How To Witness To Sinners

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Category: Soul Winning

Published on Friday, 03 April 2009 05:59

Written by Ryan Hicks

HOW TO WITNESS TO SINNERS

By Ryan Hicks

I remember listening to a pastor lying about how God supposedly told him to leave his child in school so that "souls could be saved." That is a bunch of nonsense (especially since that child was sinful and in desperate need of saving himself). A Christian DOES NOT do God's calling for Him. The Lord has to be drawing one to salvation and they must be submitting to His calling, otherwise witnessing is useless. It is written:

John 6:44
44   No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.

It is clear that the Christian can not do the calling for God. It is solely up to God and is His prerogative to call men to salvation. We fail miserably when we cling to modern "Christianity's" pathetic witnessing system. It consists of trying to win as many souls as possible. This sounds good to the average lukewarm "Christian," but is a failure in God's eyes. You may think you have gotten numerous people saved, but if you were doing it without God's leading you can be sure that He probably was not calling them. Thus, even if they prayed with you, they may have no more of the new birth than they had before talking to you.

If we neglect so simple a truth as God's leading and guidance, we will be sure to cause more problems than we manage to fix. ANY SUCCESSFUL WITNESS MUST FOLLOW GOD'S LEADING. If you are looking for numbers and bragging points, you are in the wrong religion. It may impress your boastful friends that you got twenty people saved this week, but where are they now? Have you obeyed Jesus, or did you play a religious game? Jesus taught:

Matthew 28:19-20
19   Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:
20   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.

If you are going to be a successful witness, thus pleasing God, you must not only follow the Lord's leading to win souls, but also disciple them. If you are only getting people saved and are not teaching your converts all things Jesus commanded, you are not succeeding. Many people will get saved and spring up quickly, but the devil comes immediately to steal the word out of their hearts (Mark 4:14-20).

Do not think, however, waiting on God to lead you will mean less witnessing ability. God is in need of laborers and can use you all the time (Matthew 9:37-38). You may win many more souls than you normally think you do when you let God lead you, because He will prepare the hearts that He leads you to, or He may just use you to prepare their hearts for the next believer that comes witnessing to win them to the Lord.

Either way we need to allow God to be in control and be totally submitted to His will. Then, and only then, will we be successful witnesses for Him, even if we do not win many souls, because He may be using us to plant seed, and others to water (1 Cor. 3:6-9). Either is fine as long as we know that we are faithfully obeying Him. Do not let some fire-breathing reprobate tell you that you are not witnessing right unless you follow their program. Do not let some fool tell you that you must be doing something wrong because few people get saved from your witnessing. God may see fit to use you to just plant the word and another believer may see the results of that word. Obedience is the key: not plans, programs, or numbers.

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