Spread The Word Soul Winning For The Savior

 Spread The Word

Soul Winning For The Savior

Opening Illustration:

I recently heard a story about a young man interviewing for a job at a movie theater. He was interviewing to be one of the ushers. 

During the interview, the manager of the theater asked the young man, “what will you do if a fire breaks out in the theater?”

The young man said, “oh don’t worry about me mister, Ill be just fine. I can get out of the theater all by myself”.

Funny, that’s exactly how many Christians today respond would respond to a lost and dying world around them. If Christians today were asked, “what would you do if Jesus came back tomorrow”, most of them would respond saying, “oh don’t worry about me, Ill be just fine”. 

But that’s not the point is it?

Believers today have forgotten that they…we…are ushers. It is not enough just to get ourselves out of this dark and wicked world. We are all responsible for helping others know the way. 

One of the most thankless jobs here at Eastern Shore Baptist Church is the job of an usher. Our ushers are the face of the sanctuary. Our ushers help people to their seats, hand out important materials containing information to the congregation, several of them serve as security, and of course they are here to help in an emergency. Our ushers are here to help people find their way out of the church in the unlikely event of fire. 

You see friends, we are God’s ushers. We are here to help people find their place in the Body of Christ. We are here to equip them with the all important Word of God. We are here to guard or shepherd the family of God, serving them, laying our very lives down for them if necessary. 

Have you ever noticed that an usher in a movie theater welcomes everyone? No one is excluded. You buy a ticket, you are welcome. They serve anyone in the building. It doesn’t matter what they look like, smell like, where they are from or where they have been. That usher holds the door for anyone who wants to find their way in the building. 

The same holds true for God’s ushers and boy do we have a better message than a movie. We offer salvation through Jesus Christ. That message is for everyone. It is an open ended invitation. God’s message of mercy is for all mankind and we are ushering everyone inside to hear it. In fact that is your “Today’s Thought”. God’s message of mercy is for all mankind. 

Today’s Thought:

God’s Message of Mercy Is For All Mankind!

Background:

Before we read today’s Scripture, I’d like to share with you the background and context of the passage. It has now been 10 days following the day that Jesus ascended to heaven to be with the Father. Before Jesus ascended, He promised His followers that another would come. Jesus called this presence “The Helper” and we know this presence to be the Holy Spirit. This would be a new baptism and this baptism would mark the passing of the Mosaic law to the beginning of the church age. So now the followers of Jesus are celebrating Pentecost. Apparently without warning, the Holy Spirit fills the house with a sound like a great wind and lands on each believer, giving them the ability to speak different languages. Jerusalem is filled with visitors who have come to celebrate Jewish holiday. They hear the different dialects and are astounded. We know this spiritual gift to be tongues. Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, begins to preach to anyone who will listen, telling them about Christ, sharing the Gospel message. He informs them about what Christ has done, how he suffered, and how they can now be saved by trusting in Christ. That is where we are picking up this morning. So, let’s read together from Acts 2:37-41 and verse 47. 

Today’s Scripture

Acts 2:37-41,47 ESV

37 Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?” 38 And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.” 40 And with many other words he bore witness and continued to exhort them, saying, “Save yourselves from this crooked generation.” 41 So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls.

42 And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. 43 And awe[a] came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. 44 And all who believed were together and had all things in common. 45 And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. 46 And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, 47 praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.

Point:

I have always loved this story because it gives clarity to the last words of Christ. Jesus told His disciples to go into the world, make disciples, and baptize them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. He affirms this call in Acts 1:8 when he commands His followers to share the Gospel in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the ends of the earth. He then promises that He will be with them wherever they go. Some have asked the question, is evangelism really for me? Like, does Jesus really expect me to tell others about Him, share my testimony, or even preach the Gospel? Isn’t that reserved for preachers and pastors? Well, this story proves that evangelism is everyone’s call. Remember friends that Peter had not been to seminary. He was not licensed to ministry. He had not received any formal education and he had no certificate. Peter understood that his primary mission was to win souls to Jesus. He practically lived out Proverbs 11:30.

