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

We are in Romans chapter number 1 and the verses I want to focus on to begin the sermon here are found in verse number 15 through 17. Verse 15 says, so as much as in me is, I am ready to preach the gospel to you that are at Rome also, 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. For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith, as it is written, the just shall live by faith. And the title of my sermon this morning is decently in an order part 3 and I am going to focus on soul winning. So I am not so much going to be talking about the nuts and bolts of soul winning as far as the all the points of what we have to get across and all the verses that we use and things like that. I am going to be talking about how we order our soul winning and like how we behave when we are out soul winning. And so really it is kind of a hodgepodge sermon in that way and if you are like well what is soul winning, well Jesus said that we are supposed to go and preach the gospel. So now there are many different ways to preach the gospel or to witness or to evangelize. Now you can do one on one in different places and people can come here and we can preach the gospel to them here, but the main way that the Bible teaches to go and share your faith is to go out and preach the gospel. And so church is for the saved people in general, for the edification of the saints, and so we don't gear our services towards the unsaved, not that we don't want unsaved people here, we do, but we gear the services towards the saved to instruct, to edify, to build up, and so on and so forth. But I don't generally preach a lot of salvation messages at church because we go out and preach the gospel. So the Jehovah's witnesses, the Jehovah's false witnesses and the latter day Satan church, they go out and they have stolen basically what the Bible says to do and they unfortunately are doing a better job at their false evangelism than most Bible believing churches are doing with what they're supposed to be doing. And so at this church we really, that's the big thing that we do is we believe in going soul winning and so it's a big part of our church. So if you're here as a guest and that's just not something that you've done or that you're into, you know this isn't the typical Sunday morning sermon that I would preach, but I have been preaching a series about having things decently in an order as the Bible says. So you know it's not a free, this church is not a free for all, and people say they don't believe in organized religion, but you know God is organized and he wants us to be organized and he wants us to do things decently in an order. In 1 Corinthians 14, 40 it says, let all things be done decently in an order. So I think that God is a God of order, if everything was just chaos and everybody would get up and preach, everybody would have a song that they want to get up and sing, and God is just, that's just not how he wants things operated. So now people, he gives us a little bit of leeway in how we do things, obviously there's no order of service lined out in the Bible, but he does want us to have order in our service. And so this is my third and last sermon on the subject. So number one this morning I want to talk about preparing yourself for soul winning. So this is the order part of the sermon, and some of these are going to kind of spill over back and forth, but that's where I get my focus versus from is to prepare our self for soul winning because Paul says, so as much as in me is, I'm ready to preach the gospel to you that are at Rome also. So Paul is ready to preach the gospel, and if you know anything about the apostle Paul, that was something that was a big deal to him. He traveled all around the known world at that time, preaching the gospel, getting people saved, setting up churches, and moving on to the next place, depending on how much time he spent, you know he spent a certain amount of time at those places, sometimes he didn't get to spend any time, but he still established churches there, and he says he's not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. This is not, you know preaching the gospel and going door to door soul winning is not something we should be ashamed of. You know people will say, oh that's what the Mormons and Jehovah's Witnesses do, that's what God said for us to do, daily, in the temple and in every house, they cease not to teach and preach Jesus, okay? That's what the apostles did on a daily basis, so you're like, well why do you have so many soul winning times? Because we kind of want to be like that church in the book of Acts, and when we start having church services every day, then you can start complaining. We only have them three days a week, okay? They were daily in the temple, and then in every house, so they had a soul winning time every day, they had a church service pretty much every day, so you know obviously it's tapered down a little bit, but you know the more we get close to Jesus is coming back, the more we should be wanting to go to church, that's what the Bible says anyway, so we shouldn't be ashamed of the gospel, we shouldn't be ashamed of what God has told us to do, he's chosen the weak things of the world to confound them that are wise, and to confound those that are strong, he's chosen preaching to save them that believe, and you know people don't like preaching, don't preach to me, have you ever heard people say that to you? Don't just start preaching to me, people don't like it, people don't like when you come to their door, and so already people have a problem, and then you start preaching about Jesus, then they're going to have a double problem, but some people want to hear, some people want the gospel, and you know that's the job of the Christian is to go out and preach the gospel, Paul said I'm ready, so when you go out you should be ready to preach the gospel as much as in you is, so we should have an order of how we're going to go out, you know and if you haven't actually started talking or started actually you know preaching at the door and you're still a silent partner or something, you know these are things that you want to build towards, so everybody's in different stages, maybe you've never gone so many before, you've never shared your faith before, well these are things that maybe might motivate you to kind of get into that direction, so it's not as scary as you think, it's not as bad as you think, and actually it can be pretty fun sometimes, and even when they're persecuting you it can kind of be fun sometimes, so, but it says for therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith, salvation is from generation to generation, there's always been saved people on the earth passing the faith on from one generation to the next, and look we don't want that faith to die out, obviously I don't believe that it would, there's always been a remnant, but there is, it's a sad state of affairs in the Christian churches today where this is not being done, and I don't want our church to be disorganized in the way that we do so, and I don't want us to be, they're already going to hate you for spreading the name of Christ, don't make them hate you for the way you behave as you're out spreading the word of Christ, so Jack Hiles has a famous quote and it's, there's always a prepared place for a prepared person, if you're already prepared, if you know the verses by heart, if you have a bible on you, if you're prepared to preach the gospel, God's going to bring people across your path that you can talk to, if you have the gospel on your mind, and your mindset is hey I want to get someone saved wherever I go, then God's going to be like okay well they're prepared, they're ready to go, and he's going to bring people across your path that you can get saved, so how do we get prepared, well the first thing that you can do is you can pray, turn to Ephesians chapter 6 verse 18, you can pray for yourself, and you can also pray for other people, and Paul gets done in this chapter talking about putting on the armor of God, and guess what, one of the things that, you know people love to preach about the armor of God, and preachers will get up and wax eloquent about all these things, but you know what they always seem to lack in, the gospel shoe part, the part where you have to put, have your feet shod for the preparation of the gospel, they don't, they kind of skim past that part, don't they, because