The Introducer

August 27, 2017                                      NOTES NOT EDITED
The Introducer

John 1:40-42; 6:8-9; 12:20-22

Sermon-in-a-Sentence:  The simplest way to witness is to invite people to see Jesus at Church.

We need to develop the art of seeing potential converts to Christianity everywhere we go.  I want to examine this by showing three areas in which we encounter potential converts, and then I want to offer three parts to an evangelistic encounter.  Finally, I want to show you how you can explain the gospel with just one verse.

I.  Who Should We Witness To?

A.  Those who are NEAREST (Jn. 1:40-42).  It is important to keep in mind that the Gospel of John is different from the “synoptic” gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke.  These three are called “synoptic” gospels because synoptic means, “see with one eye.”  They all offer a version of the same chronological approach to the life of Christ.  They were circulated and accepted by the church very early in the development of the church, certainly long before 70 A.D.

John took a different approach to the life and work of Jesus.  It is a “theological perspective,” not a chronological one.  It was written much later than the other three gospels, as much as 40 to 50 years later.  Now, with that in mind read John 1:40 with me:

⁴⁰ Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, was one of the two who heard John and followed Him.

Notice that Andrew, the key actor in this particular text, is identified by his association with his famous brother, Peter.  By the time John wrote this, Peter had already become a leader among the Apostles, and very well known throughout the Christian community. 

Andrew had no problem being the “lesser known” Apostle.  He was the “ordinary” one.  The Bible is really the story of the “Andrews,” much more than the “Peters.”  This is to take nothing away from Simon Peter.  God used him mightily to catapult the faith of the small Apostolic Team into all the known world in a very short time.

But, we should always be reminded that life is “not about us.”  It is about the Lord Jesus Christ and His offer of salvation through grace to anyone that will accept it. 

Let’ go back and pick up the context for this short introduction to Andrew.  Look at verses 29-37:

29 The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Here is the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! 30 This is the One I told you about: ‘After me comes a man who has surpassed me, because He existed before me.’ 31 I didn’t know Him, but I came baptizing with water so He might be revealed to Israel.” 32 And John testified, “I watched the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and He rested on Him.  33 I didn’t know Him, but He who sent me to baptize with water told me, ‘The One you see the Spirit descending and resting on—He is the One who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’  34 I have seen and testified that He is the Son of God!”  35 Again the next day, John was standing with two of his disciples. 36 When he saw Jesus passing by, he said, “Look! The Lamb of God!” 37 The two disciples heard him say this and followed Jesus.

John the Baptist had many disciples, including Andrew and the other unnamed disciple with him.  John the Baptist pointed out, “That’s Jesus! It is all about him.”  In a short while, the popularity of Jesus would begin to increase dramatically.  Some of John the Baptist’s disciples would see this as a challenge to their beloved leader.  John the Baptist would have to correct them by saying:

^{John 3:30} He must increase, but I must decrease.”

The most important lesson we must learn in this life—please hear this and take it to heart—life is not about us; it is all about Jesus!  We must never let our ego, pride, or personal desires interfere with our commission to “introduce others to Jesus!” Nothing matters more than that.

And, Andrew shows us where these “introductions” must begin:  with those people NEAREST to us—our family!  Look at vv. 41-42:

⁴¹ He first found his own brother Simon and told him, “We have found the Messiah!”  (which means “Anointed  One”), ⁴² and he brought Simon to Jesus.

The “first” (and not the last by any means) person Andrew looked for to “introduce” to his new Master was his “one-day-to-be-leader-of-the Apostles brother, Peter.  The name of Billy Graham is known throughout the world.  He has been a great servant of the Lord.  But, does anybody know the name of the person that led Billy Graham to the Lord?

There’s an old adage that says, “Anyone can count the number of apples on a tree, but the real wisdom is to be able to count the number of trees in an apple.” There are many seeds hidden in an apple, just as there are many “unknown” factors in the chain of events that leads to a great evangelist like Billy Graham.  There were parents, relatives, Sunday School teachers, and even an obscure evangelist by the name of Mordecai Ham, that contributed to the life we have come to see lived out in Billy Graham.  We tend to see the “Peters” and forget the “Andrews.”  Read that verse again (41):

He first found his own brother Simon.

The first people we need to share the gospel with are those NEAREST to us—our family and close friends, and then those who we associate with regularly, like the clerk at the grocery store.  Some say these are the hardest people to reach.  I don’t know about that.  I just know we need to start with those NEAREST. When Paul and Silas witnessed to the Philippian Jailer, he was gloriously saved and then we read (Acts 16:31-33),

³¹ So they said, “Believe on the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household.”  ³² Then they spoke the message of the Lord to him along with everyone in his house. ³³ He took them the same hour of the night and washed their wounds. Right away he and all his family were baptized.