The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life; and he that winneth souls is wise.

Proverbs 11:30 KJV

Point:

This again reminds me of a quote from the “Prince of Preachers”, Charles Haddon Spurgeon. 

“Soul winning is the chief business of the Christian minister; it should be the main pursuit of every true believer.”

-Charles Haddon Spurgeon

Brothers and sisters, there are several things that we can learn from this story. We learn that Christ’s call to share the Gospel is for anyone who calls themselves a disciple. There are three things that I want to reveal to you about this story. Let’s talk about them today. The first perspective, perspective one, is that we discover the plight of the sinner. 

3 Powerful Perspectives From Peter’s Preaching…

Perspective One: The Plight of The Sinner vs. 37

Acts 2:27 ESV

37 Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?”

Point:

The Bible makes it very clear there is salvation in no one else! Jesus is the ONE and only Savior, and those souls without Him are LOST. 

Matthew 10:28 AMP

Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; but rather be afraid of Him who can destroy both soul and body in hell. If a man does not have Christ, no matter how nice a man or lady he or she may be, if a man does not have Christ, He has nothing! We must see unsaved people as God sees them. Brothers and sisters, do you recall what your life was like before you knew Christ? Do you remember the lack of peace, the lack of purpose, the pointless daily fatigue of trying to fill up the vacancy in your soul that only Christ could fill? Sadly most people think that they are good. I have been conducting a personal evangelism study called “The Way of The Master”. “The Way of the Master” is authored by Ray Comfort. Comfort, as he shares the Gospel, asks people if they feel that they are “good”. 10-10 people say “yes”, that they are indeed “good”. They will then usually say that if they were to stand before a holy God, they believe that God will let them into heaven because of their perception of their own goodness. Comfort them compares their actions to the 10 commandments. 

Have you ever lied?

Have you ever stolen?

Have you ever used the Lord name in vain? Have you ever used God’s name as a curse?

Have you ever slept with someone outside of marriage?

Have you ever hated someone in your heart?

Inevitably each person responds to these questions in the affirmative. By their own admission these people are lying, thieving, blasphemous, fornicating, murderers. They are then asked if they think they are good. Sheepishly they respond “no, I am not good” and then they realize that if they stand before a Holy God, they would be found guilty. 

All of us, before Christ, are guilty. You. Me. Everyone in this room. 

Romans3:10-12 " As it is written: “There is none righteous, no, not one; there is none who understands; there is none who seeks after God. They have all turned aside; they have together become unprofitable; there is none who does good, no, not one." 

Not only are all men sinners, without repenting of their sin and placing their faith in Christ alone as their Lord and Savior they will spend a Christ-less eternity in Hell. Someone has said, "If you ever caught a glimpse of the eternal fate of these individuals you would be motivated, to have a burden for the lost; and be encouraged to present the Gospel to those who are headed to this awful place." There are 162 references to Hell and eternal judgment in the New Testament alone, and nearly half, 70 of them, were spoken by the Lord Jesus Christ! Consider just a few of them: 

Matthew 10:28 And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell”. 

Matthew 13:40 As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire; so shall it be in the end of this world. The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity; and shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth”. 

Mark 9:43-44 "If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life crippled, than, having two hands, and to go to hell, into the fire that shall never be quenched, where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched. 

No matter how good, how religious, how sweet, how kind, how benevolent, how dedicated, how rich, how poor, or how tormented in this life, regardless of church membership, observance of "sacraments" or rituals, nationality, family ties, or heritage without repentance of one's sin and an acceptance of Christ as Lord and Savior one is headed for an eternity of torment in hell. No one goes to heaven apart from repentance and faith 

2 Corinthians 5:11 "Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men..." Paul was a soul winner because he knew what it meant for a soul to die unredeemed and go to hell. 

