and i'll be out showing somebody and they're like uh well this house can this street continues and i'll tell them no that's not on our map well should we just try to finish that i'll tell them no that's on somebody else's map and then they'll look up and they're like their soul winner's coming this way we have a plan we have a systematic plan to reach the city with the gospel we have meetings we have rallies we have partners we have met we have soul-winning resources we give you invitations you come out soul-winning this week we'll hand you an invitation that says easter you come out soul-winning the week after that we'll hand you an invitation that says happily ever after a sermon series on the christian home we have uh if it's family and friend day we have generic invitations we have specific invitations we're always changing those things up we have cds and dvds we have pamphlets on the on the gospel that you can hand out uh we've got videos with qr codes that people can scan and watch we've got all the resources that you could think of we've got uh follow-up cards we have new believer packets we have new believer packets at this church where you get somebody saved you come back to church you pick up a new believer's packet in it is all these resources on becoming someone that just got saved your first steps for discipleship a cd on what you should do but now that you got saved a little thing on baptism a certificate for a free bible i mean all these things it's already prepared already sealed already stamped already has the return address label literally all you have to do is put the address on it and put it in the mail i mean i'm just telling you we've got resources we have soul-winning pushes like this weekend our easter push we have our south side soul-winning blitz that we do uh once a quarter we have a soul-winning seminar you go to our website veritybaptist.com you hit the soul-winning button and a little thing will pop down you hit the soul winning training and 10 videos will come up with uh pdfs that you can click on and print and they're fill in the blank and we will literally take you from how to get dressed to soul-winning to bringing a convert to church and having them baptized over 10 videos that are anywhere between 10 and 20 minutes long where we will teach you how to go soul-winning here's what i'm trying to say to you if you cannot be a soul winner at verity baptist church you will never be a soul winner i mean i don't know i often say this and please don't think this is the wrong way but i often say this you are so spoiled sometimes i wish i could just transplant you into another church for a couple of weeks i mean some churches you show up for soul-winning it's like who you're going with i'll figure it out where am i going pick a place what do i get them out you didn't bring something i'm just telling you look i'm just telling you we've got a systematic plan around here and and i know great soul-winning churches across this country that have plans or whatever and please understand this there may be other churches in this country that have a plan and a systematic plan for their soul-winning as we do but i don't know of any church in the country that has a better plan than the plan we've got and i'm not i'm not bragging about that i'm just telling you we're making it as easy as possible for you to fulfill the great commission we'll give you the stamps we'll give you the resources we'll give you the maps we'll give you a partner we'll give you the training we'll give you everything you said what do i need compassion the one thing i can't give you is compassion where you actually care about people dying and going to hell so we have the purpose of the soul-winning church what's the purpose they have a commission they have compassion you have the program of a soul-winning church well the program is that we follow the scriptural pattern two by two from house to house and we have a systematic plan for you and i don't know what else we could do to make it more more effective or efficient for you and i'm always looking for ideas if you've got an idea please let me know we'll do whatever we can to help you fulfill your duty as a soul winner but let me say this number three the participation of a soul-winning church see the participation of a soul-winning church is this first you need to know this go back to matthew chapter 9 if you would matthew chapter 9 please know this you say pastor you guys had 110 soul winners show up yesterday that's a is that is that a good number is that a that's a great number we had 110 soul winners show up for soul winning yesterday morning we have 213 people in church this morning that means that more than half our church went out soul-winning yesterday praise god for it you know what i grew up in in independent fundamental baptist churches that had soul-winning programs and in those churches if 10 of the congregation showed up for soul-winning it was like we're having revival literally the church had a hundred people and if 10 people showed up for soul-winning it's like the power of god has come down and i'm thankful for anyone and any church that does soul-winning has soul-winning i'm thankful for it i'm not mocking it i'm just i'm just telling you it's a great number but but i'm here to tell you something it's not enough we need your help you say why here's why matthew 936 but when he saw the multitudes he was moved with compassion on them like i'm not i'm not trying to judge you and i'm not you you you're going to stand before god for what you did in your body our our judgments are personal i just i don't understand it just doesn't make any sense to me how somebody could maybe you're not saved maybe that's the problem but but and i'm not saying that if you're not a soul you're not safe don't don't don't that's not what i'm saying but i don't understand how somebody could be saved be forgiven of their sins had somebody take the time i i was saved a very young age when i got saved i went