Churchsermon.org: Soul-Winning Manual, Lesson 4 of 7

SOUL-WINNING

LESSON 4 of 7
"HOW TO HAVE A SUCCESSFUL VISIT EVERY TIME"

INTRODUCTION: The above statement, at first glance, would appear to be a statement made by a fool or a trick subject made to attract one's attention. It is not a trick on the part of the writer but an honest attempt to take the reader to the Bible and show him "How to have a successful visit every time." THERE ARE FIVE TYPES OF SOUL-WINNING VISITS:
- The soul-winner witnesses and the sinner receives the Lord as his Savior
- The soul-winner witnesses and the sinner does not receive the Lord as his Savior
- The soul-winner goes to the sick or shut-in and witnesses for the Lord
- The soul-winner goes but is received with hostility
- The soul-winner goes and goes and does not find anyone home
THE SOUL-WINNER WITNESSES AND THE SINNER RECEIVES THE LORD
- Everyone acclaims this as a successful visit
  - A sinner is saved from hell
  - Psalm 126:5-6: The soul-winner has a soul-winner's joy
  - Luke 15:7-10: The inhabitants of heaven rejoice
  - The heart of God is made glad
THE SOUL-WINNER WITNESSES AND THE SINNER DOES NOT RECEIVE THE LORD
- Many soul-winner teams come back in rejection
  - Luke a puppy who has been scolded
  - The teams walk by feeling or sight, not by faith
- Many people have a deliberate disposition
  - They never decide any decision on the spot
- A successful visit
  - When a person goes in with the right spirit
  - He humbly gave the soul-winning message
  - 1 Corinthians 3:5-7: He followed God's designed plan of, "One sows, another waters, but God gives the increase"
  - If you do not classify it as a successful visit, then the pastor--who does not have people saved every sermon--is a failure, too.
  - Many sow--much watering for years later in a hospital room--someone else reaps. It is God's system. Thus, by faith, we do our best and have a successful visit.
THE SOUL-WINNER VISITS THE SICK OR SHUT-INS
- A very poor spirit
  - Some staff members when assigned to make hospital or shut-in visits react as if placed on K.P. (kitchen patrol) duty
  - Many church members are permanently wounded when they are not visited in the hospital by their fellow church members. Often no one comes except one of the paid staff or the pastor. They never get over the disappointment because they think, "no one really cares."
- The visit is appreciated the most...
  - By someone who is sick, perhaps facing surgery and an uncertain future
  - The most lonely, neglected people in the world are those in the welfare wards or convalescence homes
- The most effective time to visit is...
  - When they are facing death or an uncertain future (night before surgery)
  - When they are cast aside, left to die, abandoned by their family, friends and the world in an old folks home
- A successful visit
  - Matthew 25:26-40: Jesus said to the disciples: "For I was an hungered, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in:" ... "Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me." ... "Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me."
  - If Jesus is going to remember the visit and account it as a visit unto Himself, then you should count it as a successful visit.
THE SOUL-WINNER GOES AND IS RECEIVED WITH HOSTILITY
- Some create their own rejection
  - Stiff, unnatural approach--they act like a "weirdo"
  - A sickly, fake grin; they make the prospect suspicious by their put-on friendliness
- Some deserve their rejection
  - There are two crews in most churches: a building crew and wrecking crew. One crew is getting them in and another crew is running them off
  - Some sinners should be rewarded for their hostility instead of being rebuked. Some so-called soul-winners are so rude and ignorant in their speech
- Some sinners have been wounded by so-called Christians
  - A young man has been robbed of his mother and has lived with this rejection because some so-called preacher ran off with his mother when he was a little boy
  - Some have grown up in poverty and lived with a broken-spirited father who was fleeced by a so-called "Christian business man."
  - Some have never understood why things were never like they used to be; they had to give up relatives and friends because of an "old fashioned church split"
- We are to love the wounded, too
  - Their problem is not with us (we haven't offended them) so don't take their insults personally
  - You are not better than your master who was verbally attacked (Jesus)
  - Roll with the punch--love them back. Demonstrate the Christian attitude
  - Later, befriend them. Find some way to compliment them and take a long range approach in overcoming their hostility
  - Never be a baby and cry about how someone slammed a door in your face
- A successful visit
  - Matthew 5:11-12: "Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you."
  - If you are going to be rewarded then you had better count it a successful visit
THE SOUL-WINNER GOES AND NO ONE IS HOME
- Eight not-at-home visits:
  - At first sight a person would react, "a person would have to be a fool to think he could make a successful visit out of eight not-at-home calls."
  - There is no way to make eight not-at-home visits a successful visit unless we go back to the Bible method of training soul-winners
- The Bible method of soul-winning
  - It is evident that the average church has not discovered God's method in soul-winning when one observes:
    - The confusion which prevails during the visitation services: assigning of cards, visitation teams, the disorder and disorganization which prevails before, during and after the visitation service
    - The small number of people saved as a result of the visitation service
    - The constant effort of the pastor or outreach director to enlist, keep, motivate and direct the outreach ministry of the church
  - The soul-winning team should consist of two people
    - A soul-winner trainer
    - A silent partner trainee
  - Paul's method of training
    - Acts 20:20: He would show them publicly (soul-winning demonstration)
    - He would teach them publicly
    - He would become the teacher-example from house to house
    - He would give them on-the-job training by taking the silent partner-trainee out into the homes, showing and teaching him until he trained enough to become the soul-winner trainer himself. Then Paul would begin the process all over again with a new silent partner trainee.
  - Paul's method of training the soul-winner is God's method
    - An older, more mature Christian who has been trained serves as the soul-winner-trainer
    - The pastor knows how many soul-winner-trainers he has so he prepares the visitation packets for them in advance of the visitation service
    - The soul-winner-trainer is over the silent partner-trainee. He is to teach the silent-partner-trainee how to win souls over a given period of time
      - Takes the fear out of visiting for the silent-partner-trainee
      - Gives him material to learn in-between soul-winning sessions: The duties of the silent partner; how to control the conversation; the five approach questions; the Four Spiritual Principles and how to illustrate them; the proper way to close; the prayer; etc.
  - A successful visit
    - They leave the visitation service
    - The soul-winner-trainer begins to teach the silent-partner-trainee
    - They come to the first house. No one is home so they leave a note.
    - They continue the training session as they go to the next house
    - Recently, a young ministerial student, with tears in his eyes, told me after spending all afternoon calling and finding no one at home, "Sir, I feel like I have been in the greatest Bible college classroom that I have ever attended this afternoon. You'll never know how much your instruction has meant to me."
    - I received a long-distance telephone call from a young man who was so excited he could hardly talk. He said, "I know why no one was at home when you and I went calling two weeks ago. I needed the instruction which you gave me during the visit to lead the man I won to the Lord tonight. Without it I would have sent him to Hell. What you taught me that night saved the visit and the man is going to be baptized Sunday."
SUMMARY

If you go out, impart eternal truth to a younger Christian, walk by faith and manifest the proper attitude in front of him and help develop him in witnessing, shouldn't you call that a "successful visit"?