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If you have been around an Apostolic Church for any length of time, you will have heard someone quote our text in Proverbs. In fact, this verse of scripture is where we get the term "soul winning." The Amplified Version clearly defines this term "soul winning" as "capturing human lives for God, as a fisher of men, gathering and receiving them for eternity." That's a pretty good definition. Soul winning, to put it simply, means that you actively participate in steering and bringing others to a place of salvation. It means that you actively participate in things with the sole intention to "win" someone to God. You are trying to influence someone from a life of sin that will result in eternal destruction, and bring them to a place where they hunger after and receive the Spirit of God so that they can live a life of holiness which will result in eternal life!

And so most people will quote this verse to remind us that we must be "wise" to win souls. In other words, the right approach, the right attitude, knowing when to delve off into doctrine or when to leave it alone, being sensitive to whether or not a person is ready for a change in their life and as to what level of experience with God that they are currently at, plays a big part in how successful we are in winning souls. As I have often said, and will continue to do so: I love a big juicy Sirloin steak. But I don't like it raw "slapped upside my head." I like it medium rare with a little seasoning and prepared and served just right. I've known people that ran off more people than they "won" because of their approach. They had the right message and it was "good" but they were "beating people up" with it! Jesus said that we are to be the "salt of the earth." In other words, we are to have the effect of making people thirsty for the living water of the Holy Ghost. Salt temporarily upsets the hemoglobin levels in your blood causing your body to crave water to reset the balance. That is why when you eat something salty, you immediately feel as if you are thirsting to death. That is why they put free salty peanuts in bars where the drinks are expensive. And so we have a good product. We have the "living water" of the Spirit that Jesus spoke about, but we must be the "salt." When we are around people and talk to people, they must leave there with a thirst and a hunger for the things of God! The "seasoning" has a lot to do with whether or not the people that we are trying to win will receive the spiritual food, so we often quote this verse to remind people "he that winneth souls is wise." We must use some wisdom in approaching others with truth.

I agree with everything I just said to you. We must use wisdom in every area of our life but the fact that we must be wise to win souls is not the real meaning or point of that verse. That's not really what it is saying. It does not read "he that winneth souls does so by being wise." Instead it reads "he that winneth souls is wise."

There is absolutely no doubt that I am preaching the will of God for this service tonight. Thursday afternoon, I was sitting eating a late lunch and had been discussing musical things with my wife, when God spoke to me. When He did, I looked at my wife and said "God speaks to me at the weirdest times." I was sitting there chewing my food, not even thinking about Sunday when God spoke to me and reminded me of this verse. Understand that God never talks to me in audible voices but from a strong impression that floods into my mind, and after 18 years with the Holy Ghost, I have learned to recognize when God is speaking. God quoted to me the verse "he that winneth souls is wise" and then said "if that is true, then the opposite is also true: "he that does not win souls is foolish." It was then that it hit me suddenly what this verse of scripture really means: winning souls is the smartest, most intelligent, most profitable thing that a person can do. Someone who makes winning souls a priority is truly wise. But not winning souls is one of the most foolish things that a person can do, because to not do so is very, very dangerous for your spiritual man. Perhaps tonight is more "treaching" than preaching proper, but I feel compelled to show you why it is foolish, even dangerous, to not win souls.

It is imperative that every person in our church be a true worshipper of God. It is absolutely a necessity that every person in our church live in faith and devote themselves to study of God's Word. It is important that we learn to submit to Godly authority and to pray and fast and be sensitive to the leading and guiding of the Holy Spirit. But more important than all of that is that every person in this church become a "soul winner." That everyone, young and old, become driven by the purpose of winning and leading and influencing someone to Jesus Christ. To not be a soul winner marks me as very, very foolish. To not be a soul winner is very dangerous! Let me show you why:

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It is dangerous because without winning souls we:

1. Become selfish and uncompassionate and promote disunity.

Without soul winning as a priority in our life, we quickly fall into the trap of having a "for me" mentality with God. When we come to church we come only for what we can get out of it. We get a "bless only me" mentality that stops up the blessings of God. Winning souls and spending time in the spiritual nourishment of others is the most unselfish thing that you can do. Anyone who has a natural child knows that to raise a child that is well-rounded and well-educated is a 24-7 task. You have to put off things that you would like to do in order to show them the attention that they need. So it is with spiritual children. When people are new in God they require somebody to spend time with them, not just at services. They have to have their questions answered whenever they get them. Show me a soul winner and I'll show you an unselfish person with their time and energy.

