In this sermon, the speaker emphasizes the importance of understanding the condition of man as lost in order to effectively share the gospel. He mentions conducting seminars on soul-winning and counseling pastors for salvation. The speaker highlights the power of the Word of God in convicting individuals of sin and shares a personal experience with the president of South Africa who was saved. He also provides practical advice for soul-winners, emphasizing the need for reliance on God and addressing difficulties that may arise during counseling. The sermon references the Bible verse Hebrews 4:12 to emphasize the power of the Word of God.

For the word of God is quick and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. This message has been brought to you by Manichristian Fellowship, Ellensburg, Washington, area code 509-925-1167. The Bible says thou shalt never use a computer to record seminars. Have you got that? It's in the second book of Maccabees. Practical advice to soul winners. The soul winner, this is what Charles Heron Spurgeon said, The soul winner can do nothing without God. He must cast himself on the invisible or be a laughingstock to the devil, who regards with utter disdain all those who think to subdue human nature with mere words and arguments. The following suggestions are meant to help and guide in a practical way those of us who are seeking to win souls for the Master. Remember Jesus said, Come ye after me, and I will make you to become fishers of men. Soul winning is learned as we follow Christ, as we keep close to Him. This is the heart of successful soul winning. Jesus commanded His disciples to follow Him, and as a result He promised to make them fishers of men. We may not be talented, we may lack experience, we may be afraid, but as we follow Him closely and wholeheartedly, yearly, we shall learn the art of personal soul winning. We must learn how to approach the hostile, the disinterested, how to present the Gospel simply and forcefully at salvation. But as we follow the Master's fishermen, He promises He make us to become fishers of men. Here then are some hints in the great task of soul winning. Remember, Proverbs said, He that winneth souls is wise. First of all, keep your eyes open for opportunities. The waiter, the butcher, the neighbour, the workman, the taxi man, the relative, the friend, this gives you opportunities. Let me tell you something that I do, and I love doing this. I was tempted to do it last night when we met for coffee. I normally do it about three or four times a week when I sense there's an atmosphere that I can do it. A waiter, you know, the people that helps us in restaurants, you sit in a restaurant and someone comes to help you, and you just reveal a Christlike spirit to these people, and then we take an order in, and then I say to this person. The first pastor phoned me the other day when I did it. He phoned me out of New Brunswick. He said, I want to phone you about that thing that you did. And I said, when? He said, last year in May when we took you out for lunch. And so I said, what did I do? He said, you remember the girl? I mean, this girl is coming to Christ now. He said, you remember the girl that came to serve us? And he said, she took our order, and then you did something. And he said, you probably got away because of your accent, and you're not Canadian or whatever. But he said, you did something. I said, what? He said, you turned to her, and I remember the incident now, or then when I talked to him. I turned to her, and she's just a beautiful, beautiful girl. And I said to her, her name was Sarah, if I remember correctly. And I said, Sarah, we really appreciate you taking the meal. There's no one else in the restaurant. I said, thank you for taking our meal. And I said, now Sarah, when are you going to bring our meal to us? I said, we're going to ask God, we're going to pray, and ask God to bless the meal. And I said, Sarah, we would love to include you in our prayer. I said, you don't have to be here, but we would love to include you in our prayer. I said, when are you going to give the order to the meal? And between now and the meal coming to us, I said, can you think of a few things that we will be able to pray for you? God, I tell you, it was precious. When she brought the meal, she was just so affected. Do you know why? That someone would want to pray for her in a restaurant. So the pastor phoned me and he said, I need to talk to you about this girl. And he said, I've never in my life have seen that kind of an approach. And I said to him, Dean, I said, it needs to be the right time. And I've led people to Christ like that. And it's beautiful when God gives us opportunities. Keep your eyes open for opportunities. Be pleasant and sweet. A forceful, intense, compelling introduction will make him feel that he's being cornered. A natural, pleasant attitude draws out a conversation. There are times that we need to corner people. I mean, when God gives me that opportunity, like I shared with a man last night, I filled the gas station the other day and I was alone. When I came to pay for it, the lady was very friendly and everything. And then she turned to me and she just said, Are you interested in buying a lottery ticket today? And I just cornered her. Bang! I said, you know what? I'm a Christian. And I said, let me tell you why I won't do it. And she just gave in and said, you know, you're really right. But it was an opportunity that I couldn't miss. And there was no need for me to say, you know, how do you think I can pray for you? I mean, I know how to pray for her. She really needs God. So, it depends on the opportunity. Thirdly, let him do much of the talking at any rate until you have assessed his problem. I said to you a few minutes ago, I love to ask questions and I let people talk. And oh man, brother, I tell you, sometimes they talk your head off. You know, and there's no sense in what they're talking and I listen. And then I just wait, you know, to get an opportunity to get in there. But it's great to ask questions and you let people talk. You know, a question well defined is a question half solved. You think about it. You ask a question and people answer. And they answer. I've seen this with pastors because I spend much of my time counseling pastors. I ask a question to a pastor and he takes 20 minutes to give me the answer. And at the end of the time he would say, you know, I think that was my problem. And I said, you're absolutely right. It saved me trying to dig into this guy's life to find out what's going on here. Fourthly, respect his thoughts and his ideas at all times. Don't laugh at things which to him may be important. Don't laugh at things that to him