HAVING A 'BLAST'!

(“He who wins souls is wise.” Proverbs 11:30 NKJV)

Dear Readers:

Last week we discussed what the ‘real job’ of a Christian is, and that is to win souls for Jesus. I referenced the fact that I was planning this week to get into some ‘nitty gritty’ details of soul winning. To try to do that I entitled my post today, “Having A 'BLAST'”.

“Having A 'BLAST'” is based on a sermon that Greg Laurie preached earlier this month. He used the acronym B-L-A-S-T in his “The Refreshing Power of Sharing Your Faith” sermon. The acronym stands for strategies to share your faith.

It’s the following:

• Build A Bridge
• Lovingly Enter Their World
• Ask Questions
• Share Your Testimony
• Tell Them How To Come To Jesus

I made a tract for Christians to use as a reference guide. (Note: Below is the front of the tract.)

I also developed some questions several years ago to ask unsaved people. Last week I incorporated them into the back of the ‘BLAST’ tract. (Note: Below is the back of the tract.

I strategically put the questions in order so hopefully we can remember them, and use them when encountering lost people. I also think the questions fulfill Greg Laurie’s ‘BLAST’ acronym.

The questions follow a pattern I developed for myself, but they can be changed up to make if more effective to fit your own style.

They’re the following:
1. “What do you put your hope or trust in?” (Here You're trying to build a bridge.)

2. “Have you tried any religions?” (Here you're trying to find out their experience of spiritual searching.)

3. “Have you ever explored Christianity?” (Here you're trying to find out what they think of Christianity, and whether it's been on their radar as a possible option.)

4. “Tell me about your experiences with Christianity and Christian people?” (Here you're trying to find out what are their deep-seated feelings about Christianity ... and Christians.)

5. “Do you believe in heaven or hell?” (Here you're trying to find out the heart of the matter whether the person has thought of what happens to them when they die.)

6. “If you had a choice when you die where would you choose? (Now you're trying to find out, lovingly, what their perception is of heaven and hell, and whether they've thought about them before.)

7. “Would you allow me to read a verse or two from John in the Bible?” (Here you're trying to identify what the Bible says about following Jesus.)

• Verse 1. “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, so that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life.” John 3:16 NKJV
• Verse 2. “Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” John 14:6 NKJV

8. “What do you think about the verses?” (Here you'll find out what impact the verses had on them, if any.)

9. Briefly share your own testimony. (Again you're trying to build a bridge to tell them what impact the decision to follow Jesus has made in your own life.)

10. Ask the person whether he or she would want to make a decision today to follow Christ. (After these BLAST questions hopefully you'll have a sense of whether or not to move forward, and whether the person is ready to commit their lives to Jesus.)

11. If person agrees use Roman Road tract. If person declines be gracious, offer to pray for them in the coming weeks, and offer the Roman Road tract.

Remember, while asking the questions listen intently with care and concern. Remember the well-known Teddy Roosevelt quote, “People don't care how much you know until they know how much you care.”

I pray this post and tract helps you. It’s not a tract to give to unsaved people, but to be used by the soulwinner as a reference guide.

Please let me know if you want me to send you a copy. I can email it to you or snail-mail it.

Next week I want to discuss the Roman Road tract I developed a couple years ago that I’ve used frequently to discuss with, and give directly to, unsaved people.

I pray you end up, like me . . . “Having A BLAST” sharing your faith with other people.

See you next time,
Arlen

MY REAL JOB!

(“He who wins souls is wise.” Proverbs 11:30 NKJV)

Dear Readers:

The last two weeks we discussed what isn’t required, and what absolutely is required to win souls for Jesus. We said that a dynamic personality IS NOT REQUIRED, but that a deep love for God and other people ABSOLUTELY IS REQUIRED to win souls.

I want to take one more week to focus on another inspiration that I’ve had about soulwinning. After that I want to get into some nitty gritty details.

My inspiration is the following: Soulwinning is my ‘real job’. You might tell me, “Arlen, I already know that!” I know you probably know it, and I also knew it . . . in my head, but not in my heart.

