Soul Winning
Most Interesting and/or Unique Soulwinning Experiences
He Tore Up His Cigarette Lighter.
Working my way through Bible College at the Hiland Dairy I witnessed to the employees as opportunity availed. One day I was working beside a young man maybe about twenty two or three years old. As I was pondering what the best approach might be I made some excuses of why it probably wouldn't matter whether I witnessed to him or not. You know, well he had probably already been witnessed to, or he was probably saved already, etc. Then my mind turned to a story told by D.L. Moody. Eating in a restaurant he was strongly stirred to witness to the waiter. He made excuses just as I was doing why it probably wouldn't matter whether he did or not. As he paid for his meal the urge was stronger still that he should witness to the man but still he shook it off. Walking outside he had not gone far when the urge to witness to the man was so overpowering that he felt he must go back and talk to the waiter about his eternal soul. He went inside to the cashier and ask to see the waiter. With a face that was ashen white the cashier said to Mr. Moody, "Sir you are too late, the man you wish to see just shot himself to death yonder in the back room."
As I thought of Mr.Moody's story I decided, yes I think I better witness to this man. What I said to him went something like this, "Bill you know I am a Christian and I was thinking about witnessing to you but told myself that you probably had already been witnessed to so I wasn't going to say anything. Then I thought of a story told by a preacher named D.L.Moody ( I told him the story.) and then I got to thinking about you driving home tonight through these rolling Ozark hills, the chances that you might get killed in a head on collision topping one of those hills so that is why I have to tell you about Jesus."
He listened closely to what I said but didn't do anymore than that. I left the area for awhile to do other work elsewhere. When I returned he was standing over one of the garbage cans tearing up his cigarettes and throwing them in the can. I watched him out of the corner of my eye wondering where this was going. A little bit later he came back to the garbage can, took out his Zippo lighter and proceeded to take it apart and threw the parts in the can along with the cigarettes. It was at the time I went to him and said "Bill, what on earth are you doing? " He said. " Walt, that story you told me scared the daylights out of me. I'm quitting every bad thing I do." I explained to him that quitting all his bad stuff was fine but didn't make any difference at all as to whether or not he went to Heaven or hell. "Come over here Bill, let me show you something." I took my New Testament and Bill was only too happy to trust Jesus and come into God's precious salvation.
UPDATED 5/21/07
Soulwinning On The Airliner- Won to Christ Before The Plane Took Off.
Air Travel affords an excellent opportunity for soulwinning. I just assume that as a Christian, and especially if you are a preacher you take the opportunity, as you most likely sit next to a stranger for some one to three or four hours, to witness to that person. I can count a fair number of individuals I have won to the Lord including this one last week. I always try to steer them into a good church if possible and give them a little booklet that I wrote just for the occasion. It is titled, "Tell Me More About It", or "Can You Really Know For Sure If You Are Saved Or Not?" I remember when as Pastor I took the staff with me to a special Fellowship Meeting. I was able to choose our seating and I on purpose put us in three different areas rather than together in order to have three soulwinning opportunities.
NOW LAST WEEK- May 13th, On my flight to Okalahoma City for the Graduation Fellowship at Heartland Baptist Bible College. They had assigned me a window seat and I much prefer an aisle seat. At time of check in they were able to reassign me at my request and i sat next to a man some 84 years old. That made him about six years older than myself. We talked for a few minutes about "old man stuff"; Times ain't what they used to be and so on. As our talk kind of dropped off I took a book I was reading and turned to my book mark intending to witness to him during the flight. As a book mark I was using my tract, "Have You Made Reservations For Heaven?". The tract was quite visible to my neighbor in the next seat and he watched as I slipped the tract into my shirt pocket. Before I could get started reading he said, "I saw that reservations fpor Heaven thing you had there, I made reservations but I never got confirmation." I said to myself, "WOW, this is some kind of opening he has given me. How best to proceed?" Then I said something to him like, "Yes, reservations are pretty important to have. On this trip I have made reservations for this flight, then I reserved a rental car to pick up at the airport, on top of that I reserved a room at a motel for my stay. It is sometyhing I took care of ahead of time so that I know it is all taken care of. Now I can enjoy the trip. God has made it possible to make reservations for Heaven and He does confirm it once we do."