that is part of the outfit, it'd be pretty weird if you had this whole suit of armor on, and then you walked out with bare feet, you know what's the first thing that someone's going to aim at you with, they're going to aim at your feet aren't they, and once you can't walk then you're done, so I mean is it an important part of the armor to have your feet covered up with something, absolutely, the Buddha says in Ephesians chapter 6 verse 18 it says praying always with all prayer and supplication in the spirit and watching there unto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints, so we should be praying for each other also and for me, Paul's saying pray for me that utterance may be given unto me that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel, because preaching the gospel does take boldness and when we preach the gospel it shouldn't be like, is it okay if I tell you about Jesus, like you're scared to preach about Jesus, no he said that I may open my mouth boldly, because we shouldn't be ashamed of the message, that message got you saved if you're saved today, and we shouldn't be ashamed of our Lord, we shouldn't be ashamed of Christ or the gospel because it is the power of God unto salvation, so but sometimes even the most hardened and battle tested soul winner can feel sheepish when they go to a door, sometimes you just get that fear that comes upon you for no reason whatsoever and you're just like why am I feeling like this, you know why you're feeling like that, probably because that's the person that you need to be bold with at the door and you're getting this feeling of fear and you need to pray for boldness at that point, so praying for boldness is a legitimate thing, Paul's saying hey pray for me that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel for which I am an ambassador in bonds, so he's an ambassador and an ambassador is someone that speaks for somebody else right, and we understand that by you know we have ambassadors of the United States that they set up these little places in other countries and like you know the embassy of the United States where citizens of the United States that are expats or whatever can go or they're on vacation or something they can go to their embassy but also they're supposed to be you know being the mouthpiece for the United States to make and broker peace in those countries, but as an ambassador Paul says I'm an ambassador in bonds that therein I may speak boldly as I ought to speak, so did Paul say he ought to speak boldly, yes, it's not a sheepish thing and I'm not saying be rude or crass or mean but you should boldly proclaim the gospel because there's nothing to be ashamed about in it and if you're not being bold about it then you need to pray for boldness and pray for your fellow other soul winners out there that they could be bold also and for the people that are still in training you know the thing that makes us have more soul winners is when the soul winners that are being trained they become soul winners themselves and you know God's going to send more soul winners to our church, that's how it works, that's how it's always worked at our church and you know it'll continue to stay that way, so you know what else could you pray for? Well for God to give you opportunities, for God to give you direction, for the soul winning captains, for your partners while they're preaching, you know if you're a silent partner instead of you know checking the scores on the football game how about you pray for that person that's being preached to that God would open their heart and that they'd be saved? How about pray that the distractions would be you know to a minimum in your heart for that person, you know pray for the soul winner that they'd have the right words come to them from the Holy Spirit, pray that the Holy Spirit would save that person you know we as Christians should be praying for people and praying for boldness, praying for the right scriptures to come to that person's mind and you know so those are you know that's the first thing we should do when we prepare for soul winning is that we should pray right? And you know the other thing that you should probably do is get yourself a good Bible with a font type that you can read and this is especially important as you get older because when you get older you start to need glasses so you know I got the, can you read this font from here? Most people probably can, that's like a 20 font or something it's huge but that also makes the Bible like really thick but you know if you're gonna preach, if you're gonna soul win it's hard, if you need a magnifying glass to do it and you know it rains here so if you've got a magnifying glass or if you've got glasses and they're getting all foggy it's gonna be hard so you wanna feel the most equipped that you can be obviously sometimes you forget your Bible or something like that and you gotta take one of the giveaway Bibles or something but sometimes those you know they get wet they are smaller font so get yourself a good Bible and start to get that Bible ready have a Bible that's your soul winning Bible that you take with you you know I want you to take a Bible out when you go soul winning get those verses marked out and prepare your path of the Gospel presentation now again I'm not gonna give the path today cause it's just I don't have time for that in the scope of this sermon but I'm just gonna tell you that you should have a path ready to go especially if you're just you're new to soul winning you haven't really done it much you can count on your path well what am I talking about well you can put one on one page and then whatever the first scripture you start with whether that's Romans 3 10 or Romans 3 23 then you put a one and you underline that or highlight it and or put a color coded piece of you know like a little tab in your Bible for that now what I liked to do I don't really use those kind of things anymore but if I have if I tabbed my Bible I would put red for sin so you wanna cause there's there's points in that you wanna show people and you wanna show these things in an order so I would take a color coded tab and put red for sin I know some people use red for hell but I use red for sin and orange for hell and then blue for faith alone and green for eternal life I mean you can use whatever colors you want but it just kinda helps you know eternal life you know the evergreen tree you know it kinda made me think of that you know blue I don't know why but anyway red is obvious you know but so I mean if you wanna do that that's the best way to get where you're on a path you can memorize your path and then you know hey you number the page and so if you don't have the tabs memorized at least you have you have the page written down so you can turn to the next scripture so if that's Romans 3 10 you write down a number one and then a turn you know and if it's Romans 3 23 is the next one you put a number two there and then you turn you know obviously those are really close together but then then you then you put turn to you know Romans 6 23 and then put the three on Romans 6 23 if that makes sense you wanna have a clear path because when you first start soul winning it's gonna be your your nerves are gonna be up you're gonna be your your mind's gonna be just like thinking you know you're just gonna be flustered at times and so you wanna be able to depend on your path and not on your brain and your and your fingers to do what they're supposed to be doing you know you'll be just like where is you just can't find the verse or whatever so you wanna be able to just get to the spot and have everything already passed out for you that's in that's a preparation thing and so if you want to be successful early on then have everything tabbed and ready to go stick to your path learn your path of preaching the gospel memorize your path this is another thing memorize the scriptures in your path because you know what if you're stuck without a Bible sometime can you can you actually preach the gospel without your Bible in your hand well memorize your path and you can and obviously I think the best thing to do is to show people what the Bible says because I think when they see it for themselves and you're preaching it to them I think that's the most effective way but sometimes you know people like say somebody's blind and you don't have a braille copy of the King James in your hand you know you're gonna have to tell them the verses so or if they