This post isn’t to minimize the importance of the jobs which we work daily to earn money to support ourselves and our families. It is, however, to identify what is a Christian’s very most important job.

I’ve been retired for about 2½ years now. I’m amazed almost every Sunday night that I don’t have to worry about getting up on Monday morning to face the grind of another work week. It’s a true blessing. But where do I go from here?

I think I’ve come up with the inspiration about where to go from here after about five months of posting on my new Soulwinnersr.us website. I should have known it all along. The Bible makes it clear.

We all know the verse in Ephesians 4:11 where Paul said, “He (Jesus) gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, equipping the saints for the work of ministry. . .” There are also all the spiritual gifts identified in 1 Corinthians 12. I’ll leave that for another day.

But the key phrase for me in Ephesians 4:11 is the last one. I’m a saint being equipped ‘for the work of ministry’. So what is the work of ministry?

The late pastor and author Ray Stedman was a close associate of the well-known radio pastor J. Vernon McGee. Pastor Stedman stated that the work of ministry is the following: “The Church exists as God’s instrument to reach the world.”

Pastor Stedman went on to say, “The world needs His (Jesus Christ’s) ministry desperately, but it was never intended that worldlings should come to the church to find Christ. Rather, the church was intended to move out into the world.” (Note: ‘Worldlings’ is such a funny term.)

So ‘my real job’ is not to wait until ‘worldlings’ come to me, but for me to go to ‘worldlings’ to tell them about the wonderful love of Jesus.

My ‘real job’ as a soulwinner is not just for me as a retiree, or for other retirees. Working our ‘real jobs’ of winning souls for Jesus is for all Christians in all stages of life.

See you next time,
Arlen

LOVE REQUIRED

(“He who wins souls is wise.” Proverbs 11:30 NKJV)

Dear Readers:

The last time we discussed what isn’t required to win souls for Jesus. We talked about the great power of God’s Living Word being enough for soulwinners to use, and that a dynamic personality isn’t required to get the job done. But, today we’re going to discuss what absolutely is required!

Jesus made it clear what are the greatest commands. He said in Mark 12:29-31, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. The second is, Love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other command greater than these”.

Love is a much used word today. Singers sing songs about it. Poets write poems about it. Writers write books about it. People in the streets and in the media lament the fact there isn’t enough love in people to right the many wrongs in our society.

But what did Jesus really mean by telling us to love God, and then love other people? I think He was saying that one can’t exist without the other, and it’s futile to think that they can.

Sometimes when I see movies or TV shows I cry at happy endings. I did it just today when I watched “How Green Was My Valley”. There, I admitted it. I cry over movies and TV shows. I even do it with adventure movies that have happy endings.

I then come back to reality and almost slap myself up-side the head when I realize that the movie just displayed a storyline without a mention or thought of God being the true source of happiness and love. Writers, directors, and actors, however, are very good at tugging at our heartstrings. I don’t fault them for it, and I’ll very likely continue watching movies with happy endings, and I’ll probably cry at times.

But what’s the true love that Jesus was talking about? It’s Agape love, which C.S. Lewis termed “selfless, unconditional love.” It has no strings attached, and it’s offered freely.

1 Corinthians 13 is likely the most prominent scripture passage talking about Agape love. I won’t read the entire chapter as it would take too long. I’ll just pick two verses.

Paul wrote in verse 8, “Love never ends. But as for prophecies, they will come to an end; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will come to an end.” Verse 13 goes on to say, “Now these three remain: faith, hope, and love – but the greatest of these is love.” So out of everything according to John, love, or agape love if you will, is one of the very few things that will remain after the world comes to an end in its current form, and love is the greatest.

1 John chapters 3 and 4 talk repeatedly about loving other people. I think the most well-known verse is 1 John 4:7, where John wrote, “Dear friends, let us love one another, because love is from God, and everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.”

So, two things are clear:
1. Loving God deeply, and loving others deeply are inextricably tied together. They can’t occur without the other. Anything else is just a guise or the false appearance of true love.

2. We love others because ‘love is from God and everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God’

So, in conclusion, to be true soulwinners the first thing that’s required is for us to love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. The second thing that’s required is for us to deeply love other people.