may be important. I mean, you could come and begin to speak to someone and he's got this thing about his car and you just think it's just a funny joke and you crack a joke. And to him it's a dead serious thing. And you're going to laugh about that and you've lost him. He thought, I don't want to talk to this guy. Be sincere and tactful. Show genuine interest in him. Be human in your contact. Be friendly and kind and thoughtful. Start where the person is. Don't speak as if he had a great scriptural knowledge or if he knows little about the things of God. If you find someone and he does no thing. Now, you know what I often do in witnessing to people? Because you and I can say, you know the Bible says, Romans 3.23, Romans 5.12, Romans 6.13, Romans 8.1, Romans 12.1 and 2, Romans 13. You can say, you know the Bible says this, the Bible says this. And you know, to him, where it is in Romans, at that moment, it's not an issue. So you say, are you doing justice to the Scriptures? Yes, I do. But you know what I say? I say, you know the Bible says, All that sinneth comes short of the glory of God. The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. The soul that sinneth, it shall die. God has got no pleasure in the sinner. And I quoted six or seven passages. He doesn't even know it's in the Bible. But the Spirit of God used the Word of God. And you quote the Scriptures to him. Avoid critical comments about pastors or congregations. You need to watch this. I mean, there's a mess out there. I mean, an absolute mess. And you and I are trying to win people to Christ. And one of the things that people are going to do, they're going to criticize the church. Don't get involved. Because you're going to sin with him. Just let him talk. And let him talk. And I often say, you know, I really understand where you're coming from. I say, but let me just tell you, it's not the church that's going to save you, it's Christ. Or sometimes they have a bad experience with the pastor. Don't get drawn into a conversation, because what's going to happen? You're going to lose ground in winning this person to Christ. Quote just the relevant portion of Scripture. For example, when using 1 John 5, verse 13. Just quote, These things are written that ye may know that ye have eternal life. If you quoted the whole of the rest of the verse, sometimes there's some other issues coming in there, and they listen to it. And they say, oh no, what about that? And what about that? You just want them to get the heart of the issue. Okay. Don't quote too many verses. My wife often says, you know, this is your problem. This will be bewildering. Use normally a few well-chosen and appropriate verses. You know, people always accuse me when I point someone to Christ. We sometimes go through 250 passages of Scripture. And sometimes they say, oh, that's confusing. I say, you know, I just let them write it down. The Word of God is not... This person I led to Christ last night, it was so precious. They were writing down all the verses. All the verses. All the verses, write them down. And this morning, they're going to go to... I told them to go to a strong evangelical church in the area. A church that's separated. I mean, I don't know if they're going to find one in the area where they are in the U.S. Draw from personal experience as you talk. While your testimony must not attract attention to yourself, it's a power. It's enormous because it's fresh. There are three things about our testimonies. What is my testimony? That which I was. When you tell them, you share with them what you were. You don't go into the brutal sins of some terrible things. But you share with them the depth of what God brought you up. My testimony has got another part. That which I am now. In other words, what God has done in my life. And the third part of my testimony is simply this. I share with them that which I am looking forward to as a Christian. Do not monopolize the conversation. But don't let your prospect control it. That means you must lead it. You have an end in view. You keep the conversation to the point. Don't take the I know the answer attitude. You know, you really need to respect people. When you share with people about the Lord Jesus Christ, brother and sister, and they respond it, and they want to say to you things, don't give an attitude that says, you know, I know all this stuff. I know this. You don't need to say this to me. I love just to listen. I get out what's in the lives of people. Don't be drawn into an argument. You may win the argument, but you lose the person. When Nathanael countered Philip's excited claim to have found the Messiah, he said, can any good thing come out of Nazareth? Philip confidently just stated, come and see. Don't carry, I don't know if I do, so I'm not going to read you this. Don't try to win everybody. If you can't do it, trust the Lord to lead you to the right person. Dress neatly and attractive. You know, I've come across people, and they go out soul winning, and they are just in a mess. Just in an absolute mess. And sometimes they don't even smell the best, you know. Be clean. Don't let bad odours put people off. Don't deal with a soul in company. It's sometimes good when you and I witness to people. You know, sometimes we don't have an option, and we speak to people in a crowd, and you witness to someone, and God somehow just closed the doors off. That this person, forget about all those around you, and they just listen. Don't work merely on emotions. You will produce spurious fruit. The mind must be convinced. The emotions must be stirred. The world must be conquered. The whole man must be one. The chains must be intellectual, emotional and volitional. Don't interrupt when another person is dealing with a soul. I don't know if this has ever happened to you. Sometimes I take someone with me, and we need to go and counsel someone. And I'm the person that is counselling. And then as I was counselling this person, this other person that is learning how to counsel got a great point and tried to interrupt and interject. And you know, it can be helpful in a certain degree, but sometimes it diverts people. Don't be unduly familiar with the inquirer. Don't lean on him. Don't shout in his ears or breathe in his face. Avoid putting your arm around his shoulder. These things could cause resentment. Do you know there are people, and you know I need to watch it. I sometimes like to go and I take a fellow's arm and say, I just want to tell you this. There are people that don't like that. So you are witnessing to these people, and you really need to respect them. And if you witness to someone, you are right here in his face. Sometimes people just don't like that. I mean, you need