The Call To A Soul-Winning Lifestyle

Today we are going to look deeply into the scriptures to know what God have for us.

Topic: THE CALL TO A SOUL-WINNING LIFESTYLE

Texts: Luke 19:10; 1 Peter 2:21; John 4:34; 9:4; 13:17; 1 Corinthians 11:1

“For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.” Christ here reveals the purpose and pursuit of His life. God gave His Son to be our Model and expects us to pattern our lives after His. Christ’s lifestyle should be the pursuit of everyone who professes faith in God. He calls the redeemed to live, walk and win souls into the Kingdom the way Christ did. The call to “follow his steps” in soul-winning is the commission for a true believer and member of the Church of the living God. Christ’s desire, passion, interest and goal are the things that should matter to us. Soul-winning was His consuming passion and commitment. He lived “to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work.” The way He lived is the way we must live. Soul-winning is the will of God and ought to be our consuming passion and daily pursuit. We must commit and addict ourselves to accomplish it like Christ who declared: “I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work.” This declaration was borne out of necessity laid upon Him to continue to win souls in all seasons, opposed or supported. With

Christ-like commitment, we need to personalize the words “I must”, acknowledge and fulfil God’s purpose of soul-winning in the places we live, work and school. “If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them.” Professing believers who neglect and abandon the task that is uppermost in the heart of Christ lose the right to command obedience of others. Obedience to the great commission makes us earn the right to command followership. Like Christ, we must make soul-winning our lifestyle and become a model for other believers.

1.       THE COMMAND TO CHRISTIAN SOUL-WINNERS

Matthew 28:18-20; Mark 16:15-18; Ezekiel 3:17-20.

Christ wants every believer who professes to love Him to obey His command to win souls. He prefixed this command to Christ-like soul-winners with a declaration of His deity, absolute authority and power to build their confidence for prompt and complete obedience. The command to “Go” is very clear, plain, simple, universal and unique. There is no room for relaxation, idleness or silence because “Go” connotes action, motion and motivation of every believer. Christ-like soul-winners must preach to sinners about Christ the Saviour and their need of salvation through repentance. The great commission also includes following up converts, baptizing them in water and integrating them into the body of Christ by “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.” Christ’s promised presence and power will always be with those who obey His command to win souls.

Christ’s command to “go into all the world” can be literally carried out when individual believers reach sinners they come in contact with in their world, city, town, village, community and neighbourhood with the gospel. We can share the gospel one-on-one with people that are physically close and use communication gadgets/social media to reach those who are far away. It is important to prioritize on winning sinners to the Lord every day as we may not have a second chance to do so before they die. Signs and wonders follow obedient believers who win souls. The disobedient are wicked for knowing that sin is deadly but will not warn family members and others about it. They will be judged by God.

2.       THE COMPASSION OF CHRISTIAN SOUL-WINNERS

Matthew 9:35,36; 1 John 3:16; John 4:28,29,35,36.

Love, compassion and mercy compel believers to win perishing souls to the Lord. The heart is always filled with love or hatred, joy or sorrow, strength or weakness, happiness or sadness, mercy or wickedness. As believers, we must allow the compassion of Christ to fill our hearts and drive us to meet sinners who need the gospel where they are. “And Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom...” Christ does not want us to become stationary or refrain from going to preach the gospel because of resistance and opposition by few people. In spite of opposition from Pharisees and Sadducees in the synagogues, Christ went there to declare the saving gospel. With compassion in heart, there will be corresponding action, motion and motivation to rescue the perishing. Compassion is not passive. “But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them, because they fainted, and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd.” Compassion activates believers into action of soul-winning. Lack of Christ-like compassion makes professing believers withhold the saving truth from neighbours, colleagues, friends, classmates and customers with whom they interact. Rather than give excuse that sinners will not receive the gospel, let us obey the Lord by preaching to them. To maintain a soul-winning lifestyle, we must do away with worthless things that replace soul-winning in our lives. Though the Samaritan woman did not know Scripture references to use, compassion drove her to invite other Samaritans to Christ. Like her, we must make the little efforts we can for others to know the Lord. We will rejoice as we see the fruits of our soul-winning efforts and receive our rewards from the Lord.

   

3.       THE COURAGE OF CHRISTIAN SOUL-WINNERS

Acts 4:31; Ephesians 6:18-20.

Believers must preach the word of God with boldness and courage. Courage comes through the impartation of the Holy Ghost and prayer. Some believers have courage but it is inactive because of their negligence to get involved in rescuing the perishing. Courage gets activated in the compassionate who decides and determines to rescue entrapped souls in precarious, life-threatening situations. The courage Christ-like soul-winners need for fruitfulness is spelt: Confidence in God, Obedience to God, Unity with the Godhead, Righteousness of God, Anointing by God, Grace of God and Empowerment by God.

Make sure you go to the Lord in prayers to be a true follower of Christ till the end.

Share your christian experiences below...