See you next time,
Arlen

DYNAMIC PERSONALITY NOT REQUIRED

(“He who wins souls is wise.” Proverbs 11:30 NKJV)

Dear Readers:

The last time we emphasized the fact that we don’t need to be Bible scholars to become soulwinners, but just share like a child the love of Jesus.

Today I’m going to discuss another barrier that I, or others might have toward soulwinning. I’ve always known that I don’t have an outgoing, dynamic personality, one where people are drawn to me naturally because of my charm and charisma.

I’ve never been the life of a party. I wondered growing up why my brother had many more friends than I did. I guessed it was because I was more reserved and shy. Also, I always worried about the consequences, possibly even legal ones, of being the life of a party and the center of attention. In retrospect my lack of a having a dynamic personality served me well. I was never arrested . . . although a couple times I could have been.

Back in the early 90’s I helped my church youth pastor and his wife lead a youth group. I was well aware that I was not as popular as some of the younger leaders, and for that matter some of the older ones. I had a strong sense of not being as ‘hip’ as the others.

One leader and his wife about my age were musicians. Before they were saved they had their own rock band in the secular world. They had two teens in the group. They also had a working music studio in their basement, and they were both dynamic and outgoing. The father even designed and built a six-eight foot long model Seaview submarine, based on the ‘Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea’ TV show. He had it right in the middle of the family dining room.

I was single, had some obsessive-compulsive traits, and felt insecure that I, again, could never dynamic enough that the youth members would like me, and think that I was ‘cool’.

I even went to the youth pastor and said that I didn’t think I was cut out to be a youth leader . . . that I felt I didn’t fit in. He took strong opposition to my view, and directly stated that my strong Christian faith was a definite asset to setting a good example for the youth. He said I didn’t have to be dynamic and outgoing to be an effective youth leader.

So, here’s my question. Does a lack of having an outgoing, dynamic personality affect soulwinning?

By the way, many people have dynamic personalities, but they are ineffective role models and leaders.

And, I’m in no way suggesting that a person should never have a dynamic personality. The amazing thing about us is that we’re all different and bring our own ‘wonderfully made’ self to the table of life as it says in Psalm 139.

I think there is a key, however, to unlocking our full potential to win souls for Jesus Christ. It’s to understand and to accept that the dynamic power for witnessing comes from Jesus, His Holy Spirit, and His Holy Word.

God’s Word has enough power and dynamism to go around, and when we depend on it, we don’t feel that we need to be dynamic within ourselves.

Again, as I said in a previous post, “this isn’t just using the power of positive thinking”. The dynamic power of God’s Word is a reality. The first chapter of John makes it clear that the “Word was with God, and the Word was God. All things were created through him.” John 1:14 says, “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” It’s talking about Jesus!

The Greek word dunamis is used 120 times in the New Testament. It means power, strength, ability, and even explosiveness. The words dynamic and even dynamite are derived from dunamis. The word is used to identify the dynamic power that Christians have in following God’s word.

Also, Hebrews 4:12 states, “For the word of God is living, and active, and sharper than any two-edged sword”.

In conclusion, this means to be a winner of souls we don’t have to have a dynamic personality, although to have one isn’t forbidden. Everyone’s different and brings their own strengths to the table. It simply means, instead of depending on our own strengths, that we depend instead on the dynamic power and strength of God’s Living Word to win souls for Jesus.

See you next time,
Arlen

JUST A LAYMAN BECOMING LIKE A CHILD

(“He who wins souls is wise.” Proverbs 11:30 NKJV)

Dear Readers:

The last time we discussed a very prominent barrier for me, and likely others to reach lost souls for Jesus Christ. It’s clearly the absence of the knowledge of, or acceptance of the power of the Holy Spirit to help us.

There’s one other barrier that I want to discuss. It’s been a hindrance for me for many years to share the gospel with others. It’s the fact that I’m a simple layman, which by definition means that I’m not a clergyman, or a trained biblical professional.

I have, however, read the Bible through many times, mostly through annual daily readings. I’m going to be honest in sharing that I’m a fairly distractible person, and I lose my train of thought easily, and I don’t even come close to having a photographic memory. But by Bible reading repetition over the years I’ve become very familiar with most of the contents and the themes of the Bible. But a biblical or theological scholar I’m not, nor will I ever become one.