wisdom. Don't hurry or do shoddy work. Don't give the devil the blame for your ignorance or lazy thinking. Don't be discouraged by apparent failure. You learn as you go. Pray and think over everything. Ask the Lord to show you how to improve. Don't talk too much when the inquirer is seeking salvation and is ready to pray. I don't know if you are like me, when I have the privilege of pointing someone to Christ. I really want to make sure that they understand the Scriptures. I really want to make sure. The person that I had the joy last night of leading to Christ, three nights ago I probably could have done it. But you know, God has had this problem with me through the years because I have seen so many spiritual abortions. And I have seen so many people pushed into the kingdom. And on Thursday night when I was counseling them, I could have led them to Christ. But I was just holding back, not sure about this, not sure about this. And until last night I realized, if you are going to stay, if you are going to wait longer, you are going to do an injustice. Rely completely upon the Holy Spirit of God and the Word of God. Keep the door open. Don't let the conversation close in a way which would make Him wish never to see you again. Be conservative in your estimation of what has happened. Take care not to make rush statements of numbers who came to Christ, when perhaps you might merely have decided to follow Christ without any real divine encounter and true dependence on anyone. Never give up. Purpose to one soul. If you ever honestly try, don't force a premature decision. These are just little things that sometimes will be able to help you. And so you say, Brother Gerard, how does this all work? You know how this all works in my own inadequate relationship with God, brother and sister? I just need to keep in touch with God for people. I need to look out. Because we are soul winners. Soul winners. There is a man that I am praying for in Edmonton and his son is 8 years old. Sorry, 11 years old. And when his son was 8 years old, he was gloriously saved. And so I am praying for Lyle and for Kelly and for their little son Jonathan. And Lyle phoned me the other night and we were talking and praying for one another on the phone and he said, you know, I don't know what's going on with Jonathan. And I said, what do you mean? He said, he's got such a passion for God. And I said, what do you mean? He said, we were in a mall the other day and he said, we were walking down in this park when he said there was a very old man sitting looking in a pretty bad shape. And he said, we kept walking and he said, I looked and Jonathan was nowhere to be found. And he said, I looked around and he was sitting next to the old man praying with him, 8 years old. And he said, I got close to see what was happening. And he said, he was telling the old man about Christ. And he was telling the old man that he needed to be saved. And he said, I saw my 8 year old son leading that old man to Christ. He said, Brother Gerard, he said, I'm not sure if he did it the right way. He said, I'm not even sure what happened. But he said, surely my 8 year old son convicted me. I walked past that old man without even thinking. Sometimes our children puts us to shame, you know. My daughter, she, someone has helped us that she loves animals and she loves horses and she go and help and clean some stalls and stuff. And the people are Lithuanians and this woman Inga is just a rough character. And I told her, I said, I don't want you to swear in the presence of my daughter. And she said, I said, we are Christians. And I wish you could hear Monica. I mean, she's got this burden for Kayla and for Ayla. Kayla is the daughter that's about her age and Ayla is younger. And there is Inga and there is Hans and he's German and she's Lithuanian. And this burden. And she said, Daddy, I want to be a testimony. And sometimes our children put us to shame, you know. Because you see, to them the price is so easy to pay. We figure it out. We think like this and we think like this. These kids don't think like that. Our children don't think like that. And so what did Jesus say? He said, let the little children come to me for such along the kingdom of heaven. So, come and pray for us every day. Thank you for allowing me to come in and share with you last night and this morning. We appreciate that so much and we will appreciate if you will pray. I know we're not Amish, okay? Okay. We appreciate if you... We have a little picture of my wife and myself and our daughter and I only brought one. And I gave it to Fr. Jamie. And we're not Amish. So, I'm afraid that the rest if you look at it and just write us off and say, you know, you're way off the mark. Anyway, you can pray for us. And if you want the picture, if you want a burden, then we give you the picture. And so... We... We want to ask you to pray for us. We would so much appreciate that. I'm going to send my schedule on for the next year for Fr. Jamie and the next week. Places that we need to be. I need to be at about 35 places. And then there are about 17 places that has asked us to... If we could come any cancellation if we could come and do conferences and prayer. And so... And I... So, it's just... We need prayer. We need people to pray for us. This weekend I'm with about 2,000 Spanish people in the city of New York. And then, right after that, I have four nights of charity Christian fellowship. And then I... In July, I'm back in the city of New York with 350 people that have prayer stations in New York. And what they do, they get into a hotel, these 350 people, and at 8 o'clock in the morning they go out in these prayer booths. And people from New York came to work and then they said, how can we pray for you? And they started two fellowships like this the last year. And they've asked me to spend a week with them. And what I do is to teach every morning from 6 till 7. And then we spend an hour in prayer. And so, that's one of the things that we are praying about. I'm not 100% sure if I'm going to do it or not. And then we want to thank you for the way that you pray for us and the way that the fellowships support us. My wife and myself and our daughter has been released from this conference grant that we've been running. And so, it's going to take time. It could be till the end of the year before we're finally gone. Because we can't just walk out in the place, but they've released us. And we feel the time has come for us to move on our own. Which is a big step for us. I'm in a faith mission, which means that I don't get a salary. All those kind of things. Every three months, we get an allowance as a family. About $675 for us as a family. And then every week we get $100 for