Preparation for Soul Winning

Text: Proverbs 11:30

Opening: Just about everything that is done in life requires some type of preparations. Soul-winning is no different.

If we are going to effectively share the Gospel with those around us, we must prepare.

I. The Salvation Day

One way in which we must prepare to be effective soul-winners is to have a clear understanding of what happened on our own salvation day.

While you may not remember the specifics of your salvation experience, there are three fundamental aspects of every salvation experience.

A. The Transmission of Spiritual Truth

The day a person accepts Jesus Christ as Savior is the day that someone else cared enough about that person to share with them the most important truth that the world has ever known.

For many individuals it just wasn’t one individual but many who, throughout the course of their lives, shared the Gospel with them at different times.

1 Corinthians 3:6 KJV 1900

I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase.

The transmission of the Gospel should be our primary objective!

2 Timothy 2:2 KJV 1900

And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also.

A. The Transmission of Spiritual Truth

B. A Change of Mind

Whenever a person is truly saved, a change of mind should be evident.

This change will evidence itself in different ways and at different levels, depending on the individual, but true repentance should at some point and to some degree manifest itself in a desire to please the Lord.

The desire to please self is replaced with the desire to please the Lord.

One example of this is the Apostle Paul who, upon his salvation, immediately asked the Lord,

Acts 22:10 KJV 1900

And I said, What shall I do, Lord? And the Lord said unto me, Arise, and go into Damascus; and there it shall be told thee of all things which are appointed for thee to do.

B. A Change of Mind

C. A Truthful Purpose

While a person’s salvation is not dependent upon works in any way, he does need to understand that with the gift of salvation comes responsibility.

Ephesians 2:8–10 KJV 1900

For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.

While an individual may not be able to “put their finger on it” there is a heart acknowledgment that God has created them for something more just as we see in Paul’s life when he asked, “What shall I do, Lord?”

2 Corinthians 4:1 KJV 1900

Therefore seeing we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we faint not;

2 Timothy 1:9 KJV 1900

Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began,

A soul winner should understand his own salvation day as he prepares to share the Gospel with others.

I. The Salvation Day

II. Spiritual Prerequisites

The primary prerequisite for soul-winning is that the soul winner be saved.

Beyond that, any saved person can tell someone else how to become a Christian.

However the fact is that there are some who seem to be more effective than others in this matter of soul-winning.

The difference may hinge upon certain prerequisites needed to become an effective soul winner.

A. A Proper Life’s Objective

A Christian’s objective in life should be parallel to that which God has set forth in God’s Word.

Matthew 6:33 KJV 1900

But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.

We see this in the life of the Apostle Paul; his entire life - after salvation - was consumed with giving the Gospel.

B. Willing to Pay a Price

2 Timothy 2:3–4 KJV 1900

Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier.

Question: What are some of the sacrifices that must be made in order to be an effective soul-winner?

C. A Love For God’s Word

Jeremiah 15:16 KJV 1900

Thy words were found, and I did eat them; and thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart: for I am called by thy name, O Lord God of hosts.

Psalm 1:2 KJV 1900

But his delight is in the law of the Lord; And in his law doth he meditate day and night.

D. A Servant’s Heart

Matthew 20:26–28 KJV 1900

But it shall not be so among you: but whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister; And whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant: Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.

A servant’s heart has, as its focus, others.

Are we more focused on ourselves or on others?

E. Putting No Confidence in the Flesh

2 Corinthians 1:9 KJV 1900

But we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead:

It is not in us; it’s in Christ!

F. A Genuine Love for Others

1 John 4:10–11 KJV 1900

Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another.

G. Avoiding Bitterness

Hebrews 12:15 KJV 1900

Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled;

Bitterness: anger and disappointment at being treated unfairly; resentment

Because of the nature of the Christian life, it is extremely easy to become bitter. The Christian life does not lack for opportunities to become bitter. But, when we allow ourselves to become bitter, we will lose our effectiveness!

H. Leading a Disciplined Life

1 Corinthians 9:24–27 KJV 1900

Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain. And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible. I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beateth the air: But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.

An individual who is leading a disciplined life is someone who is living according to Biblical principles and not by their own feelings.

These prerequisites are not rules; rather, they reflect the attitude of a Spirit-filled soul winner.

Every Christian should be striving daily to be successful in each of these areas.

II. Spiritual Prerequisites

III. The Cost of Soul-Winning

Whenever an individual gains a privilege, in turn he gains a responsibility.

When one receives the Lord as his personal Saviour, he receives many eternal blessings.

With these blessings, he also receives a spiritual responsibility.

Soul winning is the opportunity to give one’s life to something of great value - something of eternal value!

A. Self-Sacrifice

Luke 9:23–24 KJV 1900

And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it.

Soul-winning is all about Christ and others.

Who can know how God will use us when we lay aside our own selfishness and petty preferences?

Self-sacrifice is a testimony to the lost that many times weighs much more than our words.

B. Personal Separation

Because a soul-winner is stepping forward as an example to the world, lack of personal separation from the world could be a major hindrance to his testimony and witness for Christ.

The world will look for any hint of hypocrisy.

2 Timothy 2:3–4 KJV 1900

Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier.

Titus 2:14 KJV 1900

Who [Jesus Christ] gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.

C. Potential Persecution

While up to this point in the United States physical suffering for the Christian faith is very rare, the soul-winner should always be prepared for the day when he may have to suffer physical persecution.

2 Timothy 2:9 KJV 1900

Wherein I suffer trouble, as an evil doer, even unto bonds; but the word of God is not bound.

When society becomes increasingly intolerant of Christianity, persecution always results.

D. Personal Study

2 Timothy 2:15–16 KJV 1900

Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. But shun profane and vain babblings: for they will increase unto more ungodliness.

E. Prayer and the Holy Spirit

A soul-winner must continually be seeking the power and filling of the Holy Spirit in order to win others to Christ.

“No man can do a great and enduring work for God who is not a man of prayer, and no man can be a man of prayer who does not give much time to praying.”

The Holy Spirit convicts the sinner, empowers the believer, and guides the soul-winner in the truth of God’s Word.

John 16:13–14 KJV 1900

Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come. He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you.

Closing: To be an effective soul-winner, we must be prepared:

We must have a clear understanding of what happened to us on our salvation day.

We must strive to incorporate the spiritual prerequisites to being a soul-winner.

We must count the cost; and be willing to pay the cost to be an effective soul-winner.