That’s partly why the fundamentals of soulwinning don’t come naturally for me in the sense of being able to easily quote the scriptures most closely associated with evangelism. And that’s largely the reason I started the Soulwinnersr.us website in the first place. I wanted to help myself, and people like me, to become soulwinners despite our handicaps.

Working for so many years with people with handicaps such as developmental disabilities, and for over thirty years with people with mental illness, I’m keenly aware of the problems many, many people have with understanding things, with performing tasks, and with interpersonal relationships. I wondered, and still wonder about their ability to connect with God, and to have an impact on others while sharing the love of Jesus.

I’ve come to a conclusion, and I think it’s a sound one. It stems from the book of Matthew. Jesus said in chapter 18:3, “Unless you turn and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven”.

Also, Jesus in chapter 19:13-14 addressed his disciples who rebuked parents who were bringing children to Jesus for prayer. Jesus sternly told his disciples to allow the children “because the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.”

Finally, Matthew 21:15-16 details the children spontaneously shouting, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” The scribes and Pharisees were indignant over this, but Jesus justified their praise of Him.

One thing about children is that they’re too young to have formed opinions and strategies about things. They act on impulse. They say what’s on their mind. 

Children saw something in Jesus that appealed to them, and they let it be known how they felt. They weren’t thinking of possible consequences, and they definitely weren’t strategically planning their next steps to tell others people about Jesus. They told other people, and eventually the world about him in their own way. And their interactions with Jesus and others ended up being written about in the Bible.

That gives me hope with my own foibles, and gives me hope for other people with foibles, and even for people that have disabilities, that they also can know, and share the wonderful love of Jesus with other people.

See you next time,

Arlen

HOLY SPIRIT INSPIRED SOULWINNING

(“He who wins souls is wise.” Proverbs 11:30 NKJV)

Dear Readers:

Lately I’ve been thinking, “What am I missing related to soulwinning, and why don’t more people show an interest in doing it (not necessarily with me, but generally)?
 
It came to me that my focus has been on the mechanical, motivational, and mental aspects of reaching out to others with the Gospel of Jesus.

When reading Acts, however, I believe there’s a whole different dimension that I’m missing. What’s that dimension?

The Book of Acts makes it clear. It’s the power of the Holy Spirit.

I know that some Christians struggle with Pentecostalism. They believe that the emphasis on speaking in tongues as evidence of being filled with the Holy Spirit is going too far.

On the other side many Pentecostal Christians feel very strongly that all Christians should embrace speaking in tongues to experience the fullness of the Holy Spirit.

Yesterday I did a little unscholarly research of the Book of Acts, and I came to the conclusion that both sides have some valid points.

In my research, unscholarly as it was, I found the following:

1. The filling or leading of the Holy Spirit was mentioned in seventeen of the twenty-eight chapters of Acts.

2. ‘Speaking in tongues’ was only mentioned in three of those seventeen chapters.

3. That means that tongues related to the filling of the Holy Spirit was mentioned in 10.7% of the chapters of Acts.

4. The Holy Spirit filling or leading without the mention of tongues was in 60.7% of the chapters of Acts.

Conclusion: The Holy Spirit filling or leading is mentioned almost 6 times more by itself than associated with tongues.

I think that’s likely why Paul, in 1 Corinthians 14 minimized the importance of tongues in relation to the Holy Spirit. He specifically said that there are more important matters for the Christian to focus on than speaking in tongues. But he also said, however, that we shouldn’t throw tongues totally out the window.

But let’s get back to the ‘filling’ or ‘leading’ part that the Holy Spirit plays in our lives as it relates to soulwinning. I think in my own life I’ve felt a nudging a number of times to go one way with a decision,

and I always said, “The Lord led me.” This statement’s true, but I think just as accurate is the statement, “The Holy Spirit led me.”

Think of the concept of ‘being filled with, or being led by the Holy Spirit’. Just take it in . . . the God of the universe is living inside of you . . . He’s living inside of me, and He’s intimately working through you and me! Aren’t those two very awesome things?

