Post by Sister Michelle on Nov 22, 2006 14:27:35 GMT -5
My message is on the "Sevenfold Sin of Not Winning Souls." I said sin! If you are a Christian and don't win souls, it is a sin like getting drunk, lying, hate, murder or adultery. It is a wicked, terrible sin! Every preacher and every Christian ought to win souls. Any Christian who does not win souls is sinning. And we who win few are sinning if we don't do our best all the time to win more souls.
A man running for office said to his business manager,"Do you know what my opponent said about me? He accused me of lying."
"He ought not to have done that. That is bad."
"He did worse than that."
"What is that?"
"He proved it!"
That is what I plan to do tonight-not only to preach that it is a sin not to win souls, but to prove it be the Bible, the precious Word of God.
"And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying. All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.
"Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost;
"Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you; and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen"-Matt. 28:18-20
We call this the Great Commission, and it contains three teaching's. First, go and teach all nations the Word-that means make disciples of men in all nations be teaching them how to be saved. Second, baptize them. Third, teach them to observe all things that Jesus commanded us.
Soul winning is the main thing with God. If it isn't first with the preacher, the preacher isn't right. If soul winning isn't the first thing with the church, the church isn't right. If soul winning isn't first for a Sunday school teacher, he or she is not a good Sunday school teacher. If soul winning isn't the main reason for a Christian school, it is not a very good Christian school. If soul winning isn't the main thing for a Christian newspaper like the SWORD OF THE LORD, then it is off the track and not what a Christian paper ought to be. The first and main thing with God is soul winning.
In I Timothy 1:, Paul said, "This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation...." That sounds like it was a saying often repeated among New Testament Christians. What was the saying?
"....that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners." Jesus came to save sinners.
Jesus said, "I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance" (Luke 5:32).
Again, He said, "The Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost" (Luke 19:10). This is what Jesus came for, what Jesus died for. That is why the Bible was written, why churches are organized, why preachers are called to preach.
Some preachers say, "But I don't feel led to win souls." That means you are not led of the Lord. If God were leading you, He would lead you to do what the Bible says. A Christian ought to win souls. That is the most important thing with God.
He gave the Great Commission in each of the four Gospels with slightly different words. The same day He rose from the dead, Jesus entered into the room where the disciples were shut up for fear of the Jews and breathed on them and said, "A s my Father hath sent me, even so send I you" (John 20:21).
Another time He came to the disciples as they were eating and said, "Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature" (Mark 16:15). Again, Jesus met the disciples on a mountain in Galilee and gave the Great Commission to them in the words of our text. Then in Luke He said that "repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. And ye are wittinesses of these things....but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high" (Luke 24:47-49).
Forty days after His resurrection when He was preparing to ascend back into Heaven He gave the Great Commission yet a fifth time: "But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth" (Ac ts 1: 8) He had already given the command four time (and perhaps many unrecorded times during the previous forty days); but in the last minute before He went away to Heaven, Jesus repeated it. These were the last words of Jesus on earth.
When a person is departing, his parting words are likely to be about the thing that is most on his mind, the thing that is most important to him. I'm saying that this is the one main thing Jesus left for us to do in these ages after He went away. This is His Great Commission.
There is a sevenfold sin in not winning souls.
A man running for office said to his business manager,"Do you know what my opponent said about me? He accused me of lying."
"He ought not to have done that. That is bad."
"He did worse than that."
"What is that?"
"He proved it!"
That is what I plan to do tonight-not only to preach that it is a sin not to win souls, but to prove it be the Bible, the precious Word of God.
"And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying. All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.
"Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost;
"Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you; and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen"-Matt. 28:18-20
We call this the Great Commission, and it contains three teaching's. First, go and teach all nations the Word-that means make disciples of men in all nations be teaching them how to be saved. Second, baptize them. Third, teach them to observe all things that Jesus commanded us.
Soul winning is the main thing with God. If it isn't first with the preacher, the preacher isn't right. If soul winning isn't the first thing with the church, the church isn't right. If soul winning isn't first for a Sunday school teacher, he or she is not a good Sunday school teacher. If soul winning isn't the main reason for a Christian school, it is not a very good Christian school. If soul winning isn't the main thing for a Christian newspaper like the SWORD OF THE LORD, then it is off the track and not what a Christian paper ought to be. The first and main thing with God is soul winning.
In I Timothy 1:, Paul said, "This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation...." That sounds like it was a saying often repeated among New Testament Christians. What was the saying?
"....that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners." Jesus came to save sinners.
Jesus said, "I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance" (Luke 5:32).
Again, He said, "The Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost" (Luke 19:10). This is what Jesus came for, what Jesus died for. That is why the Bible was written, why churches are organized, why preachers are called to preach.
Some preachers say, "But I don't feel led to win souls." That means you are not led of the Lord. If God were leading you, He would lead you to do what the Bible says. A Christian ought to win souls. That is the most important thing with God.
He gave the Great Commission in each of the four Gospels with slightly different words. The same day He rose from the dead, Jesus entered into the room where the disciples were shut up for fear of the Jews and breathed on them and said, "A s my Father hath sent me, even so send I you" (John 20:21).
Another time He came to the disciples as they were eating and said, "Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature" (Mark 16:15). Again, Jesus met the disciples on a mountain in Galilee and gave the Great Commission to them in the words of our text. Then in Luke He said that "repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. And ye are wittinesses of these things....but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high" (Luke 24:47-49).
Forty days after His resurrection when He was preparing to ascend back into Heaven He gave the Great Commission yet a fifth time: "But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth" (Ac ts 1: 8) He had already given the command four time (and perhaps many unrecorded times during the previous forty days); but in the last minute before He went away to Heaven, Jesus repeated it. These were the last words of Jesus on earth.
When a person is departing, his parting words are likely to be about the thing that is most on his mind, the thing that is most important to him. I'm saying that this is the one main thing Jesus left for us to do in these ages after He went away. This is His Great Commission.
There is a sevenfold sin in not winning souls.