Winning Souls

"When preaching and private talk are not available, you need to have a tract ready.  Get good striking tracts, or none at all.  But touching a gospel tract may be the seed of eternal life.  Therefore, do not go out without your tracts."  Charles Spurgeon

"Reckon then that to acquire soul-winning power, you will have to go through mental torment and soul distress.  You must go into the fire if you are going to pull others out of it, and you will have to dive into floods if you are going to draw others out of the water.  You cannot work a fire escape without feeling the scorch of the conflagration, nor man a lifeboat without being covered with the waves."  Charles Spurgeon

"And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature."  Words of Jesus, Mark 16:15

I have a confession to make.  I learned something about myself, and it wasn't pretty.  In fact, it was down-right ugly.  I realized something in the way I witness to other people.

    I witness to those who look like me-

    I witness to those who have the same things in common as me-

    I witness to those who don't look too bad, or who don't seem to be too deep in sin-

    I witness to those based on appearance, and not the condition of their soul-

And today God smote my heart.

And I will praise Him for it.

I went to an appointment this morning, and the entire time it took me to drive to my destination, the Lord kept telling me to, "give this person a tract and invite them to church THIS Sunday for Service and the meal."  I don't know why, but when God prompts me to do something out of my comfort zone, I tend to squirm and ask Him, "Are you SURE you want me to do that?"  His answer is always the same, "Yes."

And so, I obeyed.

By all appearance's sake, this person has chosen a lifestyle of the world, and so, I was prepared to be turned down, laughed at, or even ignored, but something completely different occurred.  (That usually happens when we completely obey the Lord!) This person eagerly accepted the tract showing the hours of Services, and even went on to say that they will bring a friend!

I walked out the door with a smile on my face.  Will this person actually show up to church on Sunday morning?  I can't answer that, but I can say that I did what the Lord wanted me to do, and the rest is up to Him.

When God tells us to go into the world and preach the gospel to every creature, it means that we don't get to pick and choose, we are to Go and Tell!

Hudson Taylor once said, "The Great Commission is not an option to be considered, it's a command to be obeyed."

Today I learned that I cannot judge a book by its cover-

    I need to focus on winning a lost soul to Christ, and,

        let the Lord deal with their sin.

            After all, it's what He does best...

                But that's just me!

"...Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in hither the poor, and the maimed, and the halt, and the blind.

And the servant said, Lord, it is done as thou hast commanded, and yet there is room.

And the lord said unto the servant, Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled."

Jesus speaking, Luke 14:21b-23.

"I believe that much of the secret of soul-winning lies in having bowels of compassion, in having spirits that can be touched with the feeling of human infirmities."  Charles Spurgeon