Soul Winning Lectures
Soulwinning
Lectures on Winning the Lost
“He that winneth souls is
wise.”
(Prov. 11:30)
© 2008 John Kokenzie, Jr.
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These lectures
have been presented on various occasions to those who desire to effectively
win the lost to Christ. May the Lord bless you as you continue to seek Him
for the wisdom to win souls.
They are presented to you as
a ministry of Conhecendo Deus. Please make use of them, but do
respect the author's rights to them.
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Soulwinning Preparation
Key Word: Prayer
Lecture I
Have a detailed grasp of your salvation testimony (Acts 22:3-21).
- Meditate on your salvation testimony and share it with others
often.
- Write out your salvation testimony in the best English possible.
Have a working knowledge of key Gospel Texts (II Tim. 2:15).
- John 3:16; Romans 3:23; Romans 6:23; Romans 5:8; Romans 10:13; I
Corinthians 15:1-8
- Discuss these and other texts with your soulwinning partner.
Spend much time in prayer (Phil. 4:6, 7).
- Plead with God for the power, love, fullness, and liberty of the Holy
Spirit.
- Pray until you have cast all your care upon the Lord.
- Express thanks to God for Christ and His salvation.
- Ask God to give you souls.
- Ask God to give you power over fear, pride, selfishness, and any other
temptation.
Depend upon God’s key promises for soulwinning fruit (II Cor. 1:19,
20).
- Jeremiah 33:3; John 14:12-14; I Corinthians 3:5-8; Ephesians 3:20; II
Timothy 1:7; James 4:2, 3, 6; I John 5:14, 15
Read Torrey’s How to Work for Christ, “Book One
– Personal Work.”
Be totally given to the will of God and strong against temptation (Lk.
4).
- Christ walked in the power of the Spirit after quoting the Word of God
to defeat Satan’s temptations. A great part of being filled with
the Spirit is having Christ’s Words ready at your lips (cf. the
parallel passages Col. 3:16 and Eph. 5:18).
- Do not expect much from God if He cannot expect much from you (I Tim.
1:12).
Remind yourself of the responsibility you have for the souls you
meet.
- Always have a church to which you can point people.
- Prepare literature before you go out (tracts, flyers, etc.).
- Be certain you have a pen and paper to keep record of each soul and
each need.
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Soulwinning Guidelines
Key Word: Boldness
Lecture II
Make sure you have enough dialogue to keep the attention of the
sinner.
- Ask a few questions about the sinner’s life and family to show
your genuine concern.
- Ask him questions about his soul’s destination.
- Ask him questions about Christ (e.g. Why did Christ have to die to save
us?).
- Ask him questions about the things you have taught.
- Ask him to make a decision for Christ.
Keep the subject on Jesus Christ and His salvation of the sinner.
- Convicted sinners will change the subject.
- Certain questions sound genuine but are the Devil’s tools to
waste valuable time.
See the sinner as lost irrespective of his deportment.
- Perfect love casts out fear (I Jn. 4:18).
- Compassion and sincerity allow you to be bold and direct.
- Health, wealth, intellect, and position do not change his lost and
blind condition.
- Your goal is not the sinner’s prayer but the sinner’s
salvation. Do not reduce him to a number.
Be bold and direct.
- Establish and maintain eye contact. Smile (not humorously but
compassionately).
- Combat the sinner’s boldness with Christ’s love, faith in
the Scriptures, and a dependence upon the working of the Holy Spirit.
- It will take boldness to get the sinner to see he is lost before he can
be saved.
Use the Word of God.
- The Bible gives faith (Rom. 10:17), so use it believing their doubts
can be driven away.
- Wrestle with a text until their objections are pinned to the ground.
Never leave a text for another because they doubt it; this weakens the
Bible altogether.
- Have a thorough understanding of the texts you plan to use.
- The Gospel alone is the power to save (Rom. 1:16), but remember it
includes both Christ’s death and resurrection (I Cor. 15:1-8).
Be sincere and not combative.
- Soulwinning may involve argument but it does not need to involve
mudslinging.
- This does not negate that soulwinners are wrestling with the sinners
for their souls.
- Soulwinning is not you against the sinner no matter how much he
disagrees with you.
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Soulwinning Different Types of Souls
Key Word: Faith
Lecture III
Remember that all sinners, no matter how they present themselves, are
still Hell-bound rebels, lawbreakers, blind and lost in this world, apart
from Christ, without hope, and unable to receive the things of God.
Get them lost and then get them saved.
Sincere
- Get them to read the Bible texts to you.
- Ask them critical questions to be certain they understand.
- Show them the power of Christ to save to the uttermost.
- Patiently allow God’s Spirit to lead them to initiate dialogue
about their own baptism, unless baptism itself is clearly a step of faith
(Note: contrast Peter’s approach at Pentecost and Philip’s
approach with the Ethiopian eunuch).
Critical
- Critics have a reason for being critical. Seek to understand the
reason.
- Do not waste time with their comments or questions that turn the
subject away from their genuine and earnest need of salvation.
- Sincere faith crushes criticism.
Agnostic
- This term designates those who say they need more knowledge to come to
Christ.
- Establish the fact that some truth comes only by faith in God.
- Recognize that a man who says he needs more knowledge is generally just
putting God off.
- Show that his hesitation is unfounded and more importantly sinful.
Worried
- Worriers are generally putting on a front.
- Give them the promises of God and press the truth until they are
required to make a decision.
Unconcerned
- Use the Word of God with faith in the Holy Spirit until the unconcerned
become convicted.
- Logic has its place but is not nearly as effective as a soulwinner
faithfully preaching the Word of God.
- Hurt
- Many sinners are hurt by the deeds or words of another sinner who makes
a false profession of salvation or by a hypocritical churchgoer.
- Learn exactly what has hurt the sinner.
- Typically they say the church is full of hypocrites. Tactfully show
them that it is their own hypocrisy which has allowed such an excuse to
keep them out of church.
Entertained with False Hopes
- Truly saved people, who do not live for God, should have doubts (II Pet. 1).
- The most dangerous place a person can be is thinking he is on his way to Heaven when he is on his way to Hell.
- Those caught up in false religion often entertain false hopes.
- Those who do good works often entertain false hopes.
- Preach the Word of God with confidence to shake up their unwarranted confidence.
Press for a decision by pressing the truth. Preaching is not pressingpeople; it is pressing truth. If you are short on time then do not press theminto a prayer that has no faith. Seek to get them to understand that they arelost and that Jesus Christ can save them.
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Illustrations of Soulwinning
- D. L. Moody – Continued to return to a man who yelled at him until the man changed.
- Mordecai Ham – Chased a sinner, caught him, threatened him, and led him to Christ.
- Percy Ray – Snuck up on a sinner that kept avoiding him, by coming to his home at 2:00am; he grabbed a hold of the man in his bed and would not let him go until he trusted Christ
- David Brainerd – Preached and prayed, prayed and preach until finally the Indians cried out for mercy
Soulwinners do not give place to excuses. Obstacles are no threat tothem; they are a challenge.