just can't read the small font that you can read you know that's happened before it happened to be not just just not too long ago I think was brother Josh was preaching the gospel to somebody and he had wasn't really super small but he just I think did he not have glasses or something or he yeah so he was just you know Josh was trying to lean in and show him he was like I can't read that so he's just like mr. Magoo or whatever but but you know he you know Josh knew the verses and and stuff like that so but I mean if you don't but what if he hadn't had his Bible then he would have to tell those verses to him by memory and so it's good to memorize your path that's part of being prepared turn to Psalm 119 verse 15 Psalm 119 verse 15 so excuse me Psalm 119 verse 1 verse 15 the Bible says I will meditate in thy precepts and have respect unto thy ways I will delight myself in thy statutes I will not forget thy word so that's a pretty good verse on meditating and understanding what the Bible says about soul winning or any any subject but we should respect the way God wants us to do things so to have a path you don't start someone with calling upon the name of the Lord you start someone with we're all sinners and we does and and because we're all sinners we all deserve to go to hell because of that and but God doesn't want us to go to hell because he made a way for us to not have to go to hell he sent Jesus to live the perfect life for us he died on the cross he was buried he went to hell for three days his soul went to hell for three days three night he rose from the dead and if we put our faith in him that he did all the works for us no works are required from us it's a gift a free gift that we cannot lose its eternal life you know then that's the way that God wants us to present it it's not it's not our way it's not with our own words it's with the Bible and so we should have respect unto his ways and then it says to not forget thy word so the Word of God is what's important it's not our own cute anecdotes that we have when we say things and obviously put some personality into it I'm not saying don't but I've watched people with zero personality get people saved I've watched people stumble and bumble through the worst gospel presentation I've ever seen and like literally just taking like what it felt like minutes to respond to a question that they had because it was the first time ever doing it themselves and the person was super patient and listened and and waited for their response and I just was like cringing but I just you know I just shut up and just let him do it and he did eventually answer the questions for the person and that person end up getting saved so just because we think we're doing a bad job you know at some point we do have to flutter out of the nest folks and and get the gospel to somebody and we but we should be as prepared as possible when we do it so and then after a while of sowing if you're just constantly doing it every week you're you really probably won't need that path anymore some people like to still keep it in their Bibles and that's fine and you know because maybe you get flustered or you forget or whatever you're in the heat of the moment and you want that path always that's fine but if you're consistent you probably won't need it anymore so and let me just say this also don't try some weird path that's different especially right off the bat obviously there's lots of different verses that will tell you that you're a sinner there's lots of different verses you can preach about hell but I would just say stick with the simple ones the ones that are commonly used you don't have to be so different right off the bat or whatever if you want to use some different ones that people don't other people don't use I'm just saying at the beginning just stick to the path and you use the Romans Road for the most part and you know use those scriptures so and again make sure that you're preaching all the points and explain the verses don't just read a verse and not explain it because they don't understand the Bible without someone with the Holy Spirit explain it to them okay so because the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God because they're foolishness unto him they're spiritually discerned so again those points are everyone is sinned number two because we have sinned we deserve hell number three Jesus died and rose from the dead that we might and we must believe in him alone for salvation and number four salvation is a free gift that lasts forever and number five invite them to trust Christ by calling upon the name of the Lord for salvation and yes we do believe that they have to do that so and don't cut corners so don't cut part of it out if you skip part of it you better go back and cover that part because the whole thing is important if you just realize that you didn't talk about Jesus being crucified and you didn't talk about him you know you didn't talk about the gospel itself because we're preaching the gospel and if you don't if you leave the gospel out of it that's kind of an important part right and or leaving hell out of your presentation because if you're not being saved from hell then what are you being saved from if you're not being saved from your sins that are sending you to hell then what are you being saved from you have to mention these things because it's the truth don't be worried about offending people they're gonna be offended by the fact that you just say that Jesus is the only way to heaven they'll be offended by that and don't overdo the points don't overdo the points you know don't beat a dead horse to deadly death if they understand the point there's no need to keep adding more points to the verse or more verses to that point if they understand it's eternal life they understand they can't lose it don't keep adding stuff to it move on because look once they get the point then you're on a time crunch and you know someone's gonna come home girl girlfriend's gonna interrupt boyfriend's gonna interrupt and come and slam the door in your face you know they're their friends gonna come and get him and say I gotta go bye you know so don't you know when you're wasting time you might think it's that well I gotta make sure that they know if they understand the point they know if you've asked the right questions they understand the point keep going so if they don't understand internal security there's no need to just keep going you know but what about in this one too in this one too again don't beat a dead horse to deadly death so and then the role of a silent partner is is to be just that what silent so and you know I think that sometimes some people don't care when other people will jump in they maybe they have a partner that you know it's not that big of a deal to them or whatever but some people it is so especially if you've never gone so winning with someone before and then you just jump into their soul winning presentation they might get upset so don't do that and and you know I'm the pastor of the church if I if I think that someone just like tail spinning you know or maybe there's something I could add to it I'm going to try to do something in some instances but I don't always do that but sometimes I do and sometimes I was wrong for doing it honestly but I I really want to try to not do that all right I don't want to be a hypocrite so but I think that we should be silent as much as we possibly can be so if someone's totally tanking something and and that and that person's probably gonna get saved and then someone just doesn't they're not presenting it correctly or something I probably would step in because I mean there's souls hanging in the balance here but but don't just be waiting to jump in if someone asks you to jump in or hey do you have this is what I like you do if you're struggling with getting someone and you're out of ideas because sometimes the person standing there does know what you've missed or what could be said and then if you're like man you're just out of a stalemate don't be proud just tap your partner and say hey is there anything else you could add to this and then when that person's tapped then let them finish don't jump back in but if they tap you back in then come back in you know what I mean it's like tag team wrestling or something all right you're just like and then you tap them and they come you know I mean you've seen tag team wrestling I'm sure but wait till you're tagged back in to jump back in all right