went to church the pastor preached a sermon on hell and i got scared i went home and asked my dad about it i remember as a very young child my dad taking his bible after sunday morning church and showing me from the bible that the bible says that i was a sinner that my sin had a punishment attached to it which was hell that that's why the pastor preached on hell and i should be afraid of hell but that jesus loved me he died on the cross for my sins and he would forgive me of all my sins and he would give me eternal life and he would give me the gift of salvation if i would simply put my faith and trust in him and call upon him for salvation and that once i had it i would have it forever and it's everlasting life and it's eternal security and you can't lose it and as a as a young boy my dad took me and and and said son if you want to accept this gift you just have to ask jesus for it and i can help you form a prayer and he helped me say the words and he said just repeat after me and i i said the words and i opened my mouth and i believed in my heart and i called upon christ for salvation and that day i was became a child of god i was forgiven of my sins i was given eternal life and i had a home in heaven that's what my dad did for me could you imagine if my children came home and said hey dad what's this whole thing about hell and i'm like he would not i just don't understand how somebody could give you the gospel and get you saved and you can't return that favor it doesn't make you you do what that what you need i'm just telling you it doesn't make sense it doesn't make sense and it's a reason why this world it's on its way to hell matthew 9 36 but when he saw the multitudes he was moved with compassion on them because they fainted and were scattered abroad as sheep having no shepherd jesus was moved with compassion and then notice his mind immediately goes verse 37 then he said to his unto his disciples the harvest truly is plenteous you know the word plenteous means it means plentiful abundant there's a lot of it he says the harvest truly is plenteous he says there are people out there that not only need to be saved that would get saved somebody preached the gospel to them said well what's the problem then he said here's the problem the last part verse 37 but the laborers are few please know something there have never been enough soul winners never i mean in jesus time in jesus time jesus the greatest leader who ever lived in his time he says the harvest truly is plenteous here's the problem the labors are few there's not enough laborers there's not enough workers there's not enough soul winners and then jesus says in verse 38 pray you therefore the lord of the harvest that he would send forth labors into his harvest he tells his disciples he says you know what the problem is we don't have enough soul winners jesus said you you'd look at jesus you say well you started with 12 and then you had 70 and on the day of pentecost you had 120 and he says it's not enough it's not enough and look i'm here to tell you at verity baptist church we started with two you know we started with a handful and then we had seven and then we had eight and then we had ten i remember at first that when we first started our church i remember i would i would have these conversations with with with with good friends i remember having a conversation with pastor anderson and we're talking about soul winning and and i was talking to him about how can i help motivate people to go out soul winning and what can i do and he's giving me tips and ideas and i remember telling him one day i'd love for us to just have 12 soul winners like the 12 apostles 12 solar wouldn't that be great and then we got 12 soul winners and then it's like what do you do now and then i thought to myself well jesus then had 70. wouldn't that be great if one day we had 70 soul winners i remember thinking myself i've never even known of a church that has seven i mean 70 soul winners and we set that as a goal and then one day we had 70 soul winners so what'd you do after that then i said we're more than the day pentecost they had 120 that's my goal right now my goal is that our church will on a regular regular daily basis every week have 120 soul winners out an army of soul winners out every week preaching the gospel you say what do you do after that i don't know i'm out of numbers with the bible we're not going to stop hey what to god one day we had wouldn't it be amazing one day we had 200 soul winners 300 soul winners 500 soul winners out preaching the gospel an army of soul winners preaching the gospel every week see the harvest truly is plenteous but the labors are few pray ye therefore the lord of the harvest and he will send forth labors into his harvest sometimes we wonder if things have gotten so bad that soul winning just doesn't work anymore and i'll admit to you that times have changed sometimes because times change tools change technology changes we used to hand out tapes then we handed out cds then we tried usbs for a while then we put qr codes on on invitations i'm just i'm just telling you sometimes change sometimes technology change i get i get that but please understand this please understand this soul winning still works it still works it still works yesterday my wife and i were out soul winning him i knocked on the door and a young man opened the door i invited him to church and i said would you do you know for sure that today are you on your way i invited him to church and i said would you you know for sure that today are you on your way to heaven said i don't know so well would you mind if i take some time and show you from the bible how you can know for sure you're on your way to heaven he said no he closed the door i looked at my wife and i said i remember a day when it was pretty much a for sure thing that if a teenager opened the door you were going to give him the gospel i remember not that long ago when it was just like if a young person opened the door it's like