Winning the Winnable

by Elmer L. Towns

A person will not get saved until he realizes he is lost.

First, anything less than God's perfect holiness is sin.

Second, rebellion is sin, usually translated "transgression."

The third way men sin is by inherent wickedness or moral impurity.

The result of sin is that it blinds the sinner (2 Cor. ...

As a result, each person today is his own standard of measurement.

Sin is not just punishment after death. People also suffer the consequences of sin in this life. Sin results in isolation or alienation from God.

But there is a second aspect, sin cuts people off from relating to one another.

The vacuum created by God's absence produces anxiety.

Because man is isolated and affected by sin he usually has a lack of meaning in life.

The threat of death is all about us. Within our decaying bodies we realize death is our enemy.

We win our friends to Christ through relationship. Since we know Christ and we know them, we become the bridge they travel to salvation. Evangelism is communicating the gospel to them at their point of need.

Christianity is a relationship between God and man, based on the life, death, and resurrection of his Son Jesus Christ.

Christians are expected to reach out in relationships to others. Every man is potentially a loner, but he can reach out of his shell for meaningful relationship when he has a full understanding of the relationship between God and himself.

But, for a person to be saved, mere mental agreement. to a propositional statement is not enough.

The gospel is a Person - Jesus Christ. We communicate Jesus Christ by our relationship to our friends.

The first step in this plan is to (1) know your need.

The second step is to (2) know the penalty.

A third step in God's plan of salvation is to (3) know the provision.

A person can know the above three steps in this plan and never be saved. The fourth step is (4) respond to Christ.

God is in the life-saving business, but he uses us to communicate the good news to those who need it. We must, (1) know the need of lost people and be motivated to help them. Then we must, (2) understand the necessity of communicating with them, not just preaching to them. Next, we must (3) give them the gospel both in our life style and by careful explanation. Finally, we must (4) lead them through the logical steps of the gospel.

There is a place for house to house outreach, but the most effective evangelism is when Christians share Christ with their Friends, Relatives, Associates and Neighbors. These people are usually receptive to their friends and are responsive to the gospel.

It does mean, however, that he should determine which people are likely to be most receptive and responsive to him, then concentrate his efforts on them.

In this chapter, a prospect is also a receptive-responsive person.

Likely candidates are those whose conversion seems probable because they are more receptive to the witness and/or to the gospel message.

Likely candidates are those who are receptive and responsive to both the messenger and the message. Because they are receptive and responsive, they have a far greater probability of being stair-stepped through the process to trust Christ as Saviour.

Likely candidates are those who are already in the believer's sphere of influence, or could be brought into that sphere.

Targeting receptive-responsive people knows no racial, economic or social barriers. It does not imply any respect of persons, but, rather, it simply stresses pinning the winnable while they are winnable.

Some people become receptive to both the messenger and the message.

The most receptive people are usually those to whom a believer is closest. These are his Friends, Relatives, Associates and Neighbors (F.R.A.N.s).

First, the soil by the wayside represents those who were unreceptive.

Third, the thorny soil illustrates those who are temporarily receptive, but they are unwilling to make the changes required of them. Fourth, the truly receptive are represented by the good ground. They respond and become fruitful.

The degree of receptivity will vary from one person to another. Among one's closest friends there are likely to be some who are indifferent some who are receptive, and some who are totally unreceptive.

Receptivity not only varies from person to person, but also from time to time.

Any time a person goes through a social disequilibrium, or culture shock; he becomes a receptive-responsive person.

Today, some fail to hear the message of salvation because they reject the messenger.

Most of our friends are open to the gospel because of their relationship to us, yet each one has a different degrees of receptivity.

F.R.A.N.s are usually receptive-responsive people. These people are already within our sphere of influence.

A second group of receptive-responsive people are those who have visited the church, but it is not limited to them only.

The third group consists of those who are experiencing external changes.

The process of cultivating receptivity begins by winning people to yourself.

Once you have won an individual to yourself, you must then win a hearing for the message. That means two things. First, you must demonstrate through your life that Jesus Christ is meeting your needs (2 Cor. 9:8). Second, you must point out that Jesus Christ is also sufficient to meet their felt needs.

The church that is growing through evangelism is: (1) locating those in its community who are most receptive to the gospel, (2) establishing relationships to them, (3) presenting the gospel to them, and (4) moving those who are less receptive to become more receptive to Christ.

The barriers to evangelism serve to keep Christians separated from the unsaved, and the unsaved separated from Christians. The barriers can be equally difficult to cross from either side.

Some barriers grow out of the nature of the gospel message. The message of "repentance" (Acts 2:38) is a barrier to those who do not want to give up their sin.

People do not like to cross barriers of any kind.

The barriers to evangelism can be thought of as fences with barbed wire tilted in both directions. They make it difficult for the unsaved to cross into the family of God, they also make it difficult for the Christian to cross out to the unsaved.

E-0 stands for evangelism that is carried on among people who are already church attendees.

E-1 is evangelism that crosses the stained-glass barrier: i.e., the church building becomes a barrier to getting people saved.

E-2 evangelism crosses cultural or class barriers.