The Winning Life: Winning Souls                                              Restoration Fellowship

Proverbs 11:30                                                                                           March 25, 2012

TEXT  Proverbs 11:30(NKJV) ³⁰ The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, and he who wins souls is wise.

It is amazing to me that right in the middle of our study on Proverbs the Lord reaches out and touches us with the overarching truth of the Bible: God is concerned about the souls of men!

God has been crushing my heart in recent days because I have forgotten that my primary purpose on this earth is to win souls, to introduce people who are far away from God to the truth that God loves them and has a plan for their life, to lead them to believe in Him and accept Him as their Lord and Savior!

2 Corinthians 5:17-20(NKJV) ¹⁷Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. ¹⁸Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, ¹⁹that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation. ²⁰Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God.

When Jesus called His disciples, he called them to go after men.  The word “win” in the text means to grasp, sieze, bring in, capture,  or keep.  It is used figuratively of a mother bird rolling its young onto her wings and of a man taking (winning) a wife.

Matthew 4:18-20(NKJV) ¹⁸And Jesus, walking by the Sea of Galilee, saw two brothers, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen. ¹⁹Then He said to them, “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.”
²⁰They immediately left their nets and followed Him.

Mark 1:14-18(NKJV) ¹⁴Now after John was put in prison, Jesus came to Galilee, preaching the gospel (Good News) of the kingdom of God, ¹⁵and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel.” ¹⁶And as He walked by the Sea of Galilee, He saw Simon and Andrew his brother casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen. ¹⁷Then Jesus said to them, “Follow Me, and I will make you become fishers of men.” ¹⁸They immediately left their nets and followed Him.

Luke 5:1-11(NKJV) ¹So it was, as the multitude pressed about Him to hear the word of God, that He stood by the Lake of Gennesaret, ²and saw two boats standing by the lake; but the fishermen had gone from them and were washing their nets. ³Then He got into one of the boats, which was Simon’s, and asked him to put out a little from the land. And He sat down and taught the multitudes from the boat. ⁴When He had stopped speaking, He said to Simon, “Launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.” ⁵But Simon answered and said to Him, “Master, we have toiled all night and caught nothing; nevertheless at Your word I will let down the net.” ⁶And when they had done this, they caught a great number of fish, and their net was breaking. ⁷So they signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both the boats, so that they began to sink. ⁸When Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord!” ⁹For he and all who were with him were astonished at the catch of fish which they had taken; ¹⁰and so also were James and John, the sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid. From now on you will catch men.” ¹¹So when they had brought their boats to land, they forsook all and followed Him.

The message is pretty simple:  if you are following Jesus, you will be fishing for and catching men.  That is what Jesus did and that is what He is still doing through us!

Luke 10:1-2(NKJV) ¹After these things the Lord appointed seventy others also, and sent them two by two before His face into every city and place where He Himself was about to go. ²Then He said to them, “The harvest truly is great, but the laborers are few; therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.

John 4:34-38(NKJV) ³⁴Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work. ³⁵Do you not say, ‘There are still four months and then comes the harvest’? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest! ³⁶And he who reaps receives wages, and gathers fruit for eternal life, that both he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together. ³⁷For in this the saying is true: ‘One sows and another reaps.’  ³⁸I sent you to reap that for which you have not labored; others have labored, and you have entered into their labors.”

When we started Restoration Fellowship almost ten years ago, the lynchpin of our decision were the findings in the 2000 census that revealed 90% of El Paso residents were un-churched!  I do not believe that has changed dramatically over the past decade.  In fact, I bet it has gotten worse!

God led us to start a church that would restore, refresh, and rebuild.  Our goal was to reach 1% of the population, or 6000 people, with the Gospel of Jesus over the next twenty years.  I don’t think we are on track to reach that goal.  I have not made winning souls a priority in my life.  Oh I talk about it; I give lip service to it, but the fact is that I am ashamed of how few people I have personally led to Christ in the past decade.  I can say that I am a pastor, or a teacher, or an apostle or a prophet, not an evangelist.  The truth is that Paul commanded Timothy to:

2 Timothy 4:5(NKJV) ⁵But you be watchful in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.

There you have it: my work is not fulfilled if I am not being an evangelist?  What is an evangelist?  We think a T.V. preacher is an evangelist.  Maybe, maybe not!  An evangelist is someone who is consumed with telling others about Christ.  Phillip, one of the first deacons in the early church (Acts 6), was identified as an evangelist.

Acts 21:8(NKJV) ⁸On the next day we ^£who were Paul’s companions departed and came to Caesarea, and entered the house of Philip the evangelist, who was one of the seven, and stayed with him.

Why was he called that?