i'm giving somebody the gospel kids always say yes you know that has changed i think i don't know it has to do with our culture our technology my wife mentioned you know yeah i talked to i knocked on a young person's door and they said they they said no and they they asked is there something i can watch you know is there a video i want to give me a link i understand that things change you know what you do well we quit we just quit so i decided to forget it doesn't work no we just knocked on the next door knocked on the next door knocked on the next door you know what yesterday i knocked on a door a 20 year old young man opened the door and i said do you know for sure if you died today are you on the way to heaven and i thought to myself because my wife and i just literally had just had this conversation about young people and i thought this young person is probably going to say no and he said i don't know i don't know where i would go i said well where would you like to go when you die he said well i'd love i'd like to go to heaven but i'm just not sure i said well look i can take a few minutes and show you from the bible how you can know for sure if you're on your way to heaven would you like me to do that he said yes i would i took a few minutes and opened the bible and showed him some verses i showed him i didn't show him anything special show him the same thing my dad showed me many years ago that we are all sinners and our sin is condemned us to hell but jesus loves you and he tied on the cross for your sins and he wants to give you salvation all you have to do is by faith you don't have to earn it you have to work for yourself to ask him you have to call upon him by faith once you have it he'll never take it away he prayed he got saved after the conversation i said listen let me ask you a question hopefully this isn't the case but if i never see you again let's say five years from now somebody knocks on your door and says hey do you know for sure you died today are you on your way to heaven what would you say to them they said i tell them i'm on my way to heaven and if they ask you well what are you trusting him to get you to heaven because jesus gave me eternal life i'm here to tell you soul winning works it still works knocking doors works the word of god works the gospel works it all works you say why isn't it working because we're not working soul winning works but the labors are few so pray ye therefore the lord of the harvest that he was sent for labors into his harvest that's what i've been praying for and i believe that god has answered my prayer it's you here's the truth we're only a soul-winning church if our church goes soul-winning i know that's deep somebody needs to write that down go to philippians if you order real quickly you're there in acts romans first second gradings galatians vegians philippians see somebody you're like i would never go to anything but a soul-winning church when's the last time you shut up for soul-winning we're only a soul-winning church if our church goes soul-winning philippians 1 27 only let your conversation be as it become at the gospel of christ does your conversation ever become the gospel of christ not just your speech but your way of life that whether i come and see you or else be absent i may hear of your affairs that you stand fast in one spirit with one mind notice these words is what paul was telling the church of philippi this was paul's dream for the church of philippi and this is my dream for verity baptist church that we stand with in one spirit with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel soul-winning is not something that's just for the pastor or the deacon or the evangelist or the full-time staff or the leadership of the church also is for everybody yeah i love the fact that our church is filled with women ladies that go soul-winning every week we have women that go out soul-winning every week in this church so what do you do with their babies uh same thing we do with our babies when we go to the grocery store and same thing we do with the babies when we go anywhere else we take them with us it's a family integrated church and it's family integrated soul-winning you say well well i well we do a lot less then just then do what you can but do something striving together for the faith of the gospel we're only a soul-winning church if we go soul-winning and you're only a soul winner if you show up for soul-winning by the way let me just say this let me remind some of you that because this is a soul-winning church we do require that anyone who serves in any public ministry around here be a soul winner please understand what i just said i didn't say that we require that if you're going to serve in a ministry that you go soul-winning that's not what i said i said that we require that before anyone serves in any capacity they first are a soul winner that you're a soul winner if you serve in any public capacity you are a soul winner so if you're a verity baptist church team captain you better be soul-winning if you're an usher you better be a soul winner hey thank god aren't you aren't you thankful that we have a staff full of ushers around here that not only hand you a bulletin when you walk into church but they also hand the gospel out every week if you're in the safety team praise god for you i'm thankful for your ccw and everything else you carry to protect us but make sure while you're carrying that weapon you're also carrying the word of god if you're a personal worker be a soul winner if you're a song leader be a soul winner if you're in the orchestra be a soul winner if you're a soul-winning captain you better be a soul winner we can't look we just want to keep the main thing the main thing around here and we require our offering counters to be solar you make the people that count the offering to be solar if we can't trust them to dispense the word of god why would we trust them with anything else you read the scripture be a soul winner you're a trustee