I think that's just the best policy I mean you don't want people just and you know sometimes new people will do this with you and you have to be a little bit patient okay don't rip their head off because they didn't know or whatever so the role of silent partners to be silent that's why it's called the silent partner all right and they're they're the person that's either it's not their turn to knock the door or they're new and they're still learning and so we don't want to be a bad example to the partner but you know it's confusing when two people are talking at the same time or when three people are talking to one person it does get confusing and when there's distractions going on in the background you know that's confusing so the role of silent partner is to kind of try to stop the distractions interrupt you know not not interrupting your partner but maybe just stopping someone from walking up maybe and talking to them you know you're basically there to slap babies and kick puppies and you know I mean to pet puppies and coddle babies what I meant I'm just kidding you know it's a joke so but probably a bad one but puppies babies but yeah so I mean the role of silent partner is to help the person in any way you can to try to help them to continue preaching the gospel now the Bible says we're supposed to go out two and two so turn to Luke chapter 10 turn to Luke chapter 10 now I know that some people might break this rule and they'll say like well Jesus preached by himself to the woman of the well does it say he was by himself I know his disciples went to go get bread but does it say he was completely alone doesn't say that it just says that this is disciples left I mean he was having a conversation with him and her but doesn't necessarily say that he was by himself maybe he was you know I don't he but anyway I don't think that we should put ourselves in positions where we're alone and we don't need to leave our partners behind you know like you want to just get more done and you just leave someone stop standing at somebody else's door because there's there are dangers associated with being by yourself number one you'll only have one witness so somebody accuses you of something I mean this is a day where people just straight-up lie about you I mean people do it all the time people call me apartment complexes all the time and lie about you guys I'm just like yeah right okay whatever but people do that kind of stuff and sometimes they'll even get more heinous than that and just straight up you know so if you have two witnesses then that's not a problem you're really gonna run into so much and also it's a safety thing it's because we let the ladies go out by you know together and you don't want just one lady by herself preaching to some serial killer by chance and he just drags her into the apartment you just never know what happened you know I mean it is a safety thing so Jesus had them go two and two for a reason so I think it's multiple different reasons but look at Luke 10 one it says after these things the Lord appointed other seventy also and sent them two and two before his face into every city and place whether he himself would come so he sent him two and two why did he do that because that's because he's the Lord because he knows what's best and so what should we take that example yes we should mark chapter 6 verse 7 you want to turn there but I'll just read it for you it says and he called unto him the twelve and began to send them forth by two and two and gave them power over unclean spirit so even the disciples the twelve before he ordained the seventy others he sent the twelve out two and two so obviously sometimes we get more than two we get you know three ladies or we get an odd pairing you know where there's three ladies or three guys or whatever that's fine but if you know sometimes we even have like the entourage of children you know I think that if we have like ten people standing at somebody's door that's kind of you know a little you know people like what's going on here this is the choir coming to sing at my door or what so I mean just kind of keep in mind that we don't want to crowd people out and like freak them out or whatever so you know maybe hang back just have two people go to the door or whatever so and then take turns obviously but so and and don't leave your partner behind you know don't leave them in vulnerable positions don't just because you want to go jump off and grab somebody else stay with your partner you know be safe and don't put yourself in a position that you could get accused of something or that you're putting yourself at risk ladies if you're invited into a home note the address or the apartment number and text your husband or put it in the whatsapp group so that people know that you've been invited in or you know first thing first if your husband doesn't want you going into somebody else's house then don't go but you know we get invited to people's houses sometimes and you know I'm sure that ladies you've been invited to people's houses nothing's happened you know every once in a while you get a real strange bird and they're just like you're just like okay let's you know they some people invite you in because they're gonna get saved and they're just being kind some people invite you in because they want to spring some strange stuff on you and then you're just like get me out of here you know but just be you know it's a good idea to let someone know what apartment number if it's an apartment let them know what apartment number you're in or if it's a house get the address and let somebody know and miners going alone together I don't want that happening okay I was I've been thinking about this and if there's no adult with them then I just think it's a bad idea so let's not do that and if it's a minor going with other people besides their parents make sure it is obviously by permission and then single men and women this has always been a rule at our church but we don't want single men and women going together by themselves that's just not something that we allowed our church so again there's the one and two witness thing and then there's the you know the opposite attracting thing and then yeah I just it's just always been a rule at our church and I know that other churches like ours don't necessarily have that rule but I think it's a good idea so and then if you're showing our so on our invitations we have the video or you can just you know it's the Bible way to heaven scan that you can scan and show it in whatever language they're really it's really cool actually but I don't want people counting them praying after the video as a salvation I don't want that because you if you don't speak that language you can't check what they actually believe or don't believe you can't ask them questions now might they be getting saved yeah I mean I've well I've had like a group of like four Mexican ladies when I was in Atlanta showed you know pastor men is his Bible way to heaven three of them were paying attention the other one was like me but three of them at the end they all bowed their head and prayed out loud with pastor men is on the video as he was preaching do I think they got saved they probably did but you know what I didn't do I didn't count them because I could not ask them questions and make sure that everything was right so I don't know if people are doing that but if they are I don't want you to count them not that they didn't get saved I'm not saying they didn't but when in doubt don't count so we just don't really know for sure now I'll say this about preaching to groups of children or teens we need to make sure that we're commanding their attention so if one if they're just not paying attention if there's like say there's like six or seven kids two of them are kind of maybe one is left and come back if they've missed part of that presentation do not count them as saved if they are not paying attention to the whole thing and then they pray with everybody else I mean I'm really gonna kind of leave it up to people in most cases to count or not count whoever you know was doing it but I what I like to do is I'll ask the person that I was so winning with well what do you think about that and you know sometimes I'll agree sometimes I won't and I won't count them but you know we're not trying to be you know getting a salvation number just for the sake of getting it okay so if it's doubtful then don't just don't count it I mean if they got saved they