Acts 8:4-8, 12(NKJV)
⁴Therefore those who were scattered went everywhere preaching the word.  ⁵Then Philip went down to ^£the city of Samaria and preached Christ to them. ⁶And the multitudes with one accord heeded the things spoken by Philip, hearing and seeing the miracles which he did. ⁷For unclean spirits, crying with a loud voice, came out of many who were ossessed; and many who were paralyzed and lame were healed. ⁸And there was great joy in that city.   ¹²But when they believed Philip as he preached the things concerning the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, both men and women were baptized.

Acts 8:26-40(NKJV) ²⁶Now an angel of the Lord spoke to Philip, saying, “Arise and go toward the south along the road which goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” This is desert. ²⁷So he arose and went. And behold, a man of Ethiopia, a eunuch of great authority under Candace the queen of the Ethiopians, who had charge of all her treasury, and had come to Jerusalem to worship, ²⁸was returning. And sitting in his chariot, he was reading Isaiah the prophet. ²⁹Then the Spirit said to Philip, “Go near and overtake this chariot.”
            ³⁰So Philip ran to him, and heard him reading the prophet Isaiah, and said, “Do you understand what you are reading?” ³¹And he said, “How can I, unless someone guides me?” And he asked Philip to come up and sit with him. ³²The place in the Scripture which he read was this: “He was led as a sheep to the slaughter; And as a lamb before its shearer is silent, So He opened not His mouth.  ³³ In His humiliation His justice was taken away, And who will declare His generation? For His life is taken from the earth.”^{£
            34}So the eunuch answered Philip and said, “I ask you, of whom does the prophet say this, of himself or of some other man?” ³⁵Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning at this Scripture, preached Jesus to him.
            ³⁶Now as they went down the road, they came to some water. And the eunuch said, “See, here is water. What hinders me from being baptized?” ^37£Then Philip said, “If you believe with all your heart, you may.” And he answered and said, “I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.” ³⁸So he commanded the chariot to stand still. And both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water, and he baptized him. ³⁹Now when they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught Philip away, so that the eunuch saw him no more; and he went on his way rejoicing.  ⁴⁰But Philip was found at Azotus. And passing through, he preached in all the cities till he came to Caesarea.

Philip was not a professional pastor.  He was a layman, a deacon, just a man approved of God.  Yet God used him to impact not just communities, but cultures, countries, and continents!  We can do the same!  We are all to be preachers!

Romans 10:13-15(NKJV) ¹³For “whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” ¹⁴How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? ¹⁵And how shall they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, who bring glad tidings of good things!”

James 5:19-20(NKJV) ¹⁹Brethren, if anyone among you wanders from the truth, and someone turns him back, ²⁰let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save a soul from death and cover a multitude of sins.

Daniel 12:3 (NKJV) Those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the firmament, And those who turn many to righteousness like the stars forever and ever.

 Luke 14:16-23(NKJV) ¹⁶Then He said to him, “A certain man gave a great supper and invited many, ¹⁷and sent his servant at supper time to say to those who were invited, ‘Come, for all things are now ready.’  ¹⁸But they all with one accord began to make excuses. The first said to him, ‘I have bought a piece of ground, and I must go and see it. I ask you to have me excused.’  ¹⁹And another said, ‘I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going to test them. I ask you to have me excused.’  ²⁰Still another said, ‘I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.’ ²¹So that servant came and reported these things to his master. Then the master of the house, being angry, said to his servant, ‘Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in here the poor and the maimed and the lame and the blind.’ ²²And the servant said, ‘Master, it is done as you commanded, and still there is room.’ ²³Then the master said to the servant, ‘Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled.

Revelation 22:17(NKJV) ¹⁷And the Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And let him who hears say, “Come!” And let him who thirsts come. Whoever desires, let him take the water of life freely.

Let’s look again at the text: the fruit of righteousness is a tree of life.  When God gives us His righteousness, we become a tree that give life to others.

John 15:8(NKJV) ⁸By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples.

2 Corinthians 2:14-17(NKJV) ¹⁴Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place.
¹⁵For we are to God the fragrance of Christ among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing. ¹⁶To the one we are the aroma of death leading to death, and to the other the aroma of life leading to life. And who is sufficient for these things?
¹⁷For we are not, as so many, peddling the word of God; but as of sincerity, but as from God, we speak in the sight of God in Christ.

2 Corinthians 5:14-15(NKJV) ¹⁴For the love of Christ compels us, because we judge thus: that if One died for all, then all died; ¹⁵and He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again.

The great Texas pastor, Howard Conatser, had a dream shortly before his death.  He was in a car surrounded by throngs of people who were beating on the car windows and asking for help.  Brother Conatser was deeply troubled.  The Lord about it and the Lord said, “There’s not much time left!

38.500 addresses within 3 miles;

47% with children

10,000 within one mile;

Oasis Ranch;

Apartments all around us

Brothers and sisters: the time has come for me and you and all of us to rise up and live out our calling to take the Gospel to this city and to this region and to this state and the this nation and to the world/  There’s not much time left!