November 1924
TH E K I N G ’ S B U S I N E S S
701
PRACTICAL METHODS OF PERSONAL WORK
For Defenders of the Faith T. O. Horton (b) I know that He was raised again for my justification. Rom. 4:25. (c) I am justified from all things. Acts 13:39. (d) I know I was blind. John 9:25. (e) I know that if my earthly house of this tabernacle be dissolved, I have a building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. 2 Cor. 5:1. (f) I know that when He shall appear, I shall be like Him. 1 John 3:2. You must be able to have this per sonal, definite experience of your own salvation and relation to the Lord. (2) A Pure Life Your heart must be right with God. Much of failure can be attributed to those who seek to serve the Lord with out being separated to the Lord. You must confess and abandon every known sin. You must live in fellow ship with your Master, the Great Soul- saver and Sanctifier. You cannot have the blessing unless you are living in fellowship with Him, and of what use is service without His blessing? You cannot be a worldling and a worker for God. No worldly, card playing, theater-going, dancing, self ish, self-seeking Christian is ever a soul-winner. You must come out from that kind of a life, and care more for souls than for self. You must separate yourself from the things that are con trary to God’s mind, and separate yourself unto God. 1 John 1:6, 7, 9; 2 Cor. 6:17, 18. ( 8 ) A Prayerful Life A soul winner must be a soul wrest ler. If there be but little prayer, there will be but little performance. Prayer prepares the heart of the worker, and prepares the object of his work. There must be much prayer if there ig much power in service. Prayer is essential to the believer’s life. No man can be a healthy Christian who is not a hearty intercessor. God reaches us through the written Word. We reach God through the living Word. The conditions of answered prayer are— According to the will of God. 1 John 5:14, 15. For the glory of God. 1 Cor. 10: 31. Prompted by the Spirit of God. Eph. 6:18. Asked in the name of the Son of God. John 14:13, 14; 15:16; 16:23, 24 ..1 Pray for access to men, and for grace to enter the open doors. Pray for wisdom to use the Word; pray for patience in dealing with men. Pray for enlargement of heart that you may have sympathy with all men. Pray for a love for souls. Pray for fellow-
workers who are seeking the salvation of souls. Plead the promises of God and pray without ceasing. Jas. 5:18. You will not be able to break down barriers and bring men and women to the feet of the Lord unless you prevail in prayer. (4) A Purposeful Life You must be definite in your aim and determined in your purpose. You must set your stakes and order your life in the line of your call. You must live a soul-saver’s life. 1 Cor. 9:16. “Woe is me!” ' : Unless the con sciousness of the need of lost men; un less the consciousness of the call of God to the work; unless the conscious ness of the solemnity of refusal to do the work, shall possess you, failure will be written over your life, as it is over the lives of so many Christians. You must give yourself unreservedly to this great calling; you must be ready and willing to make any sacri fice; you must throw your whole soul into the work. The obligation of every Christian is to do personal work. Henry Ward Beecher said: “ The longer I live, the more confidence I have in those ser mons preached where one man is the minister, and one man the congrega tion; where there is no question as to who is meant when the preacher says ‘Thou art the man.’ ” (5) A Persistent Life There is no discharge in this war. You were saved to serve; it is your business to serve. You must serve. Do not be discouraged. You will make mistakes; you may meet with rebuffs; you may be criticized; but you are called of God to do this work. You must learn to love it, and you will, if you go on in obedience to your orders. You do not serve alone. He is with you. You will learn to do this work by doing it. You will have many happy surprises. You will set in mo tion influences which will go on through all eternity. One soul is of more value than a world. You may reach one that will reach ten thou sand. Pray for all your fellow-students among the “ Defenders of the Faith” and seek to interest as many others as possible to join our class. We now have about 1500 “ Defenders” , and many appreciative and encouraging letters come from them, telling of help received from the “ Ammunition” sent. If you have not yet enrolled, turn to Page 746, sign the coupon which you will find there, send it in and you will be sent suggestions for carrying on the work. If you are already a “ Defender” then use the coupon for someone else. One “ Defender” wrote recently send ing the names of all the members of his Bible Class, and asking for more blanks as he thought he could get about fifty names.
REVIEW We had in our first lesson the “ Sev en-fold Rule for Securing Results in Winning Souls” and emphasized our obligation to follow these rules in pre paring for this blessed service. In the second lesson, we discovered that the business of every believer is soul-winning. This is inevitable if we are to be like our Master, for He Came to “ seek and to save that which was lost,” and plainly stated that He was sent into the world for that very pur pose. In the third lesson we confronted the fact that the Bible is the Word of God; that our faith is founded upon that Word, and saw the Scripture proof that every word and every let ter is inspired. In the fourth lesson we studied the necessity of wisdom in our approach to the unsaved. We need to impress this lesson upon our hearts, for many have been driven from the Lord by un wise approach* and a failure to be prayerful and kindly, yet definitely confident of the results, remembering that we are ambassadors from Heav en’s court. In the fifth lesson, we found the “ Sixteen Incentives for Soul-Win ning.” Let me suggest that you go carefully over the previous lessons, for it is not how much we have stu died, but what we have learned that will help us. The work of soul winning is both easy and hard. It is easy in the sense that spiritually it is the natural and normal thing to dp; hard, because ac cording to the flesh it will be the thing you will shrink from doing. The Holy Spirit will be leading, urging, impell ing you to speak to the unsaved. Satan will be hindering, impeding and excus ing you for not doing the work. When you feel' the inclination and desire to win people, that is the leading of the Spirit; when you are seeking for some good reason or excuse for not doing so, that is the devil’s work. He that winneth souls is wise, Prov. 11:30. Be wise as a serpent and as harm less as a dove. Matt. 10:16. PREPARATION (1) A Personal Experience: You must know that you yourself are a saved soul. You must know this definitely. You must have the assur ance of your own salvation. You must be able to put your finger on the Word of God that gives you the assurance, and be able to say, “ I know whom I have believed.” 2 Tim. 1:12. (a) I know that Christ died for my sins according to the Scriptures. 1 Cor. 15:3. LESSON SIX SUGGESTIONS
Made with FlippingBook Online document