We want to start this morning on the next few weeks on the soul winning. We first went over these outlines many, many years ago. And our first lesson is the qualifications for soul winning, Godward. And we, of course, have one on qualifications of soul winning manhood. A soul winner must have a holiness of character. That's the first thing we need to understand. God will not go to work with instruments which would compromise his own character. I'm not saying that You gotta be perfect, of course, none of us are perfect. But if we got open sin, or we're going out trying to witness and we're argumentative, I don't think God is going to bless that. In 1 Peter chapter one, verse 15, 16, But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation. Because it is written, be ye holy, for I am holy. In verse 15, you know, it tells us, but as he which hath called you, which goes back that, We can be the best spokesman, we can do everything right, but if God doesn't bless what we're saying, you know, nothing will happen. That means that, you know, I've had people say, well, I've witnessed to a lot of people, and as far as I know, none of them has made a professional failure. You plant a seed and it, you know, you plant a little sibling If I was to plant some at my place, I would never live long enough to see the beauty of it. But the trees that I do view, somebody else planted them. So the reason I say that is that some of the people that I've witnessed to and talked to, I may never see them saved. but that don't mean that God won't save them. I believe if we talked to somebody and that person received Christ on the spot, and we talked to another person and they received Christ on the spot, we would get so big-headed that, you know, hey, I'm doing something. Now, all you and I are is a planter. We just plant the seed. And if you have a garden, all you did was plant the seed. It depends on how God's going to take care of that. But the thing that we can say that so be ye holy in all manner of conversation. I don't think it's good to go out and witness if the only time you're going to be godly is when you're out witnessing. You do more harm. Don't go out on church visitation. If everybody you work with here, you curse and have a different lifestyle, you'd be better off that you did not go. And the first time I heard Brother Gormley say that, he said, God blesses us sometimes by not letting certain people go. Boy, I tell you, I was in my second year of ministry and that has upsetted me. Here you're a church, maybe 18, 19 men going out visiting. So we went out, I'm encouraging every man to go. But we had a, preacher here a few years ago that, you know, that I asked him not to visit because all he wanted to do was go out there and argue. You're not doing any good when you argue about it. Your job is to tell them about the Lord if they're willing to listen, but if they say, get out of the house, you leave. You know, because you're, that's not how the Lord works. But there is a godly walk, as he said in Ephesians chapter one and verse four. So godly communion with God. If a man delivers his own message, it will have such power as his own character. Only have the power given to his character. That's why that, This is politics, you know, we, or I listen to, you know, some of those guys and, you know, I don't pay any attention to them because I know them, I know about them and your message will only be as great as your character is. So godly communion with God, if a man delivers his own message, will have such power as his own character is given to it. But if he delivers a master's message, having heard it from the master's lips, then it's not about the one who is doing the talking, it's the one that he's talking about, that's the one that he has given praise and honor for. So, number B, soul women must have a spiritual life to a high degree. John 10, 10, as we probably all know that verse is, you know, Christ gives life and he gives it abundantly. I think that I have something to offer a lost man or a lost woman. If he accepts the message, I have something to offer him. And if we can convey that, and that's what soul winning is, is try to convince that individual that Christ can make a difference and will make a difference in their life. Now, when we talk about that or when we understand that teaching, we got to understand that God is the one that does the saving, God is the one that blesses. And he tells us in Ephesians chapter three and verse 20, Ephesians 3, 20. Now unto him that is able to do exceedingly abundant above all that we ask or think according to the power that worketh in us. But I've got to be convinced I'm saved. And I've got to be convinced that the message, or the words I'm going to speak, that we are giving a true, honest message based upon the word of God, and we know if there's any difference in the one we're talking to, the Holy Spirit got to make that difference. I mean, you know, I've had people, you know, I know them, they know me, and they'll sit down there, and I'll talk to them, and some of the men that'll be with me, say, boy, that was a good visit. But sometimes people will give you the answer that they know you want, so you won't keep it up. And that's where your experience soul winners are, your experience witnesses. You know, we use the qualifications for a soul winning and, you know, the third or fourth lesson, you know, that explains the difference between witnessing and soul winning. And there is a difference because we know that we cannot win a soul, but the effort that we put out if God blesses it, we may see a soul won. but it had nothing to do with us. It had everything to do with the message, with the message. And in Isaiah 55, beginning with verse six, Isaiah tells us, seek ye the Lord while he may be found. Call ye upon him while he is near. Now, some people have a problem. What, God's always near. but you're not in touch with him. Even when you're out of fellowship with him, he's near. But God said, seek ye the Lord while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near, let the wicked forsake his way, the unrighteous man his thoughts, and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him, and our God, for he will abundantly He will abundantly pardon. Then