I acted as though I was about to resume my reading, waiting for his response to what I had said. It wasn't long in coming. As he settled back in his seat he said in an almost off-handedly manner, "Well if you know anything about how to do it so a man can get it done I hope you tell me before the trip is over." I closed in immediately sharing the Good News of God's salvation with him which he wholeheartedly received. We had not even taken off, still on that tarmack, when he bowed his head and received the Lord Jesus.
I gave him one of my booklets, got his email address and will follow up as opportunity affords.
6/9/07
"He Came On The 2nd Verse of 'Just As I Am'--in His Living Room."
I had just recently joined the staff of the Central Baptist Church in Pomona, Ca. under pastor Clyde Martin. This was the church that went to such great heights under the ministry of pastor Ray Batema in the late sixties and seventies. Pastor Martin and I were going door to door in a large apartment complex just across the street from the church and came upon a young man in his early twenties who invited us into his apt. In our discussions it came out that he was the wayward son of a Baptist preacher and had never been saved.
As Brother Clyde began to impress upon him the claims of Christ the Holy Spirit brought him under deep conviction and soon they were on their knees and as the young man wept the Pastor ask him if he was ready to open his heart to the Lord Jesus. In response the young man turned his head to Brother martin and said, "Do you know Just As I Am?" Brother Martin said, "Yes, I know it." "Could you sing a verse of it?" the young man asked. Brother Clyde looked up at me and said, "Sing it Stowe." So I didn't waste any time but began to softly sing, "Just as I am without one plea but that thy blood was shed for me O' Lamb of God I come..". I finished the one verse and the young man again turned his head to Brother Clyde and said, "Could you sing another verse?" Without looking up Brother Clyde said, "Sing another verse Stowe." And as I sang, "Just as I am and waiting not to rid my soul of one dark blot to Thee Whose blood can cleanse each spot O' Lamb of God I come..." the young man reached out in saving faith to that precious Lamb of God.
JUST YESTERDAY June 8th-07
His name is Howard Angel. I met him when he visited our church as a result of block work by our ladies. When I visited his home the next week I found that he had been a career army man recently retired and in deep grief over the loss of his wife after a marriage of 47 years. His wife had been a devote Catholic and in his state of mind I did not feel it was a good time to try to lead him to the Lord. (Admittedly it is a judgement call.) That was several months ago. In the meantime he came to church pretty regularly and I made it a point to be a friend to him. Last Sunday, June 3rd, he ask about buying a KJ Study Bible from me, which I sell at discount, and in doing so he mentioned that it was about time he broke out of his shell as it were, and got about living his life. I said to myself, "Now is the time."
Due to Doctor's appointments and such (shots in the spinal area.) I was unable to get back to him until Friday.He was not at home when I went by in the am and later in the afternoon I called and asked if I could come over.He made it clear that I would be more than welcome. Sitting with him in his home with a cold drink I began by giving him the $20.00 in change that I owed him from the Bible purchase. Then I took my tract, "Have You Made Reservations For Heaven???" and showed it to him and ask him the question, "Howard could you condidently answer this in the affirmative?". He more or less danced around the question without answering it and then I said,"The main reason I came over was to share with you from the Bible how God has made it possible for us to make such a reservation and nail it down for a certainty." I had him come over and sit next to me on the sofa and then went through the plan of salvation using all my illustrations that God has given me.
(One day years ago I asked the Lord to help me to come up with some way to illustrate each point that I used in giving the plan of salvation. To illustrate in an understandable way what it means to "come short", what it means to violate God's law and why a price has to be paid, to be penalized for my sin, what physical death is, what spiritual death is, what eternal death is, what it really means that Christ died for us, and what it really means to "believe in thy heart". It takes more than a few minutes to do this but it is a very thorough way to lead someone to the Lord. If I am in a situation where I cannot take this much time I use an abbreviated version.