got saved but whether we I mean I'm sure there's salvation that are counted in our bulletin that aren't really saved we don't really know there's not a button that comes up and it's like ding you know it's like going red to yellow red to yellow red to yellow and all sudden it's green they got saved we don't really know for sure we just know that we preach the Bible we did the best job that we could we they called upon the name of the Lord they seem to be paying attention they asked answered all the questions right that's all we really know but if they're not there to listen to every single aspect of it don't count them if they're coming back and forth if they're not paying attention you know if they're not engaged and sometimes it's hard to command the attention of a group but you do have to command their attention or it's it's you know it's gonna be rough and if one of them is distracting the rest of them then just ask that one to leave say get out of here kid you bother me you know or something like that so I've done it before you know just say hey you know what you're you're being annoying or you're being loud just go go do something else for a while so but if they're fizzing around not paying attention don't count them and and so it's just I look I preach the teens or groups of kids lots of times and you know there's usually one or two of them that aren't paying attention so let's just make sure that we're doing things the right way so now number two I want to talk about soul winning etiquette so that was kind of all just you know practical things and being prepared but the etiquette part is is basically I'm gonna start by bringing up appropriately being dressed now I kind of talked about this last week and so see last week sermon about not letting your nakedness being exposed obviously you want to dress appropriately or you're not showing you know the nakedness from the loins to the thighs and obviously you're covering up you know not not inappropriately or immodestly dressed so my preference is for men and women you know that regularly attend this church that are in our soul winning program I prefer shirts and ties for the men or at least a collared shirt or and shorts that go past the knees if you're gonna wear shorts this is what I prefer so am I gonna just rustle you down on the ground because you have a graphic tee on no if you're wearing shorts and a graphic tee that says after the tribulation I'm not gonna just rustle you down and say you're out of compliance you know I'm just saying what I prefer but if you're soul winning captain and you're doing that I want you to wear a shirt and tie okay the captain's you know you're wearing a shirt and tie please and of course ladies skirts and dresses now obviously sometimes we'll have people that are new to our church they go out so one in there and the ladies might be wearing a pair of pants or the guys aren't like necessarily you know what we would consider appropriately dressed you know again this kind of I've been talking about this the last few weeks when I preached this series give people time okay don't be you know don't be that guy or girl that just has to correct everybody for everything that they're doing when they first start coming to our church you know again let the preaching build people up and edify them and help them and teach them let the Word of God as they read it and get involved because if you in case you forgot you probably didn't have it all figured out the moment you got saved and you probably didn't have it all figured out six even six months after you started coming going to church and so it takes time to knock off all the rough edges and you're probably still aren't all the way there yet so once you stop thinking that you have some room to grow then that's probably when you're like take heed lest you fall because you get puffed up and start thinking you're better than everybody and that's when you're like how dare you wear pants in the house of the Lord woman you know it's just like don't be like that all right turn to 2 Corinthians chapter 5 verse 18 again I'm not saying don't have standards I'm just saying attend to your own flocks worry about your own backyard all right second Corinthians 5 18 says and all things and all things are of God who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ and hath given us to us the ministry of reconciliation so the ministry of reconciliation is that we're supposed to go and reconcile other people that are not saved to God just like we have been reconciled to God if you're saved says to wit that God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself not imputing their trespasses unto them and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation so we're so go out and tell people hey God wants to be friends with you he wants to be your Savior he wants to save you over 20 now then we are ambassadors for Christ remember Paul said he was an ambassador for Christ in the in the in the Ephesians chapter 6 so we are also ambassadors for Christ it's not just the leaders that are supposed to be doing these things it's not just the pastors it's we are ambassadors for Christ as though God did beseech you by us we pray you in Christ's stead that you be reconciled to God so as ambassadors to Christ how do ambassadors present themselves in foreign countries you know we have the senator I think it's in Pennsylvania's name is John Fetterman who's ever heard of John Fetterman who wears a Carhartt hoodie to his all the professional things that he's supposed to be going to and I'm pretty sure like the Senate and and those positions are pretty much suit and tie you know there's a standard of dress and when you're an ambassador for the United States I'm pretty sure that's the dress code too and I'm not saying that you're you know that God is mad at you or something if you don't like wearing a shirt and tie or whatever but what I am saying is that should we look our best if we can you know should we look decent you know if you're out soul winning with a Budweiser t-shirt on I am going to have a problem with that or even if it's just like mocking Budweiser maybe it's the same lettering but it's like some you know even if it said Bud Dumber I mean I'm sure people are going to look at that and think it says Budweiser you know what I mean so and I always tell this story and there was a guy that was that was preaching for another church at a door he had flip-flops a pair of shorts and a graphic tee on and the police were called on the soul winning group because you know it was a 55 and older place and when the police came they went right for that person and asked him for their for his ID and you know he should have just said okay here's my ID but instead he was mouthy with the police officer which was probably led to his his being arrested but say that person was wearing a shirt and tie and a suit and tie do you think that that that he would have thought that that guy because he didn't know they didn't know exactly what they were going in there for so do you think that the officer might have treated him a little bit differently if he thought that's the pastor of the church he's wearing a shirt and you know I was I think I was with Sean Cullen what a couple was it last week or the week before last and I think he I think he was knocking he asked the the one of the people said are you the pastor of the church to me because I was wearing a shirt and tie why do you think that they thought I was the pastor of the church because I was wearing a shirt and tie and who's who's ever been soul winning and they thought you're the pastor of the church because you're wearing a shirt and tie okay so and I'm not saying I want people to think you're the pastor of the church when you come to their church I'm not saying that I'm just saying that people do kind of respect when you are looking your best and they then they if they think that you're a pastor then they kind of have a certain level of respect for you but if you show up wearing you know I'm the bud dumber t-shirt or the you know just whatever graphic tee you don't look as professional and some people think well you know but I think we should get down on their level and I get that but you know I just I don't think I think that our our society has become way too casual and there's some times when we shouldn't always be super casual and I think that we I think our society's got I mean if you look back at pictures of the 1920s and the 1930s and