First, share witht those NEAREST.  Then reach out to

B.  Those who are NEEDY (Jn. 6:8-9)

⁸ One of His disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to Him, ⁹ “There’s a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish—but what are they for so many?”

Notice Andrew is once again identified as, “Simon Peter’s Brother.” It is Andrew that stops “looking at the problem and starts looking for a solution.” That solution lead to another “important introduction.”

An important character in this story is the little boy with his lunch—but, that is not the main point of the story.  It is not known as the story of the “Little Boy’s Lunch,” as important as that little boy was, but it is called the “Feeding of the Five Thousand.”  The focus is upon Jesus meeting the needs of people in the process of spreading the message of God’s love. 

I’ve said over and over, “people do not care what you know until they know that you care.”  One of my early heroes in church work was Robert Schuller—with his “Hour of Power.”  We did not share the exact theology or an identical approach to ministry, but I loved a principle that undergirded everything he did. Someone has said, “A person doesn’t have to be my twin to be my brother.”   I call Schuller’s foundational strategy, the FANAFI principle:  Find a Need And Fill It.  This is a Biblical principle.  James tells us (2:15-16):

¹⁵ If a brother or sister is without clothes and lacks daily food ¹⁶ and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, keep warm, and eat well,” but you don’t give them what the body needs, what good is it?  ¹⁷ In the same way faith, if it doesn’t have works, is dead by itself.

There are two great dangers in approaches churches take to “serving the needy.”  The first is to separate the word of the gospel from the work of the ministry.  They become a “salvation army” with more “army” than “salvation.”  We become a social service instead of a “salvation” ministry.  This fills a person’s belly but leaves their souls empty.

Another danger is to turn that around and separate the “work” of the gospel from the “word” of the gospel.  We fall into the trap that James warned us about—we try to speak the gospel when all a person can hear are the growling pangs of hunger.  We need to connect the “salvation” with the “army,” we need to meet the needs of the “whole” person—body, mind and soul.  We need to practice FANAFI.  There are needy people everywhere.  There will always be more needs than we have resources, but as long as we are “introducing” people to Jesus—He can multiply our meager resources to reach massive crowds.  There is a third group we need to “introduce” to Jesus.

C.  Those we will likely NEVER SEE AGAIN (Jn. 12:20-22)

²⁰ Now some Greeks were among those who went up to worship at the festival. ²¹ So they came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida  in Galilee,  and requested of him, “Sir,  we want to see Jesus.” 

²² Philip went and told Andrew; then Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus.

This group was far removed from the basically Jewish team of apostles.  They were far removed culturally, though not geographically. God often brings the world to our doorstep. 

In California, on any given Sunday, Southern Baptists preach the gospel in over 100 different languages.  You do not have to leave your community to speak with people from Timbuktu to Katmandu.

Why did Philip feel so challenged?  These Greeks (perhaps just a general term for “foreigners”) were not like him.  They looked different.  They talked different.  He was out of his comfort zone.

Why did Philip go to Andrew?  For one, Philip and Andrew are the only two disciples with Greek names.  Second, by now Andrew had become the “go to” guy when problems came up—“remember the five thousand hungry people that needed fed?”  Philip saw Andrew tackle that problem with great success.

It was quite likely that the apostles would never see these “foreigners” again.  That did not keep the disciples from “introducing” them to Jesus.  “The more seed you scatter—the more harvest you will reap!”

Not everyone we share the gospel with are going to sit in our church chairs and become a part of our church ministry.  Our job is not to build First Baptist Church, but to build the kingdom of God.  Many people we share with, we will never see again this side of Glory.  We just need to be faithful and introduce them to Jesus.  He will do what is in His good pleasure according to His Providence.
The point is: share with everyone and let God find the elect!  We are called to be “seed sowers” not “fruit inspectors.”  We never know when we may be talking to the next Billy Graham. 

There is another important principle about Christian living, especially living as a “soulwinner.”  Look at Jesus’ response. As so often happens, The Apostle John speaks with a double-meaning. 

²⁴ “I assure you: Unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains by itself. But if it dies, it produces a large crop.  ^{k 25} The one who loves his life will lose it, and the one who hates his life  in this world will keep it for eternal life. ²⁶ If anyone serves Me, he must follow Me. Where I am, there My servant also will be.  If anyone serves Me, the Father will honor him.

Here’s a great irony of the Christian faith:  salvation costs you nothing and at the same time costs you everything.  Let me say it another way, “Jesus PAID it all so we could GIVE it all!

Jesus talks about His pending death by crucifixion, but He also talks to us about getting out of our comfort zone. 