he goes on to say, for my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, says the Lord. I mean, I couldn't tell you the mail I've got in the last 30, 40 years on how to be an effective soul winner. You know, guarantee steps. What they should have said, guarantee steps to get a person to join your church. You know, there are ways if you know a person has got problems, and they give you the directions how to get into that person. But God said, for my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, said the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. There's no way that you or I can speak on the same level as God. We don't know what God is thinking. All we know about God is what is in this book. And we know how this book, if we will digest it, as Jeremiah tells us, we need to eat the word of God. of God. We need to digest the Word of God. And all that simply means is that once we read it or once we hear it, we've got to meditate upon that Word. What is God saying to me? When you look at this verse, for my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, said the Lord. What does that mean to me? If I'm going to be an effective witness, if I'm going to be an effective soul winner, I've got to do it God's way. This, you know, giving out popcorn and balloons, that's not in the Bible. It's not God's way. Then in verse 10, it says, for as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but water the earth, and make it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater. So shall my word be that draweth forth out of my mouth, if it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the things whereto I sent it. We know that God wants us to be a witness I believe the Bible is clear that he wants us to be a soul winner, but what is the best way of soul winning? It's to let our light shine so that somebody can look at my life as a way of life and know there's something different between me and a lost person. You can't look always at the moral because there are some lost people more moral than some surf members. That's hard truth, but it's just facts. So we got to keep our life shining as a light. So, number C, soul winners must have a humble spirit. Never forget what your master said. Well, let's look in Matthew 11. What did the master say? You know, in Matthew the 11th chapter and the 29th verse, he said, come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I'll give you rest. If you're depressed, stressed out, overtired, everything seems to be falling apart. And we all have had, if you're any age at all, you all had those time periods. God said, come to me. You know, because most of our problems, and we have problems that we had nothing to do with. We were a bystander. We got involved, you know. a lot of the problems in my life, and I'm sure a lot of y'all's lives, that comes from your kids, it comes from your family, it comes from friends. But you were involved because of your relationship. What should we do? Well, God, you know, made it very clear here in Matthew 11 and verse 29. Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I'll give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and ye shall find rest unto your souls. Now, notice verse 30. When you take your problems to the Lord, you may still have a body that is, you know, stressing out, hurting, but your soul, that inward man, is calm because you know that it could not happen unless God permitted it. Why did God permit it? I'm full in. I don't believe that I can have a headache unless God okayed it. I believe in a sovereign God. I believe that God is in control. Every time a bird dies, he knows about it. How do I know that? He says it. So God is in full control. Now that body may be a mess, but that inward man, that soul ought to have peace because it couldn't have happened. So we ask ourselves, what did happen? Is there something in my life or is God preparing me so I can be a help to somebody else? We see very clearly that if we look at the word of God that there's three things that we need. We need to be meek. Matthew 5, 5, 2 Timothy 2.25, you have these scriptures we've written out. You know, we need to be humble. You know, there's nothing like following the directions of the Lord. So we say a soul winner must have a humble spirit. So we look at Matthew 11.29, we should be meek. And we see in Matthew 5.5, blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. We need to be meek. Now, we know or I believe, you may not, but I believe that the world, if you're meek, they'll, you're unhumble, the world has a tendency to to take advantage of. But that still doesn't change the God's word. And we see here, when we look at that, that God says in 2 Timothy 2.25, and we won't look at all of these, but God tells us here, in meekness, instructing those that oppose themselves if God pre-adventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth. Now, when you look at 2 Timothy chapter two and verse 25, who is a sinner's worst enemy? Themself. Because God said very clearly, in meekness, instructing those that oppose themselves. There are a lot of problems that people have. There's a lot of people who have habits that are destroying their body. They're opposing that truth. So God said, in meekness, instructing those that oppose himself, if God, pre-adventure, will give them repentance. So we learn a lesson here that is why I'm sovereign grace. I'm very careful when I go to somebody's house or anywhere telling them how to be saved. But I've got to remember, unless God pre-events or blesses what I've just said, nothing will happen. See, we get in this proud mode. And that's what the soul winning organization is all about. The more people you win to the Lord, the more confidence that you have. Well, there's difference between confessions of faith and true repentance. True repentance can only come from the Lord. So he tells us that. We need to be humble. Christ is our example. We need to be humble. And, you know, success, you know, controls us to take a little more credit for something that we had really nothing to do with. We was just a messenger. We was just a messenger. And that's all a soul winner is, or a witness is. They are a, And unless we understand that, that's why years ago when I wrote these