Not winning souls brings disunity because the church's common ground is to be reaching the lost. God has created a church out of one blood from every nation, background, color, tongue, and culture. You and I can differ on choice of hobbies, dress styles, occupation, age, culture, race, financial income, language, and many other things. Yet, if we are both filled with the Holy Ghost and a part of the Apostolic Church, then have one thing in common: we are both trying to reach people who need that saving power of Jesus Christ. That common element is to be what unifies the church. Soul winning is to be the common elements that helps people of differences come together. No matter the circumstances of your birth or in your life currently, you and I should have one thing in common: caring about reaching somebody else for God!

Jesus told His disciples that would found His church two things: 1.) go get the Holy Ghost, and 2.) go preach and teach and make disciples out of this lost world. God wants to change your life. He wants to make you a new creature. He wants to give you power over a sinful lifestyle. But why? Not so that you can sit on a pew and say you are religious. Not to make you feel snug in your relationship with God. He wants to change your life so desperately, because He wants you to reach someone else so that He can change the world! Every hour, 5,417 people die in this world, but every day the population of the earth increases by 200,000. That means every day the population of the earth increases by about 70,000 people. And yet, we who have experienced the life-changing power of the Holy Ghost and God's mercy can sit unmoved on our comfortable church pew with our 40-50 people that we are comfortable with and feel that a few people now and then getting the Holy Ghost or baptized makes us "okay." There has to be an awareness that if I am part of the church of God then I have a personal responsibility to be a soul winner! Not just the preacher, not just the older people; not just the people who have been in this all their life, but the church of the living God must GO and teach every creature! They must hear the saving gospel of Jesus Christ. That is the sole purpose of our church. Show me a church that has "cliques" and "disunity issues" and I'll show you a church that has lost it's purpose in this world! Social clubs have cliques but I have never read about the Red Cross having social problems. When you are investing your life to reach someone, then you don't have time to get offended at a quirk of personality!

2. Lose our excitement and zeal and passion for the foundational things of God.

It is only by winning souls and answering questions that you stay excited about the basic foundational things of God. I don't mean to be judgmental, but I have watched at various meetings that I have been at this past year at other pastor's responses to someone preaching a basic message on salvational truths or the Oneness of God. The pastors that I know are all about winning new people to God are still excited about the basics! The pastors that just baby sit their "four and no more" are not. I have taught the same Bible studies countless hundreds of times. I have been asked the same questions on salvation and Oneness hundreds of times. Some of you are amazed that I can quote scripture about specific issues and usually know where the verse is that you asking about before you tell me. I have never made an effort to memorize scripture just for the sake of memorizing scripture. I was never a bible quizzer or anything like that. But by teaching the basics over and over to new people, they become permanently imbedded into my brain. When someone gets the revelation of who Jesus Christ is, it is like I'm getting it for the first time again. I'm just as excited about the basics as they are because I'm excited at seeing them get it!

The scriptures are full of examples of how if you have no outlet, you will die. The Dead Sea has the Jordan River run into it but no outlet, so it has become so mineral laden that it is the ONLY place on earth where there is absolutely no life. In the Old Testament, if they tried to hoard up the manna or bread from heaven for themselves, then the excess bred worms and stank. When the God performed the miracle of the oil for the little woman in Elisha's day, as long as she got an empty vessel from her neighbors, then the oil still miraculously kept coming. The flow of fresh oil only stopped when she stopped bringing empty vessels for it to fill. God wants to move through us. We all need a fresh anointing and to allow the Holy Ghost to flow through us every day, but it will only flow as long as we are pouring of ourselves into others! I must have an outlet or my relationship with God will breed worms and stink and no one will be attracted to it!