food. So, that's how we operate. And so, if we leave them, the house that we are in belongs to the mission. The vehicles belong to the mission. So, if we leave, we just leave with nothing. Which is great, you know. Abram just stepped out in faith. And so, we want you to pray. And this picture that I gave to Brother Jamie, if you're not going to criticize us, I don't think we look worldly. I hope not, you know. But if you're not going to criticize us, if you promise to pray for us, then I would love to give you one of those. All we ask is prayer. Every month, this fellowship supports us as a little family financially. Every month, $100 is coming to us. There's one other little fellowship who sends us $55 every month. There was another fellowship that was sending us something and they've just stopped sending it because a lot of the people left. So, we live by faith in the box at the door. You know? And you're not allowed to say anything about the box. So, that's the way we operate. And we just trust the Lord. And we want you to pray for us. And God is so faithful. You know, the Lord always supplies in His own wonderful way. But all that we ask is that people will pray and stand with us. So, thank you for allowing me to come here. Let's pray. Father, we want to thank You. It's been an intense weekend last night with the brothers for close to two hours. And then this morning from 9.30 right through until 12.15 or 12 o'clock, whatever it was. And now again this afternoon. And You know that we can only endure so much. And we thank You that You are able to quicken us by Your Spirit. I thank You for the way that You strengthen me and Lord Jesus physically to try and share this material that has been so dear and near to my own heart. And Lord, as we take these last 30 minutes or so just to speak about soul winning again, I just pray that You give us a freshness, a fresh unction. We really want to become soul winners. We want to walk with God. We want to be faithful. And we ask that You will help us to do that. So, bless this material we pray. In Jesus' name, Amen. I have really wrestled because there is so much of this material that I just would have loved to share with you today because it's so precious in so many wonderful ways in our relationships with God. But I'm going to try and do two things if I may. The first is just what I would refer to as helpful text in soul winning. Ian Bounds makes this statement and I just want you to listen to it. He said, What church needs today is not more machinery and better machinery, not new organizations or more methods, but what the church needs is men whom the Holy Spirit can use. Men of prayer, men mighty in prayer. The Holy Spirit does not flow through methods, but the Holy Spirit flows through men. He does not come in machinery, but the Holy Spirit comes in men. He does not anoint plants, but He anoints men, men of prayer. The effectual fervent prayer of the righteous man availeth much. And Amy Carmichael wrote this and I love this. She said, O for a passionate passion for souls, O for a pity that yearns, O for the love that laughs unto death, O for the fire that burns, O for the pure prayer power that prevails, that pours itself out for the lost, victorious prayer in the conqueror's name, O for a pentecost, infinite saviour in mighty compassion, take thy poor child to night, that which she hath not in tenderness give, teach her to pray and to fight, cast what it may of a self-crucifixion, so that thy will will be done, cast what it may of a loneliness after, so only souls should be one. And I just want to give you some biblical text that you and I can use when we deal with people in soul winning. When we deal with people who are indifferent to the gospel, we need to speak to them about the seriousness of sin. I would quote to them Romans 3.23, All have sinned and come short of the glory of God. People who are indifferent to sin. The psalmist said in Psalm 51 verse 4, Against thee the only have I sinned and done this evil in thy sight. James in his little epistle said in chapter 2, For whosoever shall keep the whole law and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all. So when we deal with people that are indifferent, they need to see the seriousness of sin, and secondly they need to see the consequences of sin. Isaiah chapter 59 verse 2 says, But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hit His face from you that you will not hear. Ezekiel 18 verse 4 said, The soul that sinneth, it shall die. Matthew chapter 25, Then shall He say also to them on His left, Depart from ye, curseth into everlasting fire, which has been prepared for the devil and his angels. Romans 6 verse 23, The wages of sin is death. Revelation 21 verse 8, But the fearful and the unbelieving and the abominable, murderers and warmongers and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone, which is the second death. When I deal with people who are indifferent to the Gospel, I memorize these passages of Scripture, and I just quote it to them. Because you see, the Spirit of God used the Word of God in the lives of these people. So with the indifferent, they need to see the seriousness of sin, they need to see the consequences of sin, and then they need to see the conviction of sin. Romans 12 verse 14-12, So then every one of us shall give account for himself unto God. Hebrews 2 verse 3, How shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation? That's when I deal with someone who is indifferent. When I deal with someone who is a seeker, who wants to know about the Gospel of Christ, these are the passages that I quote. Jesus said, Ask and it shall be given to you, seek and you shall find, knock and it shall be opened unto you. Isaiah 1 verse 18, Come now and let us reason together, say of the Lord, Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow. Though they be red as crimson, they shall be as wool. Jeremiah 29, Then shall ye call upon Me, ye shall go and pray unto Me, and I will hearken unto you, and ye shall seek Me, and ye shall find Me, when you shall search Me for all of your heart. Matthew 11 verse 28, Come unto Me all ye that labour, and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. John 6 verse 37, All that the Father hath given Me, shall come to Me, and him that will come to Me, I will in no wise cast out. So when I deal with a seeker, these are the verses that I've memorized and I've quoted to them. When I deal with someone who is penitent, who is ready to confess his condition before God, I read to him or I quote to him, Micah 7 verse 18, Who is a God like unto thee, that part of iniquity, and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage, he retaineth not his anger for