qualifications for soul winning, you've got to realize it's not you that's gonna win anybody. It is God using you. So if you want to make a good impression, you've got to be honest, you've got to be open, and if they ask you, can you show made that in the Bible, we gotta be able to. So, you know, it's something that is really, really wonderful when you understand that Christ is the example for us, not only in soul winning, But in everything that we do, he is the example. And of course, Philippians 1, 2 through 8, Colossians 3, 12, you know, we got to have humbleness of mind. We got to be humbleness of mind. That's the only way that God is going to bless us That's the only way that we will be encouraged when we know it's our blessing is that God chose to use me, that God chose to use you. You know, it's no difference, you know, if you're on a ball team, if you're on a basketball team, you know, you got to be ready to play every time. And if you're not ready to play, the chosen may call you in once, but he's not going to continue to take you off the bench if you're not ready. It's the same way it is with soul winning, with witnessing, with being a blessing to somebody. You got to be ready to be used of the Lord. Now, the third one is pride, you know. God said, you know, pride comes before the fall. Let's look at this one here. Proverbs 29 and verse 23. God tells us here. Proverbs 29th chapter and verse 23, God said, a man's pride shall bring him low. but honor shall uphold the humble in spirit. The attitude of witnessing, the attitude of soul winning is, I can't save nobody. But that's all the teacher. We sometimes get on the teacher if our kid fails, and sometimes that's due. But no matter how good the teacher is, if the pupil doesn't listen, doesn't participate, they're not going to be as good a student as they can. No difference in soul winning or witnessing. We got to prepare, but what most, the witness is, will you come to church? And, you know, I've had members tell me, Pastor, you know, we should have a blessing because I've invited how many people this week? And that's good. You don't stop doing that. But that person has got to have some source of hearing the word of God, because nobody is saved apart from the word. And we got to be ready on the basic. I'm not telling you as I would anybody to, you know, you witnessing is not giving your opinion of the second coming. Witnessing is not discussion, election, predestination, and foreknowledge. Witnessing is simply, hey, that if you're a sinner, if you know not Christ as your Lord and Savior, if you've never been born again, these are the steps. And we preach them over and over and over and any good pastor will. You've got to hear, you've got to hear, and when God takes that from the mind into the heart, then he will grant you repentance, he'll grant you faith, But if nobody's ever told a person, if that person never heard, you know, because God has a way that he does that. And so when we look at, you know, that God says, you know, a man's pride shall bring him low, but honor shall uphold the humble in spirit. You know, and that's why that a young person has a hard time sometimes witnessing to a older person. Because if that person is lost, you know, they look at that young person and they say, you know, I've forgotten more than you know. But if he's lost, he hasn't. You can't forget what you don't know. You can't forget what you haven't heard. You know, and believe me, when I started out, you know, in my early, early 20s, that was a stumbling block. Because when I was at Lawrenceburg, you know, and that's an older, smaller town, it's grown, blossomed out in the last years. But I didn't have the bypass, I didn't have Walmart, I didn't have all those subdivisions. So I was dealing mostly with older people that had been in a church that didn't teach doctrine, didn't teach the local church, didn't even teach that you got to hear and believe and repent. Because, and we're still guilty, you know, of getting people baptized instead of getting them saved first. Well, God said, you know, that old pride, as he says here in Proverbs 29, verse 23, a man's pride shall bring him love, but honor shall uphold the humble in spirit. You know, we got to always realize that humility is what God uses in our life. And we need to be humble. We need to realize that we're nothing without Jesus Christ. Now let's look here in Mark. In Mark chapter seven, Mark chapter seven, and Mark chapter seven. We're just drawing through a few of those, but, you know, we would use them as a guideline. And in Mark chapter 7, verse 21, God said, for from within, out of the heart of men proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, theft, treacherous, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, and an evil high blasphemy, pride, and foolishness. All these things come from within. Now, if I was to ask you, what doctrine does Mark 7, 21 through 23 teach? Total depravity, total depravity. You know, we ask sometimes, why are you cursing? Why are you drinking? Mom didn't drink, dad didn't drink. Why? Just, it's already in there. That's what God is saying. Theft, truvenous, wickedness, see all these. In verse 23, he said, all these things come from within. We got to understand this body is totally depraved. There's nothing good about it. We learn a lot down at the cancer center. When people read George, they got cancer the first, second, third, how bad it is. But it's still bad. I'm not sure how, if you got, Lung cancer, different stages is good, but it's still bad. But on the inside, you know, we teach our kids, be a good little Johnny, be good. Johnny can't be good unless Johnny been trying to be good. So that's why that we teach doctrine because as we Learn as we're studying, most of my problem is me. That upsets people. But Paul was told, people, that they're their own worst enemy. I mean, after you've been saved and you're in church several years, you've been taught, whose fault is it if you go against the word of God? He said, well, I wasn't brought up right. I don't believe that foolishness. Never have, never will. Does it affect how you're brought up? Sure. But you don't have to teach a child to lie. They'll do that on their own. You don't have to teach a child