3. Stop being faithful to the house of God, and in prayer and fasting.

I understand that sometimes sickness and situation makes it impossible to be at a particular service, yet unfaithfulness to the house of God is a true sign that a person is going the wrong way spiritually. Show me someone who is casual about missing church, and I'll show you someone who has not invited someone to that service! Whether or not you have invited someone to a particular service or not, faithfulness to church services is one of the easiest and most effective ways to help win a soul. Everyone of you have two things in common: you came to the house of God and allowed God to change your life, and when you got here there was someone else here that you didn't even know that was praying and fasting and praising and excited about the house of God. If you would have come to church and been the only one, you wouldn't have wanted to stay. But because someone created an environment where the preaching and teaching of the Word could go forth, and the Spirit could move, you were able to receive everything that you needed! People who are not faithful to the house of God despite whatever the circumstances all have one thing in common: they do not have an overwelming priority or burden to win souls!

You really haven't gotten hold of prayer and fasting until you get a burden for someone else. You really haven't gotten a revelation of praise until you get a burden for someone else. When you are desperate for someone else to receive their break through and you have a burden for them, you don't wait on the pastor to remind you to pray or fast. It doesn't matter what you feel like physically or emotionally when you come to church, if there is someone there that you want to receive something from God, then you will praise God with everything in you!

4. Are not in anyway like Jesus Christ.

Jesus Christ came to "seek and save the lost." He ate with sinners and common people more than He did "the religious." Of His 32 parables ALL of them have some parallel and lesson to learn about reaching others. Jesus' most common subject upon which He preached the most often was Hell. The second most common subject was "reaching the lost." Everything else, including heaven, came a distant third. His friends tried to get Jesus to slow down in His life because they said "He is beside Himself." And He was beside Himself, because He was willing to throw His will out of the window in order to reach as many people as possible before His death. When His mother and siblings tried to interfere with His ministry, He stayed with the hungry multitudes. Even hanging on the cross, Jesus took time to reach out to one of the thieves that was railing on Him and then with His dying breath uttered forgiveness to His persecutors. He was a man that the Roman centurion at the cross could only shake his head with conviction that there was something special about. He was a man driven by a purpose, and that was to reach the lost!

I'm preaching to us tonight. To be a "Christian" literally means to be "like Christ." But we will never be like Christ without a love for people. If our life is driven by anything else except to help somebody be saved, then we are not even remotely resembling Jesus Christ! Jesus taught that the worth of one soul was more than everything in the world:

There is nothing more important to God than people living for Him! To be like Jesus, we must rethink some of our priorities and our lifestyles!

5. Are willfully sinning against God.

Yes, perhaps it sounds harsh but it's true. The most prevalent sin in our pews across America is not fornication or drunkenness. It's not lying or gossip. The most prevalent sin is a lack of soul winning. People that are "too busy" to win a soul, or to put in plain English of what they are really saying "do not care" about winning others.

I remember a sermon that I heard once entitled "the scariest verse in the Bible." The preacher went through all sorts of verses that one might think as the scariest verse, but the verse that he was talking about that was the scariest for him was:

He then said "winning souls" is the best thing a person can do in life. It is good in every way. It is something good that all of us ought to do. It is something that we know we should do. If that is true, then a lack of soul winning is sin and can keep us from heaven if not repented of and changed!

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Why do most Christians not give constant thought and effort to soul winning? I can think of two main reasons in my life's experiences:

1. Because they have a false impression of what soul winning really is.

They either think of it as too little or too much a task. Some people think if they mention Jesus in conversation every once in a while, that they are a soul winner. Others falsely think that to be a soul winner, they have to go witness to someone, answer all of their Bible Questions with sound scriptural answers, teach them a Bible Study for two years, pray them through to the Holy Ghost themselves without anybody else's help, and then baptize them. Neither are entirely correct.