Rather than thinking too much about the mundane experiences of life, I want to embrace the wonder of the Holy Spirit filling my life and leading me.

This isn’t just ‘the power of positive thinking’. This is a reality that can’t be ignored. It can’t be ignored when going about our daily routines. And it certainly can’t be ignored when interacting with family, friends, and other people we encounter.

There you have it. We need to accept the fact that we are filled with, and empowered by the Holy Spirit to live our lives, And the Holy Spirit also empowers us to reach out to those we encounter with the life-changing love of Jesus.

See you next time,

Arlen

SOULWINNERSRUS RECAP

 

(“He who wins souls is wise.” Proverbs 11:30 NKJV)

Dear Readers:

I want to recap, or review some of my . . . or our progress with soulwinning. I think before we take our next steps, it would benefit us to look at where we’re at with our soulwinning adventure.

Post #1: Go.
I discussed Jesus’ command in Matthew 28:19 to his disciples to ‘go’ into all the world and make disciples, and the definitions of ‘go’, and the opposite of go, which is either to ‘stop’, or to ‘stay’. I discussed my own lack in this area, and that’s why I created the Soulwinnersr.us website in the first place.

Post #2: The Broad and Narrow Roads
I wanted in my second post to discuss the haunting nature of what it means for the majority of people to go on, what Jesus said in Matthew 7:13-14, is the ‘broad road’ to destruction, or to be blunt, toward an eternal torment in hell. I want to do my part to win souls to prevent people from going on that road, and also to instead encourage and inspire them to go on the ‘narrow road’ to ‘life’, which means toward Jesus, and ultimately heaven.

Post #3: A Soulwinning Team
I discussed in this post of the fact that all our lives we are active in joining teams to reach certain goals. Soulwinning is no exception. Just because we might feel like we’re too young or old, or not outgoing or smart enough, we should never think we cannot join an exciting team to win souls for Jesus!

Post #4: Soulwinning Experiment #1: Beggar to Beggar
In this post I wanted to demystify soulwinning. We can do this when we think of ourselves as beggars who found Jesus, ‘the bread of life’. Then it’s just a natural act to tell other beggars where they might also find this ‘bread’. I discussed starting small and talking to at least one person in the next week, a beggar if you will, about where to find bread.

Post #5: Soulwinning Experiment #1 Results
We discussed our successes and challenges of talking to at least one beggar.

Post #6: Soulwinning Experiment #2: Surveillance Mission
In this post we discussed treating the meeting of people in our week as surveillance encounters, like a ‘detective’ or a ‘spy’, to give the act of soulwinning some spice. Soulwinning doesn’t have to be a boring or tedious act, and the main purpose of these experiments is for us to begin to develop a culture of the exciting world of soulwinning!

Post #7: Soulwinning Experiment #3: Superhero Rescue Mission My goal in this experiment was to use our God given desire for adventure to infiltrate the evil planet, counteract the villain, and save souls from disaster.

Post #8: Soulwinning Experiment #4: Answering The ‘How Are You?’ Question
This experiment was to turn the frequently occurring question from our family members, friends, and people in the community, ‘How are you?’, and reflect our love of Jesus in it. People use the phrase without even thinking, and everyone usually replies, “I’m fine”, or “I’m doing great”, without ever really getting into the reason why they are ‘fine’ or ‘great’. Why not take it a step further and tell them that we’re fine or great because we’re ‘blessed by Jesus’?

Post #9: Witness ‘In Our Sleep’
The post again focuses on a team aspect where team members practice over and over ‘the fundamentals’ of a task so much, that they can literally do it without even thinking, or ‘in their sleep’. The same holds true with soulwinning. The goal is to do it so much that it becomes second nature to us.

Finally, I wanted to do this recap to discuss progress. It can help us to determine our next steps. In the last several weeks I’ve talked openly to family members, friends, people in a car service center, a computer technician, a plant nursery worker, and others about the wonderful love of Jesus. I still have a long way to go, but I feel I’m making progress. How about you? Let me know how you’re doing, and what you think are logical next steps.

See you next time,
Arlen