be a soul winner you work on staff be a soul winner you're a staff wife be a soul winner i'm just telling you this is a soul-winning church so be a soul winner see some of you think well well then i'll just i'll just have to quit my position well you could do that or you could be a soul winner and you can do what you said you were going to do remember that be keeping your word keeping your commitment having some character and integrity on top of that having some compassion and actually caring about the fact that people are dying going to hell we just want to keep the main thing the main thing and by the way let me just say this go to go to acts chapter five we're almost done we'll be done here in a few minutes you say maybe maybe you're here today you say well i'm not physically able to go soul-winning okay i understand that but if you can't physically go soul-winning can you pray for the soul winners could you imagine imagine what would happen if on saturday mornings at 10 a.m from 10 a.m to about noon we had an army from 10 a.m to about 12 30 or whatever we had an army 110 soul winners out 120 soul winners out one day out in the community knocking doors preaching the gospel and at the same time we had an army of people who maybe would like to do that but they're physically unable to but at the same time they would say hey pastor i can't go from saturday morning at 10 a.m to 12 noon i'm not physically able to do that but what i can do is from saturday morning from 10 a.m to 12 pray for the soul winners and pray ye therefore the lord of the harvest that he will send forth laborers into his harvest and pray for their protection and pray for their empowerment and pray that god would lead them to the right houses and that the distractions would be disseminated that they might communicate the gospel clearly can you hand out an easter invitation invite somebody to church on easter you say i don't know how to give the gospel okay you bring someone to church and we've got a whole team of personal workers and we'll make sure they get the gospel i'm just telling you we need to strive together for the faith of the gospel we need to work hard at this thing together you say what's the objective of a soul winning church in act chapter 5 we see not only the objective of a soul winning church the goals of the tooling church we also see the outcome of a soul winning church the results let me show these to you quickly we'll finish up acts 5 verse 28 saying to do not we strictly command you that you should not teach in this name and behold ye have filled jerusalem with your doctrine and intend to bring this man's blood upon us say what is your goal what is your objective here's our goal to fill sacramento with our doctrine amen acts 1344 just real quickly acts 1344 and the next abbot day came almost the whole city together to hear the word of god you say what's your objective that the whole city would hear the word of god go to acts 14 21 acts 14 21 by the way that's why there's no such thing as bad publicity every time we're on the news or a newspaper and they're talking about the stuff we're preaching hey praise god the whole city is going to come together to hear the word of god acts 14 21 and when they had preached the gospel to that city and had taught many they returned unto lystra and ziconium and an antion you say what's your goal what's your objective what were you trying to do we're trying to preach the gospel to the city and teach many go to acts 19 verse 10 acts 19 verse 10 acts 19 verse 10 and this continued by the space of two years look at acts 19 verse 10 i love this and this continued by the space of two years so that all which dwelt in asia heard the word of the lord jesus both jews and greeks what to god that it would be said of sacramento california that all they which dwelt in sacramento heard the word of the lord jesus look at verse 26 same chapter we'll finish here notice what the enemies of paul said these are the enemies moreover you see and hear they're talking about paul and his soul winning ministries moreover you see and hear that not alone at ephysis but almost throughout all asia this paul had persuaded and turned away much people meaning he turned them away from false religion saying that they be no gods which are made with hands you say what's our objective what's our outcome here's our goal that our enemies would say not alone in sacramento but almost throughout all california this very baptist church have persuaded and turned away much people from false religion from secularism and turned them unto god that's why we're a soul-winning church that's why we keep the main thing the main thing but if we're going to continue to be a soul-winning church we need your help i'm challenging you i'm asking i'm pleading would you be a soul winner when do i how would i start well we have a great soul-winning push coming up maybe if you're a soul winner you say i pastor i'm a soul winner i show up every saturday morning would you consider going to two so many times say i already go to two times would you consider going to three you say i i don't i i go every once in a while or i haven't gone in a long time would you consider coming back i've never gone would you consider being a silent partner would you consider participating with us as we strive together for the faith of the gospel so that very baptist church can continue to live up to the fact that we are a soul-winning church inspire her to have a word of prayer heavenly father lord i do thank you for salvation and i pray that the holy spirit would touch some hearts today because the truth of the matter is that if we're saved and we've been forgiven we should have compassion to bring that forgiveness to others lord i do thank you that this church is a soul-winning church we give all glory to you for that and i pray that you would raise up a soul-winning army here you would help us to reach this community with the gospel of christ in the matchless name of christ we pray amen