a baseball game for instance every every man in the whole stadium is wearing shirts and ties I'm not saying full suits I'm saying shirts and ties and all the ladies are wearing dresses and it's like what happened well society became too casual that's what happened and I'm look I'm not down on you if you don't wear a shirt in time I'm just saying that you know people are gonna you're gonna look you know you don't look like a wizard when you come to the door I'm not saying wear some kind of catholic robe with like a collar or something and and people think you're holy when you walk to the door but they're gonna look at you and they're gonna go that person looks professional maybe I should listen to them you know if it gives you any kind of edge at all then I think that that's a win when people see not you know ladies that look well dressed and nice when they come to the door they're gonna respect you more you know not everybody but I think that a lot of people will so anyway let me get off that hobby horse real quick but you know this isn't John Fetterman Baptist Church you know I want us to if we're gonna be ambassadors well you wouldn't look if I always try to use this example but we've had so many bad presidents but I don't know if I dressed up for Joe Biden but I mean if you heard that some governor that was actually decent was coming over to your house for dinner you probably wouldn't be wearing flip-flops shorts and a graphic tee so if you're not going to do that for some man then why would you I mean why not why would you not do that for God you know if you're an ambassador for God I mean that's a high calling so you know and you can disagree with me all you want about that but I mean that's just what I prefer so graphic tee versus shirt and tie I mean obviously if it's hot if you're in a different area if it's the summertime or whatever then that's a different story so if I'm in a foreign place if it's the Philippines or something even in the Philippines I wore a shirt and tie and shorts which looks weird but I still did it it was miserable but anyway so and then obviously you want to have some practical shoes to wear some comfortable water snacks invites bibles just make sure you're prepared in that way obviously but dress for the weather and consider your children and what they can handle so I think it's great that our church you know we've led you know I think that we lead in in having children go out with our families I think that's a good thing and I don't think it's a bad thing at all but we do need to consider them you know if it's 50 below zero outside or whatever obviously that's that's a stretch for here but you know taking them out in extreme temperatures just be mindful of those types of things so I'm just saying we need to be a cut above all right and our actions and our conversations that we hold while we're out there they are heard you know everybody's got ring doorbells now everybody's got the blink doorbells and I've been called and complained last year someone called and complained about a conversation that was taking place that they're mocking the fact that there was a sign that said not to knock on the door and they're laughing about it or something and the person called me and said I have the tape where they're you know saying they're laughing about the fact they're still knocking the door even though whatever so I mean we just got to be mindful of those things because those things do kind of make us look bad right so also just in general when we're at people's places um well for you know when we when we hang an invite even that is important I mean if you if you let's see who's got an invite on them somebody got an invite I can use thank you is that how you put the invite on because some people just do it like that is that how we want it presented I'm freaky about this kind of stuff maybe it's past or managed just drilled into my head but when I want people when people see our invite on their door in their door jam I want it to be presentable I want it to be right you know not not like this so the first thing they see is our bad presentation of how we put the invite on their door you know what I mean so like everything we do should have purpose behind it so again sometimes people just do it on accident but I've been out sewing with people that have been sewing with us for a long time and I still see them do this I'm just like I'll just cringe but it's fine but those are just things that you know pastors notice I guess but but yeah just try to make it presentable and then leaning on people's stuff sitting on people's cars sitting on people's lawn furniture it's just not appropriate and even if you're tired maybe if they offer you a seat to sit down that's one thing but if you're just like sitting on their vehicle some guys that's like you might as well just be you know holding their wife's hand or something I mean people just get weird about their property where you might not think it's a big deal but even crossing through people's yards don't do that use the sidewalk use the driveway but sometimes that's not always possible I understand that there are exceptions to the rule but for the most part we shouldn't be cutting through people's yards leaning on things slovenly if you're just like you know like this and you're just like you know I mean it just it looks lazy you know don't do that and you know I'll say this also respect some signs some people are like don't respect any signs we'll do whatever we want Christ sent us out he said to go to every door I'm gonna I don't care what it says I'm gonna do it anyway well that's fine but you're wasting time in some of these doors you're like well I don't respect any signs I don't care whatever I'm gonna keep doing it well turn to Philippians chapter 3 verse 1 Philippians 3 verse 1 and in Philippians 3 1 and 2 you're gonna find an actual scripture where it's a sign that you will see out so many you will see it finally my brethren rejoice in the Lord to write the same thing to you to me indeed is not grievous so Paul's saying let me remind you again but for you it is safe so it's a safety thing he wants to remind them of something that's a safety issue what does it say in verse 2 beware of dogs you ever seen that sign out so many before so it's in the bible and it's literally a sign in people's yards and then people will still go well you know I don't really care or whatever well you know what if that dog comes out and bites you you're gonna care and then you know what's gonna happen you're gonna have a big doctor bill and or you know what if it's a pit bull what if it's a land shark the reprobate of the dog world what if it's one of those and you have your kids with you and you're just like I don't care about these signs you know you can jiggle the the thing but sometimes the dog doesn't necessarily hear it but when they see that motion then they're gonna come for you so I would you know if it says beware of dogs and there's a inkling that a dog lives in that yard I wouldn't walk through that fence I mean that's just common sense but some people don't do don't heed the signs you know but that is a literal sign and God says to be aware of dogs so this is you know those are signs for literal dogs but there's other dogs that we should be aware of too but I was looking up some other ones how about how about this sign no trespassing I own firearms and a wood chipper you think that might be a dangerous one to go into you know sometimes I think that they're joking but at the same time they're they're probably not you know they got a sixth sense of humor so but here's another one pray prayer is the best way to meet the Lord but trespassing on this property is faster so and the gun sign is there I mean there are people have these you know if they have cameras and high gates and then signs like that that would not be the door that I or the gate that I'd want to go into sometimes when people people are just saying they're telling you on the outside don't knock on my door don't come into my fence and then you're just like I don't care what you have to say I'm just gonna come in anyway it's just like why so you can have a confrontation so you can waste your time when the next door might get saved it's just like I mean I'm not and I'm again I'm not saying don't you know I'm not ordering you not to do it but I just think it's foolish so signs I will respect don't beware a dog I will respect that sign no trespassing there's a fence