He listened with great interest and you could tell he was really taking it all in as I explained to him why God had given Adam a body to live in, earthward, and a spirit, Godward, etc. At the end of point two, the price on sin, he realized that he was hopelessly and helplessly lost, that all he had heard was bad news! Now I said you are ready for the good news. Romans 5:6 Christ died for the ungodly...Christ died, paid the price for sin. But He never sinned so who did He pay it for? For the ungodly. The word "gospel" means "good news". And this is the good news, we don't have to pay the price we could not pay, He paid it for us.
It is difficult for people to really understand what it means that Christ died FOR us and so to help them get hold of this great truth so it can really impact them I came up with a very simple illustartion. "Howard," I said, "Take this New Testament." He took it. Then I said,"This New Testament has to be put on that coffee table over there, OK?" With a questioning look on his face he said, "Put the New Testament on that table?" I said, "It has to be put on that table." (I did not say,You have to put the book on the table.) Then as he started to get up and do what I said had to be done I stopped him and said, "Can I do that for you?" As I took the Bible from his hands and was laying it on the table he said, "I get it! He did it for me so I don't have to do it." That's exactly right I told him. You didn't have to do a single thing. I took the Bible and did it for you. The price for your sin HAD to be paid but a Friend who loves you paid the price for you so you don't have to pay it. Isn't that good news! He marveled that God would do such a wonderful thing for him to the point of giving His own dear Son. From there we went to Rom.10 and he open his heart to the Lord, accepting Him as Lord and trusting Him as Saviour.
I gave him a copy of my little booklet, "Tell Me More About It, Being Saved That Is. Or Can You Really Know For Sure If You Are Saved?" I wrote the booklet for just such an occasion. He called me two hours later telling me what a wonderful experience it was as he read through the entire booklet and how it helped him to understand what had just happened to him. If it works out, later today I will get together with him for a lesson on baptism.
THE USE OF ILLUSTRATIONS IN SOUL-WINNING
Jesus constantly used parables in His teaching. "Without a parable spake He not unto them.." Mt.13:34 Why did He use so many parables? More than one reason I am sure but at least one reason for it was that He might help natural minds grasp spiritual truth. One day a good numbers of years ago I prayerfully ask the Lord to help me come up with an earthly illustration for each point of spiritual truth I would try to get across in presenting the plan of Salvation. I want to share with you what I believe the Lord gave me in answer to that prayer. I suggest you ask the Lord for yourself as you may come up with something more suited for you.
I will use the common Roman's Road outline that many of us use. Bear with me as I cover some very familier ground.
#1. Rom 3:23 "For
all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;"
The first thing we have to know is that we are sinners. If ALL have sinned that
means that Walt Stowe, Pastor Emeritus, is a sinner. And if ALL have sinned it also means
that you are in the same boat with me and that you are a sinner too.
This verse tells us that sin is "coming short". "Come short of the glory of God.." It's like having a certain "Standard" that must be met in order to be approved. It's like an inspector who has a clip board in his hand and on it are the specifications that must be met to meet the standard required. He goes into the factory and comes out shaking his head and saying, "I don't understand it. Nothing in there met the standard, I had to write rejected on everything." God says that He is the chief inspector of the universe and He has checked us all out and had to write "rejected" on each one of us.
Again, the Bible says that sin is a violation of the Law. 1 John3:4 It means we have broken God's laws somewhere. If we break a law with teeth in it we will have to pay a price. Did you ever get a traffic ticket? What did it cost you? You broke a law of society and it cost you something. What is the penalty for breaking the law of God?
#2. Romans 5:12 "Death passed upon all men..".
Sin against God is a Capital crime. The penalty is death, capital punishment. Sin against God carries the death penalty. The Bible speaks of death in three different ways. Physical death, Spiritual death, and Eternal death.
