Winning Souls

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Wednesday morning, the 19th of April, 2023, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today. 

We start in 1 Corinthians 9:19. Paul says: 

“For though I am free from all men, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win the more;…” 

Then in verse 22. He says: 

“…to the weak I became as weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all men, that I might by all means save some.”  

“…he who wins souls is wise.”
Proverbs 11:30

We need to identify with people if we are going to get through to them for the Lord Jesus Christ. Always see others as better than ourselves. When we preach to people, we don’t preach down to people, we preach up to people. Jesus was the greatest soul-winner of all. When in the changing room with a team of sportsmen, we speak sport. When we are sitting with a group of cowboys in the corral, we speak horses. We must find their heart and their trust first and then comes the breakthrough, and we start to speak to them about their salvation. 

I will never forget preaching many years ago to a group of farmers down in the Eastern Cape. The one old farmer came up to me and said, “Boy”, (that was a long time ago, of course!), “Speak to us so that we can see you.” I thought to myself, “What does he mean by that?” What he meant was, “Speak from your heart. We want to know you and then we will trust you.” In other words, get down to where it is really happening. Get your hands dirty.  

James Hudson Taylor took the Gospel of Jesus Christ to China, many years ago. He went on his own. He was a young Englishman and he was having no success at all with the Chinese because he was dressed in Western dress. So he changed, he wore a pigtail, grew his hair long, put on peasant Chinese clothes, slept in the town, not in the compound where all the other missionaries slept, and he was badly and heavily criticised by his fellow missionaries, but he had tremendous success. They identified with him, they listened to him.

By the way, the biggest revival in the world today is taking place in mainland China with the underground church, something like 60 million believers, a seed sown by a man who identified with the people he was speaking to.  

Today, be yourself and tell people about Jesus.

God bless you and have a wonderful day,
Goodbye.