Top 5 Excuses: For Not Winning Souls!
By Tim Downs

Luke 14:18-20: And they all with one consent began to make excuse. The first said unto him, I have bought a piece of ground, and I must needs go and see it: I pray thee have me excused.
And another said I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to prove them: I pray thee have me excused. And another said, I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.

Over the last few years we have heard many excuses for not winning souls. Today as I was praying God give me inspiration to write this newsletter addressing the top 5 excuses and give a clear answer to help others see the error in these excuses. Excuses offer temporary justification for not doing what we are directed to do, in the end what happens is people are lost and churches are empty of sinners becoming social clubs for life long Pentecostals. God has us here to be fruitful and multiply! To evangelize the lost, to compel and persuade others to be saved!

1.) Fear: Fear is one of the most used excuses we hear. Many say, we are just afraid to talk to people, we are shy. Others say I am afraid of being rejected.

The Bible clearly tells us that God has not given us the spirit of fear. If God didn’t give it to us who did? The enemy of our souls! He knows if he can shackle you with fear he will see others lost! The spirit of fear is just like any other type of bondage, it keeps you from doing what God wants you to do. The Bible says he that knows to do good and does it not it is sin. We must deal with the spirit of fear in the same way as any other bondage or addiction, through prayer, fasting and laying on of hands from the ministry. We must be delivered from fear!

2.) What good is it to baptize 100 if they don’t stay?

This one is very common; we hear it almost on a weekly basis. People seem to think this is a valid excuse for not going out winning others. The truth is this is not an excuse, we must understand that soul winning takes place in an instance, and discipleship takes a lifetime. We cannot say we are not going to win people because they won’t stay in the church. We must go win them and learn how to keep them in the church! Effective discipleship is the answer; we must learn how to care for the babies. We have a discipleship plan on our website that you can download for free.

My goal is always to make as many spiritual mothers in the church as possible. Spiritual mothers are soul winners, they birth babies! The natural instinct of a mother is to care for her baby. When people personally win souls, they will naturally care for them, they will call them, follow up on them, visit them check on them etc. The bottom line is we cannot disciple anyone if we don’t win anyone, so get out there and win someone and begin to learn how to keep them! The other side of this topic is if we are going to say Bless God what good is it to baptize 100 people if there not going to stay, then why are you not training everyday on discipleship methods to prepare to go win 100 people?
3. Soul Winning is a gift or special ministry

This one always seems to irritate me. Soul winning is not a gift; it is not just for some people! The Bible says in Acts 1:8 we shall receive power to become witnesses! This means that if you have the Holy Ghost you should be winning others! There are no exemptions from the command to win others, no excuses are valid.

There also is no age limit on winning souls; you cannot be to young or to old, if you are old enough to receive the Holy Ghost than you have the power! If you are 5 or 105 and you have the Holy Ghost you should be winning others to Christ! Some obviously will win more than others, however we cannot sit back and win none by saying this is a special gift to win the lost. God requires us all to bare fruit, to compel and persuade others to be saved!

4.) I’m Part of the Five-Fold ministry so I’m winning souls.

A lot of people have told me in error that they are automatically winning souls because they are part of the five-fold ministry. The five-fold ministry has nothing to do with winning of souls. The Bible is clear of what these ministries are for. And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:

We are called to win the lost when we receive the Holy Ghost, and we should continue to win as many as we can until we are called home or Jesus returns. If God gives us a ministry, we do not exchange the call for an excuse to not win people. We always must win the lost; we cannot let our ministries become more important than the saving of others souls. We also must use our calling in ministry to become examples, we must be first to lead others in the call of soul winning, and we must be the first to lead others in the example of reaching the lost!

5.) Some plant some water

This one I saved for last because this is the most common excuse I hear. So many people are deceived by this scripture using is as an excuse to why they or others don’t win souls. This scripture is usually used along the lines of saying well, I didn’t personally win a soul but I played a part in winning souls by praying, or giving or being a musician at a service or an usher or a giver to foreign missions etc. Someone recently said, well are you saying that the 70-year-old lady who spends hours in prayer for lost souls in not winning souls? Yes, unfortunately that is the case, this person is not winning souls, she is praying!

You see we cannot choose to be a planter or a person who waters; we are called to win souls, if we are not personally winning others than we are not fulfilling our responsibility as Christians. Some say, I go to outreach on Saturday so I am a soul winner, some tell me I teach home Bible studies so I’m a soul winner, some say, I am a Pastor or Evangelist so I’m a soul winner and all types of other ministries are listed.

None of the above are soul winning. Soul winning only takes place when someone compels a lost person to repent and be baptized and when God fills him or her with the Holy Ghost then have you won a soul. When a person is born again, when they are purchased with a price, when they are a new creature in Christ then have you won a soul!

It takes three things to win a soul, it takes a sinner who is willing to come, a soul winner who is willing to compel someone to repent and be baptized and a God willing to forgive and have mercy and fill them with the Holy Ghost. All of the other things listed are needed, we do need people to teach, sing, play instruments, Pastor, Evangelize, usher, etc, however these things are ministries needed for discipleship of the new converts and perfecting of the saints!

Let me give an example of what the scripture is talking about when it says some plant others water. I may be out somewhere and meet someone and invite him or her to my church, did I win a soul? No of course not, the person is still lost, they never came and become born again, they were just invited. I planted a seed this time. Another time I may see someone out, I stop and talk to them and began to witness to them.

I tell them of their need to repent and be baptized and filled with the Holy Ghost. The person is very hungry and they agree to come back to the church to repent and be baptized, we pray with them and they completely repent. Then we baptize them in Jesus name, and we lay hands on them asking God to fill them with the Holy Ghost. At this time God did not fill them with the Holy Ghost, they only repented and were baptized, did I win a soul? No of course not, we believe in the NEW BIRTH! We believe you must repent, be baptized and filled with the Holy Ghost! So this time I watered!

But because we must bare fruit, because we must win souls I cannot choose to become a planter or waterer, I cannot say well I just play a part in winning souls, I must WIN SOULS! So I must keep compelling, I must keep persuading, I must do everything I can to see others saved! So, in closing, we cannot make excuses for not winning souls! When you think about it why would we even want to make excuses? Why not just get out there and win others?

If the fate of the lost is a lake of fire where the worm dies not, if it’s a place of torment and destruction and horror and we have what it takes to keep people from there, why would we want to sit around making excuse? God gave ever person with the Holy Ghost the power to become a witness, this power is amazing! In the end of times the Bible speaks of people who have this power and they deny using it.

2 Timothy 3:5: Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.

The Bible also tells us how God views are excuses:

Luke 14:21: So that servant came, and shewed his lord these things. Then the master of the house being angry said to his servant, Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in hither the poor, and the maimed, and the halt, and the blind.

The Bible shows us that our excuses make the Lord angry!

We must learn to study the subject of soul winning, there is a revelation, and understanding that we can have if we would take time to study soul winning like we have the oneness of God. Do not be spiritually blind, do not respond out of emotion versus knowledge. We must reach our world! We also must allow God to convict us, we cannot use the excuse that we are condemned and seek others comfort in assuring us we are ok. What ever happened to being convicted? Why is it that when we feel conviction we say its condemnation?

My question today is as always, “When is the last time you personally won a soul?” Please forward this email to every person you know or use the links at the bottom to add it to your Facebook or other media.

God Bless,

Evangelist Tim Downs
Gowinsouls.com
Answeredhere.com
727-512-0567