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March 15 - March 19, 2019
If you want your hearers to be converted, you must see that your preaching aims directly at conversion, and that your preaching is the kind God will likely bless in that way.
If our faith is great, we declare these truths in a manner likely to be blessed to the conversion of our hearers. Of course, all the while, we must trust the Holy Spirit to make the work effectual, for we are only instruments in His hands.
if people are to be saved, the sermons must interest them.
Instead of theological language, we must preach in what Whitefield used to call “market language” as if we have all classes of the community listening to our message. Then, when they do come in, we must preach in an interesting manner that captures their attention.
but we must tell our hearers something they will not likely forget.
The third thing in a sermon likely to win souls to Christ is: it must be instructive.
Sermons most likely to convert people seem to be those full of truth – truth about the fall, truth about the law, truth about human nature and its alienation from God, truth about Jesus Christ, truth about the Holy Spirit, truth about the everlasting Father, truth about the new birth, truth about obedience to God and how we learn it, and all such great truths.
the people must be impressed by our sermons if they are to be converted.
In order for you to impress the Word upon those to whom you preach, it must be impressed upon you first. You must feel it yourself and speak as a man who feels it, not as if you feel it, but because you feel it. Otherwise, it won’t be felt by others.
As far as you are able, try to make even the way you speak minister to the great end you have in view. Preach as you would if you were pleading before a judge and begging for the life of a friend, or as if you were appealing to the Queen on behalf of someone very dear to you.
The sermon which is likely to reach the heart of the hearer is the one which comes straight from the heart of the preacher. Always seek to preach, so the people shall be impressed as well as interested and instructed.
preachers should try to take out everything likely to divert the hearer’s mind from the object we have in view.
stick to your texts and seek to get out of the Scriptures what the Holy Spirit has put into them. Never let your hearers have to ask the question, “What has this sermon to do with the text?”
grammatical blunders can do more harm than you can imagine. Perhaps, you think I’m speaking of trifling matters hardly worthy of consideration, but I am not. These distractions can cause serious consequences, and since it’s easy to learn to speak and write correct English, try your best to know it well.
I believe sermons which are full of Christ are the most likely to be blessed to the conversion of the hearers.
Long ago, like the apostle Paul, I determined not to know anything else except Jesus Christ and Him crucified (1 Corinthians 2:2).
“What’s the secret of your success?” I always answer that I have no secret other than this, that I’ve preached the gospel – not about the gospel, but the gospel – the full, free, glorious gospel of the living Christ who is the incarnation of the good news. Preach Jesus Christ always and everywhere, and every time you preach be sure to have much of Jesus Christ in the sermon.
sermons most likely to convert men are those that really appeal to their hearts, not those that are fired over their heads or aimed only at their intellects.
I think sermons which have been prayed over are the most likely to convert people.
When it comes to soul winning, we face so many obstacles
the first, and one of the most difficult, is the indifference and lethargy of sinners.
I would far rather have a man be in earnest, intense opposition of the gospel than have him careless and indifferent.
Another very great obstacle to soul winning is unbelief.
Jesus when in His own country, He did not do many mighty works there because of their unbelief (Matthew 13:58). This evil exists in all unregenerate hearts, but in some men it takes a very pronounced form.
To them, their opinion is weightier and more worthy of belief than God’s inspired declarations. They won’t accept anything revealed in the Scriptures. As a result, these people are very hard to influence, ...
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The argument that convinces men of the truth of the gospel is that which they gather from the holiness and earnestness of those who profess to be Christ’s followers. As a rule, they barricade their minds against the assaults of reason.
if we give our pulpits over to arguing with them, we will often do more harm than good.
I believe you will rout unbelief by your faith rather than by your reason. By your belief and acting upon your conviction of the truth, you will do more good than by any argument, however strong it may be.
I never answer his arguments. I said to him once, “If you believe I’m a liar, you are free to think so if you like. But I testify what I do know, and state what I have seen, tasted, handled, and felt, and you ought to believe my testimony, because I have no possible purpose to serve in deceiving you.”
I advise you to fight unbelief with belief, falsehood with the truth, and never to cut and pare down the gospel to try to make it fit in with the irrationalities and desires of men.
A third obstacle in the way of winning souls is that fatal delay which men so often make.
There’s nothing like pressing men for a speedy decision and getting them to settle this all-important question at once. Never mind if they find fault with your teaching. It is always right to preach what God says, and His word is, Behold, now is the acceptable time; behold, now is the day of saving health (2 Corinthians 6:2).
another obstacle to soul winning, which is the same thing in another form, namely, carnal security.
They just suppose all is well. If they aren’t good Christians, they can at least say they are better than some who are Christians or who call themselves Christians. To their thinking, if anything is lacking in them, they can put on the finishing touch and make themselves fit for God’s presence at any time. Holding to such thinking, they have
We ought to thunder day and night against these people. Let us plainly proclaim to them that the unbelieving sinner is condemned already, and that he is certain to perish for eternity if he doesn’t trust in Christ,
(John 3:18).
We ought to preach so as to make every sinner tremble in his seat. And if he won’t come to the Savior, he ought to at least have a hard time of it while he chooses to stay away from Him.
we sometimes preach easy things, too soothing and agreeable, and that we don’t set the real danger before men as we should. If, in this respect, we avoid declaring the whole counsel of God, at least part o...
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Another obstacle to soul winning is despair.
a great obstacle to soul winning is the love of sin.
He clearly understood the power of the gospel and seemed to be moved under the preaching of the Word, but I learned he had become entangled with a woman who was not his wife. He was still living in sin while professing to seek the Savior. When I heard that, I understood why he couldn’t obtain peace. No matter what the tenderness of his heart may have felt, his relationship with this woman continued to hold him in the bondage of sin.
In all these cases, we have only to keep on preaching the truth. God will help us to aim the arrow at the joint in the sinner’s armor.
Another obstacle put in our way is men’s self-righteousness.
That’s the real difficulty in many cases. The man doesn’t come to Christ, because he isn’t conscious that he is lost.
He doesn’t feel he has any need of divine mercy or forgiveness, so he does not seek it.
With some people, all we say has no effect because of their total worldliness.
In the poor, it is the result of grinding poverty.
To a hungry man, Christ is very lovely when He has a loaf of bread in His hand.
The other kind of worldliness comes of having too much of this world, or at least of making too much of this world. The gentleman must be fashionable, his daughters must be dressed in the best styles, his sons must learn to dance, and so on.
Another kind of man grinds away at the shop from morning to night.
