Discipleship Part 4

Winning souls is, essentially, the process of evangelizing or witnessing, which is simply communicating the message of salvation to unbelievers. Jesus Christ told His followers they would be His witnesses to “the ends of the earth…….

Acts 1:8- But you will receive power and ability when the Holy Spirit comes upon you; and you will be My witnesses (to tell people about Me) both in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and Samaria, and even to the ends of the earth.”

2nd Peter 3:9- The Lord does not delay (as though He were unable to act) and is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is (extraordinarily) patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.

All Christians should be eager to heed this call and have a passion for winning souls. Witnessing, however, is less about what we do for the Lord as it is about what He does through us, and this requires a surrendered heart filled with the Holy Spirit. Indeed, the same Holy Spirit who empowered Christ while He was ministering on earth can empower us as well. First, however, we need to understand our role in building the body of Christ. As the apostle Paul explained to those in Corinth, we are God’s servants who work in unity with one another to produce a harvest. One will plow the soil, another may plant the seed, and another laborer will water it, but only God can make that seed grow.

1st Corinthians 3:7-8- So neither is the one who plants nor the one who waters anything, but (only) God who causes the growth. He who plants and he who waters are one (in importance and esteem, working toward the same purpose); but each will receive his own reward according to his own labor.

Note: Even though we each may have individual roles, we nonetheless have a unified purpose of winning others to Christ, for which everyone will receive his own reward according to his own labor.

A mind for the mission starts by having Jesus Christ front and center in our own lives. Indeed, our passion for winning souls will increase as our passion for Christ Himself and our walk with Him become stronger. Two of the best ways to strengthen our Christian Walk are to read His Word daily and to pray continually. When we fill our hearts and minds with Christ, we can’t help but to have a passion for sharing Him with others. The most enthusiastic laborers are those who have a heart that is on fire for Christ, and this should actually be easy when we consider the magnitude of what our sinless Savior did for us at Calvary. His willing acceptance of death on our behalf cured us from our terminal disease (sin) and saved us from an unfathomable eternity in the lake of fire. Yet we know what happens to those who die apart from Christ.  This hopeless eternity apart from God, let alone in the fiery darkness of inextinguishable hellfire, should motivate us to win as many souls to Christ as possible, especially when we consider the brevity of life that the apostle James aptly calls “a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.

James 4:14- Yet you do not know (the least thing) about what may happen in your life tomorrow. (What is secure in your life?) You are merely a vapor (like a puff of smoke or a wisp of steam from a cooking pot) that is visible for a little while and then vanishes (into thin air).

Once we cross the eternal horizon, there is no going back, and the time for winning souls will be over. Not only is the harvest great and the workers few, but, on top of this, our time is very limited. In these challenging times, we certainly don’t have to look far to see many in despair, yet, even in the midst of this chaos, Christians can find solace in God’s Word. If a Christian finds himself in one of life’s trials, for example, he knows our sovereign Lord either put him there or is allowing him to be there. Either way, the Christian can make sense of this turmoil by realizing God has a purpose for our trial, for we know that “in all things God works for the good of those who love Him.

There can be no better calling than working on behalf of the One who died so that we may live. Jesus said, “You are my friends if you do what I command” (John 15:14), and His command was that we obey Him and that we love each other as He loved us. Clearly, then, our love for Him is best exemplified when we passionately and tirelessly work to share His gospel with others.

We are nothing until we have a burden for souls.