Soul winning is simply living every day of your life in recognition that we must reach someone for Jesus Christ. It's praying until you have a burden that can respond to hungry people. Living a life of an example is soul winning. Praying for someone who is sick is soul winning. Basically being sensitive to the Holy Spirit throughout your day and lifting someone up and helping someone go forward and encouraging someone to grow closer to God and coming to church, and inviting someone to church, and answering a Bible question, and sharing your testimony: all those things are soul winning. You can't define one thing and say "this is soulwinning." Soul winning is simply changing your priority of your everyday life so that reaching other people is the day to day focus! Until it's on your mind constantly. Paul wrote:

Maybe you can't preach like me or teach a Bible Study like Bro. Nathan, but you can still be a soul winner. Maybe you don't have the vehicle to pick up 10 people for Sunday School, but there is something that you can do to win souls. You will receive your reward, whether or not you do your "own labor." Whether or not you were sensitive to the areas of outreach that God has opened to you! God doesn't want you to be just like me, but He does expect you to win others to Him! Every one of us can pray with a burden for souls. It takes absolutely no talent or mental ability to pray and fast for lost souls. It takes very little talent to hand people a church flyer or simply mention the church and invite them to a service. You can be a soul winner, but it must become a priority!

2. Because of impatience in not getting an instant result. Soul winning is hard work and must be done with a burden. Over and over again, Jesus compared it with "a harvest" and any harvest takes work and time! Hebrews has a verse of scripture that needs to be marked within every one of our Bibles because it applies to every one of us:

This applies to every promise of God, but most of all to soul winning! We must be patient! Our job is to sow the seed, but it is God that gives the increase! Just keep sowing the seed. Do you what only you can do, and then trust God to do what only God can do!

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I saved my last point until now on purpose. There is a great danger in not winning souls because when we do not win others we:

6. Allow the gates of Hell to stand victorious.

This is one scripture that we slaughter in it's meaning. Jesus told Peter that a church built upon the truth of who Jesus is "the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." I have heard many a preacher preach that the church will stand against whatever the devil will bring against it. And that's true, but that's not the meaning of this verse of scripture. First of all, Satan is not mentioned here but hell, or the place of torment where the unsaved go. And it is not the "attack of hell," but rather the "gates of hell." The gates of a city do not attack, they only defend. The gates only prevail when they succeed in keeping those who are in the city into remaining in the city and those who are without the city from getting within. What this scripture is saying is that the church of the living God that has the truth of who Jesus Christ is has the duty and the command to charge and fight against letting people who are living "dead" men because of their sins slip into hell and be eternally lost. If the scripture really says what it says, then hell is real and when a person dies without obeying this precious gospel, they pass through the gates into a place of eternal torment never to escape again. When that happens, the gates of hell have prevailed. But Jesus made a promise to this Apostolic church: If we will fight, the gates of hell will not prevail! Jesus also said:

The word "violent" here means "those who press forward and are forceful in eager pursuit of a promise!" Soul Winning is a promise in God's Word just as receiving the Holy Ghost or healing or anything else:

But you have to passionately press forward on that promise! We must get a passion and burden for the lost! We need to get like Jude who said "if I have to pull them out of the fire, then I'll do it!" It's our job to reach this world. Jesus is the answer and there is no one that deserves to die lost when Jesus Christ has paid the price for our sins and purchased our salvation! We must win someone!

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I close with this:

The term "white and ready to harvest" refers to a state that grain such as wheat turns when it is ready to be harvested. When the grain is "white" it is in a very precarious state and a storm or even strong wind can cause the precious seed to fall from the stalk and to the ground and thus the crop would be lost. When the grain is white, then it must be harvested immediately or it will be lost and trampled into the ground. {Use the Wilder family as an example of losing a crop when it was white}

There are people around us everyday that are ready for God to do something in their lives. Not everyone reaches that place at the same time, but there is someone who is "white and ready to harvest" that will be near you this week. To be a soul winner, we cannot make excuses that I will win someone "next month" or "next year." The harvest is white and ready. We must sow and we must reap. We must cultivate. We must live our lives continually prepared to be sensitive to the needs of the those who need God to transform their life. We must be a "soul winner." To not be so, is far too foolish and dangerous! When we lay down our life for other people, we are following the greatest example of love given by Jesus Christ!