ever, because he delighteth in mercy. Micah 7 verse 18, I quote to him Luke 15 verse 7, And I say unto you likewise, that joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repented more than over ninety-nine just persons which need no repentance. I quote to him Acts 3 verse 19, Defend ye therefore and be converted that your sins may be blotted out when times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord. I quote to him John 1 verse 9, If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Then I deal with a person who is a doubter. He questions. So why do people question? They question sometimes because of ignorance. And I quote to them John 1 verse 12, For as many as received Him, to them give ye power to become the sons of God. I quote 1 John 5 verse 12, He that hath a son hath life, he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. These things have I written unto you, that ye may believe in the name of the Son of God, that ye may know that ye have eternal life. Sometimes they doubt because of sin. And I quote to them Isaiah 55 verse 7, Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts. Let him return unto the Lord and He will have mercy upon him and to our God. For He will abundantly pardon. Isaiah 55 verse 7, When the doubter is depending upon his feelings, I quote John 5 verse 24, Verily I say unto you, that ye have My word and believe in Him that sent Me hath everlasting life and shall not come into condemnation but is passed from death unto life. Then I deal with a backslider. How do you deal with a backslider? The unconcerned backslider. I quote Amos 4 verse 12, Prepare to meet thy God. I quote 2 Peter chapter 2 verse 20, For it hath been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness than after that they have known it to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them. The backslider who is concerned about this condition. I quote Jeremiah chapter 3 12 to 14, Return thou backsliding Israel, save the Lord, and I will not cause mine anger forever. Only acknowledge thine iniquity that thou hast transgressed against the Lord thy God. The backslider who is concerned. I quote Isaiah 14, I will heal their backsliding. I will love him freely for mine anger is turned away from him. I quote to them the prodigal son. And I just let them hear it. The compromiser. These are people that you are trying to share the gospel with. And here is the compromiser. 1 Thessalonians 5 verse 22, Abstain from all appearance of evil. 2 Corinthians chapter 6, Wherefore, coming out from among them and being a separate, save the Lord, touch not the unclean thing, and I will receive you. 1 John 2 verse 16, Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. Any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. James chapter 4 verse 4, Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that friendship of the world is enmity with God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world, he becomes the enemy of God. When I deal with people who are going through temptation, 1 Corinthians chapter 10, There have no temptation taken to you, such as is common to man. But God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted about that which you are able, but will with a temptation also make a way of escape that you may be able to bear it. Someone who is tempted, I quote to them Hebrews 2 verse 18, For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able to succor them that are tempted. James 4 verse 7, Submit yourselves therefore to God, resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Number 8, When I deal with someone who has been afflicted, This is what I quote, Isaiah 43 verse 2, When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee, and through the rivers they shall not overflow thee. When thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned, neither shall the flame kindle upon thee. Someone who is afflicted, I read to them John 14 verse 1 and 2, Let not your heart be troubled, you believe in God, believe also in me. John 1 Corinthians 4 verse 17, For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. Romans 8 verse 28, And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God to them who are called according to His purpose. Then I deal with someone who has been defeated as a Christian. And I quote Romans chapter 6 verse 6, Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. Romans 6 verse 1, For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under the law, but you are under grace. 2 Corinthians 2 verse 14, Now thanks be to God, which always calls us to triumph in Christ. Ephesians 3 verse 19, And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge that ye might be filled with the fullness of God. Then you deal with someone who has been enslaved by sin. You quote Romans 5 verse 6, For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. 1 John 3 verse 8, For this purpose, the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil. 1 Corinthians 15 verse 57, But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Now, if you and I want to become a soul winner, you and I need to memorize this. Because brother and sister, we are going to find these people. And these verses, when they become... Now, there are some card systems that I memorized. When they are part of your life, and here someone comes and he is going through terrible trials. You need to have the Word of God in the tip of your fingers. And you need to quote it to him. And you just need to learn to memorize the Word of God. Let me take a few more minutes. How do I lead a soul to Christ? I wish we would have had a day to spend on this subject because it's so precious and it's so wonderful. I'm just going to give you the points. And I want to read something to you. The work of conversion is the first and the great thing we must drive at. After this, we must labor with all of our might. Alas, the mystery of the unconverted is so great that He called loudest to us for compassion. Who is able to talk of controversies or of nice unnecessary points or even of truths of a lower degree of necessity, however excellent soever, while He sees a company of ignorant, carnal, miserable sinners before His eyes who must be chained or damned. Method things, oh, therefore, brethren, Richard Duxter made this statement. I want you to listen to it. Oh, therefore, brethren, whomsoever you neglect, neglect not the most miserable. Whatever you pass over, forget not poor souls that are under the condemnation and the curse of the law. And who may look every hour for the infernal execution if a spirit chains does not prevent it? Oh, call after the impenitent and apply for His work, His great work of converting souls. Whatever else, you