I will respect that sign day sleeper I will respect that sign baby sleeping I will respect that sign and you should too and really obvious ones like you know what like the one I knocked last week that I accidentally knocked it like had all this black lives matter and you know the the antifa signs and like it was just like decked out but I was just like I was talking I wasn't really paying attention I knew it was there but I walked up I knocked it left an invitation and we walked off and I was like oh man I actually I actually did knock it I was teasing the other guys that were with me I was like yeah that's your door uh and I actually did knock it I never got a call either but uh that was an accident so anyway but uh yeah so and you also have the ones like we found Jesus we already voted I bought the cookies no soliciting no I really mean it don't make it weird those signs like I really think that they're trying to tell you something they're trying to tell you don't knock on my door for any reason whatsoever it's not that you don't have the legal right to do it but they really are telling you what they think and if out of ten thousand signed doors that you knock a door like that and one person listens to you for five minutes or one person gets saved or something then I mean for you to decide it's for you to decide but is it worth getting all the grief that you're going to get for knocking those ten thousand doors I mean I don't know weighed in the balance but I've never gotten somebody saved that I can think of that had those signs on that door I just don't even knock them anymore I just figure they're telling me they don't want Jesus or that they're already saved one of the two which usually they're probably not but they got pride flags all over the place that's generally one I won't do I'm not saying you have to listen to you know that I'm commanding you not to knock these doors but I just don't think it's always a good idea so but as far as apartment complexes I do ignore their stupid signs every time I don't care what it says because they don't have the right to speak for the people that rent their apartments they rent their apartments and I get look I get messages and phone calls from apartment managers every single week and I love writing letters back to them it's kind of become a little hobby of mine I love calling them back and telling them how wrong they are last week we went to a senior center place and we weren't doing anything I mean look how as bad as the world is today and they're following us around like we're criminals in this place and we're just knocking on doors and inviting people to church asking them if they understand you know if they're saved or not can we preach the gospel to them that's all we're doing and they like have their security guards with their radios out they're calling the police on us and all this stuff it's just like and and they like they write me a letter and say you were confrontational last week with our security guards it's like no they were confrontational with us we were just minding our own business doing what god told us to do and what the constitution allows us to do under the first amendment which is a freedom of speech and the freedom of religion so we really got the law on our side and reality and we have the bible on our side and they pay their own rent you know just because they're in a retirement community doesn't mean that they'll pay their own rent and if they have packages delivered I was I was asking brother Sean was telling me this that they don't just let you dump it into like a what is it like a common area you have to take it to that person's apartment because that's their apartment so it's funny how it's their apartment when they want packages delivered but when bible leaving christians are at the door then now all of a sudden it's private property you see how they are that's how they are so I'll just I'll just write them back and say hey you know the supreme court actually already ruled on this and we are allowed to knock on doors it's not you don't pay the rent so anyway this has just become a hobby of mine and I don't I don't expect you to respect those signs they can put up a sign that says don't breathe but guess what I don't have to follow that sign either so um and anyway so with the signs I mean you know read the sign beware of dog really does mean that I'm sure they're not just whistle and dixie folks you know if they have dobermans or german shepherds or pit bulls you know be aware of that so and then be nice how about that there's a novel idea be nice to people so we're not there to to argue with people or debate with them about their religion and obviously look I understand that sometimes it happens I'm guilty guilty here I've done it and I would say I've done it more than once and I know that other people in our church have too but in general we shouldn't be out fighting and debating with people every single time we go out soloing you know just as best as as much as lieth in you live peaceably with all men okay and we don't have to tell every sodomite they're going to hell that not that we knock on their door so but I've had them yell and scream and cuss me out the minute they open the door and then it's just like kind of hard to like not say anything I understand that but sometimes it's just not it's not necessary right it's not needed so but the bible says in first corinthians 1 18 it says for the preaching of the crosses to them that perish foolishness but unto us which are saved it is the power of god and so when we're going to people's houses we need to get to the point so don't go there and start hemming and hawing and telling you how cool their car is how cute their dog is when you go to someone's door get to the point because we're there to preach the gospel we should tell people what they're there what we're there for get to the point because they're already annoyed when they answer the door so just say here's what I'm here to do I'm from a baptist church I'm here to preach the gospel I'm here to invite you to church and then just give them the option but um let's see and this is important don't just puke the gospel on people when they open the door don't just start cramming verses on them and not ask them for permission to preach this is important because you can just some people are just really polite and they won't tell you to shut up and leave and once you start preaching they're just gonna be like oh just bless his heart or whatever and they're gonna let you finish and then they're gonna they're gonna let and then maybe they're but look if you don't ask them for permission most of the time you're not going to convert them so you ask them if you can preach to them and if they say yes then game on but if they say no take it as a sign from god take it as a sign from god that they don't want to hear the gospel and move on don't keep trying after that now if they're like 80 years old and that's probably the last time they're ever gonna hear the gospel maybe prompt them again or whatever and when you leave them with a verse leave them with a verse and quickly explain it and move on don't go into another full gospel presentation that they didn't you didn't when you say because look people are going to take you at your word can i give you one quick verse yeah real quick and then you're like john 3 16 for god's love the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life and you know in in romans 3 23 says for all of sin and comes to the glory don't do that don't do that just do what you say you're going to do if they say no they mean no and that means someone else is going to hear it that means that's like god saying move along move along children it's not for you when when they say when you when you say can i can i give you another verse it's not like you're saying there's a chance there's a chance i can get no just again take it as a sign that god's saying move on so i i mean i just think that that's just something we you know if you're doing that then stop doing it all right i don't know who does what all the time because i don't go so many with everybody all the time but um and don't use weird over the top what if questions this is a pet peeve of mine also like what if you believe in jesus today and then you rob a bank and kill everyone and go on a kill crazy rape and pillage rampage shoot a bunch of cops and the hostage negotiator because he gave you a dirty look and then yourself would you still