Physical Death
To help us understand what the Bible teaches about death let me ask you a question, Is this you? (Touching his hand or shoulder) No thats not you. We could cut your hand off and throw it away and you are still here. The Bible calls your body a; house, a tabernacle, a tent, if God lives in it with you He calls it a temple. You see God created Adam a living soul but He put him into a physical world. So God gave Adam a physical body to live in so that he could experience and communicate with a physical world. Through the five physical senses we can experience and communicate with a physical world. You could have all the five senses shut down and be alive in the body but you would not be able to experience anything physical. So God teaches us that we live in a physical body house.
Now there is another house that the body house lives in. Whereever your address is. That other house only exists for the good of the body house. The body house gets tired we take it in there and we rest it. It gets cold we take it in there and we warm it. It gets hot we take it in there and we cool it. It exists to keep the body house from being subject to the elements. If a tornado swept through there and blew the roof off and the windows out it would not be fit to live in so we would move out. The house is no longer functional, could not do what it was built to do. A year or so later we drive and remark, There's that old dead house I used to live in.
Some day the body house won't be functional and you will move out. Whether it gets hit by a truck, drowns or just wears out, it won't be fit to live in so you will move out. That is Physical death. Separation from the body. John Doe separated from his body house is physically dead but in a state of conscience existance wherever he made arrangements to go.
Spiritual Death
So God created Adam a living soul and put him into a physical world with a physical body through which he could experience and communicate with the physical world but God is not physical, God is a Spirit and He says that He must be worshipped in spirit and truth. So God also gave Adam a spirit and as he could experience and communicate with the physical world with his physical body he could now experience and communicate with God through his spirit.
God had told Adam that in the day you sin against me you will surely die. He sinned against God that day but he did not die physically. So in what way did he die? He died spiritually. His spirit was no longer functional. He was separated from God. Spiritually dead. Sin separates from God. (Isaiah 59:2) Note: If sin separates humans from one another, adultery,etc, how much more man from God.)
So physical death is separation from the body, spiritual death is separation from God, eternal death, if you live without God and die without God you will spend eternity without God in a place the Bible calls a lake of fire. And God says that that is the penalty for sin!
The penalty must be paid, there is no recourse. The price for sin must be paid and you cannot pay it. You are a finite man and have sinned against an infinite God. To sin against man you pay an eye for an eye and you are even but you can never even the score with God therefore Hell is eternal. Again, the price must be paid, God will not allow your sin to go unpunished.
So far I have told you only two things. #1. You have sinned against God. #2. The price on your sin is death. The word "GOSPEL" means "GOOD NEWS". so far I have not told you any good news, it's all been bad news. You are hopelessly, helplessly lost! But now the good news.
#3. The Good News "For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly." Rom 5:6
"Yet without strength" totally helpless and could not help ourselves. What is the most helpless thing you can think of? How about a new born baby. It dirties its diaper. Clean yourself up kid. It can't, it is helpless to do so. He only makes matters worse. But someone who loves that baby comes and does for it what it cannot do for itself. The baby is hungry. Feed yourself kid. It cannot do it. It will starve unless some one who cares will come do for it what it cannot do for itself. When we could do absolutely nothing to help ourselves God did for us what we could not do.
IN due time Christ died. What is the penalty for Sin? Death. Christ died, paid the penalty for sin but He never sinned so He didn't pay it for Himself so who did He pay it for? "For the ungodly" that's you and me. "Christ died for us.." Rom 5:8 I want to help you to understand what it means for Christ to die for us. Here is my New Testament, it must be put on that coffee table over there. Yes, that is right it must be put on that coffee table. (He starts to arise and put it over there) Wait! Can I do it for you? (I take the NT from him and get up and take it over to the coffee table and leave it there.) Now you don't have to do it, you know why? That's right, because I did it for you. And now you know you don't have to pay the price for your sin because He did it for you. (I have seen this little illustration used of God in most remarkable ways) Isn't that wonderful?