leave undone. So, how do I lead a soul to Christ? And I'm going to give you these points. First of all, I need to do an evaluation. A doctor must discover what is wrong with his patient before prescribing the cure. The doctor of souls must do the same. Questions must be asked and the soul's condition must be analysed and diagnosed. It is exceedingly important that the correct diagnosis be made. You can't take anything for granted. Many people are resting their souls on salvation on false foundations. They must be discovered and eliminated. Your first question may be, are you sure that you are a child of God? If there is the slightest doubt and sometimes even when there is no doubt, put the question in another way to satisfy your mind. Do you know that your sins are forgiven? Have you been born of the spirit of God? If a person is building on a false foundation, you can do nothing until this is removed. One of the things that I do in evaluating where people are, when you begin to share with them and they are open to listen, I love to take people to the Scriptures and I love to let people read the Scriptures. So what I do, and it normally takes me about three hours, sometimes it has taken me up to five hours to sit and lead people to Christ. And so I share with them four things. First of all, the condition of man. They need to realize that they are lost. Jesus said, I have come to seek and to save those that are lost. You can't see people being saved unless you have seen them lost. And I let them read passages of Scripture and I ask questions. When the Apostle Paul, or rather when David said, Behold, I was born in iniquity and in sin did my mother conceive me. One of the very first questions that I ask people when I lead them to Christ, I say to them, Do you accept that the Bible is the Word of God? If someone says, I don't accept the Bible as the Word of God. You are wasting your time. Because they are going to say, Well, that's just what the Bible says. And then I say, Ok, I am just going to pray for you that God will convict you. I say, until you come to the place that you will accept that the Bible is the Word of God. And once they accept that the Bible is the Word of God, and I sit down, I let them read, and I ask them questions. You need to make sure that people understand. God does not bypass the mind. He is not going to throw people into an experience that they don't know anything about. And so I want you to know that they understand sin. And brother and sister, not just the acts of sin, but the state of sin. The Psalmist said, Behold, I was born in sin and in iniquity that my mother conceived me. And so I said to them, When you were born, you realized that you were born in sin. That's why you need to be born again. Another question that I ask him when we deal with this, like, do you know that your sins have been forgiven? I ask him, I let him read, John 3, 1-17. Sometimes verse 18. Then I say to them after they read it out loud, and you don't know the authority of Scripture when people read it out loud. Because the Holy Spirit comes and He witnesses to them about this thing. And then I let them read verse 3. Jesus said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, you must be born again. And you need to try and get this today. Because God is going to bring people across your path. And you are going to need to lead them to Christ. And you and I need to know how to do it. Then I say to them, I said, They read again. Jesus said, You must be born again. Or you will not see the kingdom of heaven. Or the kingdom of God. And then I asked him a question. I said, How do you see that? How do you see that? How do you see this concept of being born again? And what people will say to you, because my brother and sister, by that time, they will be honest with you. And what they will say to you will give you an idea where you can start with them and where you can go with those people. And I love to ask those questions. And you know what? Most of the times, when they answer that question, I have a sense that I can go further with them or that I need to stop. And sometimes what I do, I continue to explain the gospel to them. But I will not lead them to Christ because I know that they are not ready. A few instances through the years, it has happened that when they explain to me how they see the new birth of being born again. And the word born again is the Greek word for nothing. It simply means to be born from above. But when they explain to me, and I know they, I sense they are not ready. As I go then systematically through the Scriptures, so you see, Brother Gerard, what do you do? We look at the condition of man that is lost. We look at about 50 to 70 passages that I let them read about sin. And they read it out loud. Sometimes I force them to take notes. If I may say this to you, when I do a conference in a church and we do seminars on soul winning, and I just give you today the cream of these 8 hour long sessions. What we do at the last seminar, I take the pastor. And what I do with the pastor, I counsel the pastor for salvation. You say, why do you do it? I show people. If we would have had time today, I would have taken maybe Brother Doug or Brother Jamie or Brother Daniel and Daniel is here. And I share the Gospel with him. I let him read it to me. I ask him the questions. So you say, what happened? Well, if they have not been born again, they are going to be born again that day. Not here, but the pastors, okay? You guys I think should be okay. You know, although you never know. So, here we are. That's what I do systematically. Listen, I will spend 12 hours with a seeking soul to make sure that he gets through to God. Because you are dealing with the eternal value of the soul. So, we need to know what we are doing here. Because I don't want to stand before God one day and He says, there is blood in your hands. You just messed it up. And I brought souls across your path. So, I do evaluation. Listen to this. The correct diagnosis is made as if we ask questions and listen to replies. Observing his tone and manner all the time. Watch the inquirer's face for any revelation of an inward condition. I love, you know, when I share the gospel with people. I love to see conviction. I watch them. And when the word of God begins to settle in and settle in and I wish, I don't know how I can try to say to you how important these things are. But it's when you share the gospel and I watch them. And it's amazing when the conviction of sin begins to settle in. I think of the president of South Africa a few years ago was gloriously saved on a Wednesday night. And when I went to spend time with him, I sat and I asked this man who was president for 19 years of the country. I asked him these specific questions. I don't care if he was the president or the king. I need to stand before God for his soul one day. So, you evaluate. Be careful not to solve the problem you think you ought to have. Sometimes after a little conversation, the soul winner may mistakenly identify the seeker's need and give him the wrong advice. Never play easy with sin. Father and sister, if I have five hours to point someone to Christ, and there are four things. The condition of man, his last 70 passages of scripture. The provision of God. What is that? That's Christ. 