Brothers and sisters, the most sobering reality in this life is that people are dying and going to hell everyday. It is sad and horrific bur thankfully this is not the end of the story. 

3 Powerful Perspectives From Peter’s Preaching…

Perspective One: The Plight of The Sinner vs. 37

Perspective Two: The Passion of The Saved vs. 38-39 

Acts 2:38-39 ESV

 38 And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.” 

Point:

I want to ask you a question, “what is your favorite characteristic about Jesus”? What is the one primary component of His personality that you love the most? Is it His love, His compassion, His miracles, or His love of the poor? Ill tell you something that I have always loved or found fascinating about Jesus. I love the fact that Jesus was focused on saving lost people. This was His singular mission in life. Think about it, everything that Jesus did and said, every miracle, was done in hopes that lost people, broken people, shatter people, would put their faith in Him. That is why He is often referred to as a shepherd. 

Mark 6:34 "And Jesus, when He came out, saw a great multitude and was moved with compassion for them, because they were like sheep not having a shepherd." 

Jesus was constant in His mission. He was constantly compassionate, He was constant in His affections, His teachings, His service, His desire for people to know Him. So naturally when you think about His followers, it only makes sense that they did as He did. 

Warren Wiersbe noted that, “The Christians you meet in the Book of Acts were not content to meet once a week for “service as usual.” They met daily (2:46), cared daily (6:1), won souls daily (2:47), searched the Scriptures daily (17:11) and increased in numbers daily (16:5). Their Christian faith was a day-to-day reality, not a once-a-week routine. Why? Because the risen Christ was a living reality to them, and His resurrection power was at work in their lives through the Spirit.” 

They had the mind and heart of Christ. 

Point:

Peter told us in Acts chapter 2 the path. Repent and be baptized. Repentance is for forgiveness and baptism is the outward expression of what God has done on the inside, cleansed us from all unrighteousness. Baptism symbolically shows the world that we are of one accord, together, brothers and sisters in Christ. Repentance and baptism unites us in Christ. 

Point:

None of you have probably ever heard of Charles Cowman. Cowman was a missionary to Japan in the early 1900’s. He is credited to leading thousands of Japanese men and women to Christ. He was deeply passionate about sharing the Gospel with the people of Japan. Listen to the great enthusiasm that he has for evangelism. "By the help of God they shall hear if it costs every drop of my life's blood. Here I am, Lord, send me, send me." What about you friend? What is your passion? Sports? Boating? The Great Outdoors? Let me share with you that if we call ourselves Christians, but we never speak of Christ, share Christ, or tell our story in Christ, then Christ is not our passion. In that case, you may not even be in Christ. 

Mark 6:34 ESV

When he went ashore he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. And he began to teach them many things.

3 Powerful Perspectives From Peter’s Preaching…

Perspective One: The Plight of The Sinner vs. 37

Perspective Two: The Passion of The Saved vs. 38-39 

Perspective Three: The Power of The Savior vs. 40-41,47

Acts 2:40-41,47

40 And with many other words he bore witness and continued to exhort them, saying, “Save yourselves from this crooked generation.” 41 So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls.

 47 They were also praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.

Point:

Consider the last words of our Savior. 

Acts 1:8 "But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” 

Mark 16:15 "And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature."

John 20:21 " So Jesus said to them again, “Peace to you! As the Father has sent Me, I also send you.” 

Point:

The Christian Post recently shared an article that I found really convicting. It shared a quote from Alex Mitala. Mitala is the general overseer of the National Churches of Uganda which consists of more than 18,000 churches. The article stated that Mitala was preaching to a huge crowd of Ugandans, he was pointing to his Bible when he said these words, 

“Every Christian must be a soul winner and all believers are called to participate in a soul-winning campaign. He wants people to believe Him after repenting of their sins, to grow and then after to become disciples." Mitala said, "Every believer must be a soul winner. Every believer is empowered according to the Bible. God calls people to serve in different ways, Mitala said. But whether they are a businessman, a farmer or a musician, a believer has to be a soul winner." 