go to heaven what do you think that's just bizarre it's over the top it's not likely and you know you can ask extreme questions to to to measure whether they understand or not without going that deep and that crazy because you would never do that and someone that's even not saved would not do that in most cases so i just say stuff like this like what if you because people will say you know i'll just i'll gauge them like this what if you stop going to church stop serving god quit reading the bible and walked away from the christian life would you still go to heaven and that's a good way to gauge because then you know well they're if they if they if they quit the christian life and stopped then they're not living they're not working continuously to be saved and so then you would say well if they say i would still go to hell i would go to hell then because i didn't keep continuing on or i wasn't doing the works then you can gauge it that way but i also do use an extreme thing where i use suicide as the most extreme case so and look most catholics even people that are non-catholic believe this they believe that if you killed yourself you know saved or not saved you'd go to hell it's an it's a mortal sin and so then that transfers onto people that aren't catholic because they've heard that from tv or from movies or from some catholic friend and so i've found that that's the best way to kind of gauge if you killed yourself you know you believed in jesus today and then you killed yourself would you still go to heaven and if they say no then i know that they are still trusting their works or they don't understand what i presented to them and then i'll say well did jesus die for all your sins or just some of your sins and then usually they'll say well he died for all my sins well did he die for the sin of suicide then yes he did so then that helps him kind of figure that out but if you're just like and you kill all the people and you know it's just like then you blow up you know you blow up a building and all of them you you part say you participated in 9 11 do you think you still go to heaven you know it's just like we don't have to go that far folks it doesn't have to be that crazy oh so but anyway i mean you can go to to verses that will help you like matthew 5 19 whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments and shall teach men so he shall be called the least of the kingdom of heaven so you know that people can still break the commandments and even teach against the commandments and still be the least in the kingdom of heaven you know so because some people will say well if you break the commandments you go to hell or if you stop doing the works you go to hell but that's not true you can even teach false doctrine to a certain extent and still go to heaven so you know and that jesus christ is the savior of the whole world for the sin and he died for the sins of the whole world things like that and that you know Romans 4 5 you got Ephesians 2 8 9 that'll help you but you don't have to go through these crazy elaborate stories be self-aware of time of situation show people you care and i'm going to close with this and i think this is a really important point that i really want to get across this is the probably the one of the most important things i'm going to say today and i want really want you to focus in on this so remember to ask them what they believe it takes to be saved you've gone through everything before you pray with somebody before you close the deal before you get them to call upon the name of the lord with you you go through all the points you know do you understand you're a sinner you know what or you say what does it take to be saved and you have them go and tell you everything back and then i always say what do you personally think it takes to be saved and if they've not gotten it then they're gonna go well you just gotta be baptized and live a good life look the bible turn to this last scripture and we'll be done what does the bible say about this because i'm telling you just try if you have never done this then try it today when you go out someone if you get a chance or if you're the next time you're about to lead some of the lord and and try this because if they're still trusting in works or whatever then they're going to tell you the wrong answer even though they've gotten all the answers right up until this point and you know why because you haven't convinced them still they just know the answer that you're looking for when you're in school and the teachers taught you stuff in school and you didn't agree with some of the questions i'm sure who's been there before and you're just like i don't even agree with what this author's saying i don't agree with what the school's teaching i don't agree with what the teacher's trying to get out of me here but i know what answer they're looking for and so i'm sure everybody in here has passed the test before and you didn't agree with the answer that you were putting down but it's the same thing with soul winning if you go through all these things with them they're going to know the right answers but it says in matthew 12 33 it says either make the tree good and his fruit or else make the tree corrupt and his fruit corrupt for the tree is known by his fruit oh generation of vipers how can you being evil speak good things for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh so whatever is really truly your belief in your heart that's what's actually going to come out and it says a good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth good things an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things but i say unto you that every idle word that men shall speak they shall give an account thereof in the day of judgment so people that aren't saved it's talking about in verse 36 the when you speak an idle word they're going to give an account thereof but it says but by the by for by thy words thou shalt be justified and by thy words thou shalt be condemned what does that mean well i believe that i believe in jesus christ i don't believe in jesus i mean so when a person when you ask a person what they believe it's going to come out of their heart and out of their mouth so when you're soul winning you're gonna look you're gonna cut down on false conversions by i mean you're gonna cut out your false conversions by a lot the ones that you think are oh well they answered all the questions right but what did they really believe this is so important it's so it's an important truth that we have to get because they can pass the test teacher but is that really what they believe because what's important it's not important that whether they pass the test and set everything right what's important is what they actually believe in their heart and repentance true repentance is actually turning from what they believe that was taken them to hell and changing their mind and believing that christ is the only way to be saved and that true repent that true repentance is believing on the lord jesus christ and calling upon him for salvation that's the goal that's why i preach this sermon because i want us to be just more adept at giving people the gospel and and you know closing some some maybe some behaviors that we might have had or improving but that's the whole goal let's improve let's get better and let's cut out the false conversions that we might have had and and let me tell you when it when it actually happens in a in a soloing presentation you're like you're about to pray with them and you go but what do you believe and they and and look i've had it happen so many times now i'm just like oh you know i was about to pray with this person and then they still have they still believe they have to do the works and be baptized and that they can lose their salvation and then you're about to pray with them i mean it's revolutionary to your soul winning it really is all right that's all i got let's pray lord we thank you so much for the scriptures today i pray that lord you'd help us as a church to dial in our soul winning and to be decent and in order as we go out and preach the gospel lord and and lord it's not my intention to beat people up on what they're doing wrong but lord i i want people to do better and i want us to be the best that we can be in an excellent church in the way we present the gospel and the way that we behave while we're out preaching it pray that you just bless us as we go out today in jesus name we ask amen