30 to 40 passages of scripture. I'll let them read it. The promise of God. Or the responsibility of man. What is that? That's repentance. Repentance means to turn 180 degrees around. Metanoia is the Greek word. That's his responsibility. His responsibility is to accept Christ into his life. What is the promise of God? The witness of the Spirit. Now, if I have five hours, if we were to start here this morning at 9 o'clock, and you were to say, Brother Gerard, we can go to 4 or 5 o'clock, and we would have just done this all day, and if I would have had a group of people here that didn't know Christ, I would concentrate, and I would labour sin for four and a half hours, if it needs to. Because if they don't understand sin, they won't understand salvation. And it's so vital. Evaluation. The worker must sort out the difficulty and bring the inquirer back again to the only source. If you counsel people, I wonder if I must say this to you, if you counsel people, you know, people are smart, and sometimes they try to get out of it. I often hear people, when I begin to talk about sin, and you get into the issue here, and you put your finger upon their conscience, and they would say, well, you know, I don't think I'm as bad as that. And I say, you know, you're worse. And they say, what do you mean? I say, you nailed Jesus to the cross. And they say, what do you mean? I say, well, I did that. I say, we sinners. I say, we nailed him to the cross. And they say, well, you know, I'm not that adulterer, or that fornicator, or I didn't commit murder, or I didn't do this. I say, it doesn't matter. Sin is sin. And so people need to understand what sin is about. Conviction. That's the second thing that you look at when you lead someone to Christ. A sense of need must be established. Sin must be seen in its rebellion and awfulness. The sinner has no hope outside of Christ for salvation. Passages such as these may be used. Romans 3.23, Ezekiel 18.4-20, Romans 6.23, Ephesians 2.12, Psalm 51. The Holy Spirit used Scripture to produce conviction of sin. Great harm is done in personal work and soul winning simply because this area is so rushed over. Take your time. Many workers simply ask, do you know that you are a sinner? And people answer, yes. Thinking that this mental sin is a spiritual conviction, they gladly urge the inquirer there and then to accept Christ. The foundation is not well laid. The inquirer must know that he is sinful and that his sin deserves eternal death. He is lost forever without Christ. And the Spirit must bring the conviction. Thirdly, salvation. It must be clearly understood that man cannot save himself. He is totally incapable of engineering his own salvation. Titus 3.5, Ephesians 2.8, and verse 9. However, God has a remedy. God can save. Depending upon the preceding conversation, it will be wise to keep to one aspect of salvation. If you have been speaking about atonement, use Isaiah 53.6. 1 Peter 2.24. If you have been speaking about the new birth, use John 3.3. John 1.12.13. If you have been speaking about the assurance of salvation, use 1 John 5.12.13. Romans 8.16. If you have been speaking about sin and forgiveness, use 1 John 1.7. Galatians 3.13. John 1.29. God does not wait until we understand redemption for saving us. What the seeker needs is someone whom he can trust. And the way to the one must be clear. I tell you what I sometimes do with people when I lead them to Christ. Because sometimes people, this conviction of sin, sometimes they are overwhelmed. Like this person I led to Christ last night. It was very overwhelming. Very overwhelming. So I went very, very slow. We dealt with sin, made sure sin was able to understand. Then I said, are you willing to confess before God that you lost? And the person said, yes. And I said, ok, I am going to pray a prayer. And I prayed the prayer. And I typed it out on email. And you say, what was it? And this was the prayer. And I said, I want you to pray it after me and type it out after me, because I couldn't see this man and his wife. So I typed out, Lord Jesus, I come to you this evening just as I am. And so then here came the words, Lord Jesus, it's beautiful. I come to you this evening just as I am. I acknowledge that I am lost in your presence. And here comes the words, I acknowledge that I am lost in your presence. Your word says the way to sin is death. Your word says the way to sin is death. The person is praying these words, sobbing. And so then I quote these passages. And I make sure, this was after we went through all the scriptures. Now the prayer was come. Now come and sit. Lord, I confess my sin before you. Anything, that which I can't remember, that which I have done from the day of accountability. And I confess it all before you. And then I quoted 1 John 1.9. If we confess our sins in His favor. And I said, I confess. And I typed it. And the prayer came following. I ask that you cleanse me and forgive me in your precious blood. And it came and I quoted the verse. And the verse is typed out. And I just, I don't know how long, just dealt with this confession of sin. And they say, well, why do you separate that? Because the person can't handle it. Many people can't handle it, Proverbs says. Then we go to the next step. And I said, there is another step. And they say, what is it? I said, now, we are going to thank God that you trust Him to forgive you your sin. And then I pray again. And this comes to prayer. And then I said, ok, now this is the third step. And I said, what is it now? I said, you are going to ask Him to become your personal Savior. Now you see, sometimes people just do it all at the same time. Sometimes people, brother and sister, can handle it. Sometimes they can't handle it. And so you say, what do you do? I said, now we go to step number three. And I quoted John 1.12. But as many as received Him, to them as He gave them power. And I quoted it. And that verse comes after. And then I said, we are going to pray again. And the person said, yes. And I said, we are going to ask Christ to come into your life. And I prayed and said, Lord Jesus, I ask You to become my personal Savior. I