I was so convicted by that quote. 

God calls all of His children to soul winning and to not do so would be sin. 

If we do not carry the Gospel to those who don't know Christ or are not outward focused we are guilty of: 

Disobedience to the main command of Jesus Christ. We commonly refer to the last two verses of Matthew as the “great commission,” (Matt. 28:19-20). When you are not telling others about Jesus, you are disobeying this command (Mk. 16:15). 

We are guilty of a lack of love for Jesus. I know that may offend you and trust me the statement offends me. Think about it friend, what we talk about we love. I just wrote my Shoreline article the other day and I was thinking about some friends that I have in this church. Do you know what Steve Stewart enjoys talking about? He loves to talk engineering because he is an engineer. Alan Bell loves to talk accosting because he is an accountant. Dr. Richie, he talks teeth because he is a dentist. James talks cars because he owns an automotive recycling center. Some of you talk football because you love football. Some of you talk about your kids because you are proud of them and love them. 

How much do you talk about Jesus? Is He on your lips daily? Weekly? Monthly? Ever? Do you ever talk about Him? We talk about that which we love. 

If we do not carry the Gospel to those who don't know Christ or are not outward focused we are guilty of: disobedience, lack of love for Christ, and we are guilty of not following Christ. 

Jesus said, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men,” (Matt. 4:19). That’s what happens when you follow Jesus. If you are not fishing for men, you are not really following him. 

If we do not carry the Gospel to those who don't know Christ or are not outward focused we are guilty of: disobedience, lack of love for Christ, we are guilty of not following Christ, and we are guilty of not abiding in Christ. Jesus said, “I am the true vine,” (Jn 15:1). When you abide in him, you bear fruit. He has ordained you to bear fruit (15:2), to bring forth more fruit (15:2), and to bear much fruit (15:8). And he has ordained that your fruit should remain (15:16). If you are not bearing fruit, and sharing Christ is certainly bearing Kingdom fruit, you are not abiding in him. 

Be reminded of Jesus words captured in John 20:21. Jesus is sending us into this world to tell others about Him.

John 20:21 AMP

Then Jesus said to them again, “Peace to you; as the Father has sent Me, I also send you [as My representatives].”

Closing:

Speaking of being sent to share the Gospel, perhaps you've heard of Penn and Teller the comedy team who has worked Las Vegas for years. Penn Jillette is an atheist, but he recorded a video journal a few years ago telling the story about a man who waited to speak to him after one of their shows. Penn said the man was a successful businessman and was "very sane and sincere" and looked him right in his eyes. The man was very complimentary of the show, and then he did a strange thing. He gave Penn a Gideon's New Testament and inside the cover wrote a personal note and left phone numbers and an email if Penn wanted to talk to him about the message of the New Testament. Penn said nobody had ever done that to him before. On the video he says, "If you believe that there's a heaven and a hell; and people could be going to hell; or not getting eternal life or whatever, and you think it's not really worth telling them this because it would make it socially awkward; and atheists who think people shouldn't proselytize...just leave me alone, keep your religion to yourself. How much do you have to hate somebody to not proselytize them? How much do you have to hate someone to believe that everlasting life is possible, and not tell him or her that? I mean if I believed, without a shadow of a doubt, that a truck was coming at you and you didn't believe it? And that truck was bearing down on you? There's a certain point where I tackle you. And this is MORE important than that."

There you have it; a confirmed atheist telling us that if we believe there heaven and hell exists, and if we believe there is eternal life, and we DON'T tell others; then it shows we must really hate them.

Actually, the Bible teaches that it is the love of Christ that constrains us to urge people to be reconciled to God. The Great Commandment Jesus gave was to love God with all of your being, and to love your neighbor as yourself. If you truly believe and obey the Great Commandment, then you'll be practicing the Great Commission.

Application: Share Your “Jesus Story” This Week!