(Sometimes I use the following illustration to help them feel the impact of what it meant for God to give His Son) Do you have any idea of what it meant for God to give His Son for you? Do you have a best friend? His name is John? Let's say your best friend gets into serious trouble. In fact it is so bad that it could cost him his life. Now you have three children and it just so happens that if you would be willing to give just one of those three children to step in and take your best friend's place he could be saved. Now which one of your three children would you be willing to give to save your best friend's life? How bout Billy? No, you couldn't give Billy to save your best friend. How bout Susie? No, you couldn't give Susie either. As a matter of fact you couldn't give anyone of your three children to save your best friend's life. And you would stand there and watch with tears as your best friend perished because you just could not bring yourself to give anyone of your three kids to save your best friend.
Do you know that God did for you what you would do for your best friend? Romans 5:10 says, "For if when we were enemies, (Not His best friends) we were reconciled to God-(Brought back to God. How?) by the death of His Son.." God didn't have three Sons, He just had one but He loved you so much that He did for you what you would not do for your best friend. )
I have seen men break down and weep as this truth broke upon their hearts.
Now #4. How Do We Nail This Down And Apply It To Ourselves? Romans 10:9 " That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved."
Two things in this verse that God says if we do "thou shalt be saved." Number one. If we confess Jesus to be our Lord Jesus. Not our bell-hop or our flunky but our Lord. The word Lord means supreme in authority. Are you willing for Jesus to be your Lord? Is there any reason why He should not be your Lord? You need to accept Jesus as your Lord.
Number two. "And believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead". Believing in the heart is a matter of trust. My wife could stand here and tell you that my name was Walt Stowe, I was born in Texas, went to Bible College in Springfield, Mo., etc. And you might say, Yes Mrs.Stowe, and pointing to your head say, I believe everything you have told me about your husband, I am intellectually convinced but, and pointing to your heart say, I still don't trust him. It's like a doctor who says, That pain in your side, appendicitis, I can operate and save your life, can you trust me to be your personal physician? If you say no then he cannot help you. If you say yes he will say Ok, from this point I am your personal physician, lay down on this table and go to sleep, it is entirely in my hands now.
Jesus comes and He says to you, Bill you have a sin problem and it can destroy you but Bill I came to take away that sin and died for you at Calvary and was raised from the dead. I can save you if you will trust me, can you trust me Bill to be your Saviour? What would you tell Him Bill?
DRAWING THE NET
Bill we are going to have a prayer right now. Let's bow our heads. (Regardless of what he does I bow my head and start praying.) Dear Lord I thank you for Bill allowing me to take this time with Him to tell Him about your wonderful plan of salvation. I pray you will help him to open his heart to You. Now Bill while we are still praying and our heads are still bowed, if you are willing the best you know how to accept Jesus as your Lord and to trust Him as your Saviour would you put your hand in mine?
Bill we are going to pray a little prayer something like this, dear Lord Jesus, the best I know how I accept you as my Lord and I put my trust in you to be my Saviour---if you can pray a prayer like that and really mean it from the heart I want you to do it now and I will help you. DEAR LORD JESUS, -Dear Lord Jesus-THE BEST I KNOW HOW,-the best I know how- I ACCEPT YOU AS MY LORD-I accept you as my Lord- AND I PUT MY TRUST IN YOU-and I put my trust in you- TO BE MY SAVIOUR-to be my Saviour.
Then added: AND I THANK YOU DEAR LORD-and I thank you dear Lord- FOR LOVING ME-for loving me- AND FOR DYING FOR ME-and for dying for me- AND FOR SAVING ME.-and for saving me- AMAN-aman.
After this I say a brief prayer asking God to bless him in
his new life, etc. Sometimes I take a booklet I wrote, "Tell Me More About It, Being
Saved That Is." I write on the back page or in the cover, On such and such a date I
accepted Jesus as My personal Lord and Saviour. Signed____________ I tell them that if
that is true to sign it and then I give them the booklet.
I won my last Soul to Christ on Monday of this week.
June 25, 2007 How are you doing?
Have an unusual soul winning story? Share it with us-send to stoweroy@aol.com.
My next entry will deal with getting them in the water.