ask You to come into my heart. And then I deal with this aspect of adoption. You see, we have dealt with repentance now. Now we are going to deal with adoption. Accepting Him. And we have these verses. And we systematically go through them, brother and sister. Maybe you have never heard this before. I don't know. Then we go to step number four. After that we thank God. Now we have confessed our sins. We ask Him to forgive us our sins. To cleanse us. We ask for the blood. Now we ask Him to come into our lives. Then I said, now there is something else. And they said, what is it? I said, we are going to look at assurance. I can't say to you that you are born again. But I am going to show to you what the Bible says about assurance. And we go through all these passages about assurance. And you systematically lead this person to Christ. And when you are through, you can't say to that person that he is born of the Spirit of God. You can't do the work of God the Holy Ghost. So you see what is going to happen. The Spirit of God needs to witness. The Spirit of God needs to witness to that soul that He has been born. Do you know what? I can't wait. If I can be honest with you. This man and his wife, that I had the privilege of dealing last night, they said to me, oh, can we talk to you again this evening? And so I said, if I have time, we will be in touch. But 24 hours after I have led someone to Christ, I follow them up. Do you know what I will do tonight if I have time to spend time with them again via email? We will go through everything again. Probably going to take another 3 hours. 24 hours after I have led them to Christ, we go and we do absolutely everything again. And we systematically go through. And I said, do you remember what I said about sin last night? Do you remember you confessed your sin? Now, tell me what has been happening. Do you remember you asked Him to come into your life? And you asked Him to save you. You asked Him to become your Saviour. I said, now tell me where you are. And 24 hours later, I don't lead them to Christ again, but I find out what God has been doing. And most of the times in 24 hours, God gives them the witness of the Spirit that they have been born again. They say, Brother Gerard, when that's all done, are you finished with them? Ha! Ha! It's just begun. Just begun. Now, I'm going to teach them to have a quiet time. I'm going to teach them that they need to go to a fellowship where there is the presence of God. The church. I'm going to teach them how to pray. I'm going to teach them how to study the Word of God. Do you know what? I'm going to teach them how to become soul winners. So, you say, how long does that take you? It's going to take you the rest of your life. Do you know what's our problem today? We don't need more Christians, we just need better ones. That's all we need. But I insist that I want to tell you something. I mean, I've been at this thing for 30 years. Listen, I can't tell you today that I've led thousands and thousands of people to Christ. I can't. I wish I could say that. I can't say that. But I want to tell you today. Every single one, except one, through the years that I've led to Christ, is going on with God today, and you know about 40% of them is out in ministry. You say, why? Was it because of me? No. It was the full counsel of God. So, what you need to do, you need to take this book, this Word of God, and you need to drive it down their soul. Because they're born with personality, but Christian character develops, and God is building them up. And if you sit here today as a father, and you are lazy, and you don't pray with your wife, or you pray with your children, or you are undisciplined, and there is issues in your life, or bad issues, or fault patterns, or you struggle with sexual issues, I want to tell you something. It's because you've never come to the place where you've really said, God, I'm going to take your Word serious, I want it to become part of my life, I want you to be the father, I want you to make me the father of you, I want you to bring discipline into my life. Do you know what's your problem? The day when you came to Christ, someone didn't sit with you and systematically explain to you that this is what it's going to cost you the day when you came to Jesus. So, what happens to many of us? You know what? We need to sit in a little session like this, and we need to hear all this stuff, and say, oh, I wish I heard this the day when I came to the Lord Jesus. But God knows about all of that. Father, we want to thank You for this day. Lord, it's been maybe intense for many of us, and I don't know if I'll be able to come down this way again, maybe until the end of this year. But I just want to thank You for the great privilege of unburdening my heart. Lord, I've been so smashed up and broken all day, and I found it so difficult to stand here today and trying to speak, because God needs to come to us. God needs to meet with us. And I want to pray today, Father God, that You would really come to this Manor Christian Fellowship. Lord, we want to see people being saved. We want to see God touching the lives of people. And I just pray that You will do something very deep in our hearts and in our lives. Brethren and sisters, as we bow before God, I don't know what the Lord has been saying to you last night and this morning, and I don't know what God has been saying to the men, and the fathers, and the sons, and I want to challenge them this afternoon. Maybe there are some of our brothers, some of our fathers, and God needs to start a word this afternoon in your life. And I'm going to challenge you this afternoon if you'd like to just slip out of your seat and come and find a spot somewhere at the front of the church and come and spend some time in prayer. I wonder if there are some of you men that want to come and say, you know, Brother Gerard, I really want to spend time with God. I want to be the father that God wants me to be, the husband that God wants me to be. Does anyone like that? Can I ask you just to slip out and come and find a spot right at the altar of this little church. Come and spend some time in prayer. It's just going to be all on your own. I'll just wait for you. You do that if you want to. Lord, I need to seek Your face. I want to be the father to my children. I want to be the husband. I want to be the son to my daddy and my mummy that God wants me to be. Just wait for you to come. The rest of us that are sitting here, I'm going to ask you to just go on your knees and spend some time in prayer. And that's the way we're going to close this afternoon together. Swing around. Find a little spot. Spend a few minutes in prayer and then we quietly dismiss our time.