to steal. You don't have to teach a child to drink. What causes them? It's already in there. So if they associate with people they shouldn't associate, go to places they shouldn't go, it's gonna come out. That's what God is saying here. I mean, making it very, very clear. He said in verse 23, all these evils, everything we notice in verse 21 to 22, All these evil things come from within and that's what defiles a man. They're already there, you know. It's just like, you know, you can't dig a well and get water if the water's not already there. You can't dig in a mine for coal unless the coal's already there. We're not gonna do those things unless it's already in the body. See, the body is totally depraved. And that's why we need to not only witness, not only be a soul winner, but we need to understand what the qualifications are. Pride is one of the evils that will defile a man, and God will not use that defiled man. We're at the attitude almost, you know, God is desperate. He'll use anybody. No, he won't. He absolutely won't. And this here tells us he won't. We gotta be saved. How much defilement is in me, if God saves me, now I'm an instrument to be used. Number D, soul women must have a living faith. Doesn't take a lot of faith according to Matthew 7.20. God will not increase your faith until you use what you have. Now, that's hard for almost anybody. But Matthew, excuse me, Matthew chapter eight. Matthew the eighth chapter. beginning with verse one, when he was come down from the mountain. When he came down from the mountain, great multitudes followed him. And behold, there came a leopard and worshiped him, saying, Lord, if thou wilt, thou can make me clean. And Jesus put forth his hand and touched him, saying, I will be thou clean. And immediately, his leprosy was slain. Now, let's just stop there. What did the leper say? He said, if thy will. Lord, you can heal my wife, my husband, my child. Lord, you can take that drunken lion stealing away from brother, sister, so and so. But we got to understand if he will. You know, we get upset. You know, I've had people tell me this. Pastor, I love you, but you know, I have prayed and prayed and prayed and prayed. I don't pray anymore because God doesn't answer my prayer. Notice how the leopard got healed. He believed. See, when he was come down from the mountain, great multitude followed him, and behold, there came a leopard, and worshiped him, saying, Lord, if thou wilt, thou can make me clean. And Jesus put forth his hand and touched him, saying, I will be thy clean. We're saved of what we believe, and we believe According to what we hear, our environment, we see generation after generation do the same thing. And what does the government do? Let's pour more money, let's give them money. And there comes a time when you've got to do that, but that's not the answer. Just think different. We've got to learn to think different. But in being saved, all that leopard had to do was to believe that God would. See, God knew what the leopard was. So I can tell a lost man, you can be saved today if you believe that Jesus Christ died for you, was buried for you, and arose for you. I can tell him that, but I can't make him believe, but God can. That's what soul winning is all about. I mean, soul winning must have a living faith. Doesn't take a lot of faith, as Matthew 17, 20. God will not entreat your faith until you use what he's given you. So when it must believe that his message is Godward and it is a powerful, you know. You've got to believe what you're saying will save a man if God blesses it. Now, God only uses his word. 2 Timothy 3, verse 16, God said, all scripture is given by inspiration of God. It's profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness. Now, we read that verse, but God said, all scripture is given by the inspiration of God. Now notice, it is profitable for doctrine. If you don't believe what's in the Bible, you're believing wrong. I don't care how sincere you are, everything's in this Bible is needed for a lost man to be saved. So when he must be characterized by thorough earnestness, You know, Hebrews chapter 2. About to run out of time, but we'll finish this. Hebrews chapter 2 and verse 3. How shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation which at first began to be spoken by the Lord and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him? See, I believe that a lost man can be an effective witness because he's saying words But if he hasn't accepted those words and allowed God to save him, he may believe it in the head, but it hasn't entered the heart. There's a lot of lost people that knows more scripture than I do. But knowing scripture only makes you more responsible. See, a child that's never been taught manners versus a child that's been taught manners. We ought to expect more out of this child because this child has never been taught. We wonder why the society is the way it is. They haven't been taught. They haven't been taught. We need to understand that. Gee, soul winning must have simplicity of heart. By simplicity of heart, I mean that a man serves for the glory of God and the winning of souls and nothing else. I mean, if nobody doesn't acknowledge me, I'm not going to witness anymore. I'm not going to clean this church unless somebody says, Pastor, you did an excellent job. I believe, man, that's the best job you've ever done. We're doing it for the glory of God, not to get praise. And a lost man can't do it for the glory of God because he doesn't have God in him. And I'm telling you, I've heard some testimonies from lost people that know. They know the scripture. In the head, they believe it. But to get saved, it's got to leave the mind and enter the heart. And when it enters the heart, it will enter both feet. And I'm not saying everybody's soul is going to be out knocking on doors, going to the hospital ministry, jail ministry. but you realize that some lost people, the only Christ they see is the Christ in you and me. Lastly, so when it must be completely surrendered to God, Lordship of Jesus Christ. Now, most people said he is my lord and savior, but they really mean he's my savior because there's some things they're not going to submit to. Well, when he's your lord, that's what lordship is.