If you are on the easy street of “c”hristianity (small “c”), I want to warn you that it is a DEAD END!  There is not “Easy Street” that leads to heaven.

Andrew is called the “Great Introducer” because he got out of his comfort zone and invited people to join Jesus, from the NEAREST to the NEEDY to the NEVER SEE AGAIN crowds. 

Those are the people that we need to share the gospel with.  We can get started with “soulwinning” by becoming “great introducers” and inviting people to come to our church.  Even if you know nothing about theology, you can point people to “truelife.org” which will answer all the big questions. 

But, you can also learn to take another, bolder step.  You can explain the entire, life-transforming gospel with one verse:  Romans 6:23

²³ For the wages of sin is death,
but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

I will now use my world-renown artistic skills to show you how you can share the gospel with a pen and a napkin, or scrap of paper.

ONE VERSE EVANGELISM: Romans 6:23

For the wages of sin is death,
but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord

                                          WHERE ARE YOU ON THIS DIAGRAM?

Seeing With the Heart

August 20, 2017                           NOTES NOT EDITED
Seeing With the Heart

John 9

Sermon-in-a-Sentence:  True believers see the world as God sees it and serve the world as Jesus served it.

Let’s set down in concrete the foundation for the Life and Work of Jesus Christ—the essence of Who He is, What He came to do, and Why.

We can establish that fact in the Lord’s own words,  “I came to seek and to save that which is lost” (Lk. 19:10).

What was the Lord’s mission, and now our mission as His disciples?  “Seek lost souls and share the life-giving message of the gospel with them.”  That is “what” we are called to do, but there is also a “why” question that we can answer.  Why did God send His Only Son to die on a cruel cross to pay for the sins of all mankind?  A familiar verse answers the questions of “Who, What, and Why” in regard to the plan of God for the ages (John 3:16):

“For God SO loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

Jesus, God’s Son is the “Who.”  Salvation and eternal life is the “What.”  Love is the “Why.”  God sees us through the Eyes of His Heart.  If we are going to amount to anything in this world as fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ, we need to learn how to “See With Our Heart.”

The gospels tell the story of a time when Jesus was on a hill overlooking the beloved City of God, Jerusalem.  He saw the people of the land as if they were “wandering sheep without a shepherd.”  This is what the Bible says (Lk 19:41),

⁴¹ As He approached and saw the city, He wept  over it, ⁴² saying, “If you knew  this day what would bring peace—but now it is hidden  from your eyes.

The Jews had become blinded by their religion.  The long-awaited Messiah stood in their midst and only a very few recognized Who He was—the Lord and Savior.  Today, we are going to observe a blind beggar who has a life-transforming encounter with Jesus Christ. 

Instead of reading the Scriptures today, we are going to watch the story.  VIDEO CLIP (John 9).

In our story today, we meet a man that had been born blind.  At one point in the story his mother makes reference to the man, “being of age” indicating he was probably somewhere near between 30 and 40.  Darkness had been his constant companion for decades.  But, he was not the blindest man in the story.  John, in his gospel, loves to use double-meanings.  Jesus refers to the religious leaders of the day who rejected the miracle Jesus performed, as the truly blind ones.  People can see with their eyes and still be blind as a bat in their souls.  True sight is being able to “see with one’s heart.” The essence of believing in God is learning to “see with the heart.”  When we begin “Seeing with the heart” we start seeing things as God sees them, most importantly the souls of the world bound by the blackness and darkness of sin. 

Our calling, our mission, is to continue that of our Lord, “seek lost souls and share the life-giving gospel of salvation.”  We will only engage in this Great Commission when we stop looking with our eyes and our minds, and start “seeing with our hearts.”

Chapter 9 of John’s gospel continues a longer story of Jesus in regard to the autumn Jewish festival called the “Feast of Booths, or Feast of Tabernacles.”  This is one of three essential festivals the Jews were commanded to observe.  They would live in hastily built “booths” to remind them of how God delivered them from Egypt and provided for them during their wanderings in the desert.  Tabernacles lasted seven days.

Two primary elements that Jesus used as symbols to explain His identity as God was “water and light.”  In chapters 8 and 9, Jesus focuses on the part light played in the Feast of Tabernacles.  An extensive description is given in the Jewish writings that are called the Mishnahs.  These rabbinical writings describe the Feast of Tabernacles as “one of the most spectacular in Jewish life” (NIV Application Commentary).  Take note that this Feast takes place in the autumn of the year (around September).  Since the summer equinox, days have been getting shorter and there are longer and longer periods of darkness (hence the importance of light and the double-meaning of physical darkness or blindness).  The beggar had been blind from birth, not because of his personal sin, nor the sin of his parents.  We are all affected in one way or another, or many ways, because of the sinfulness of the world we are born into. 

The lights of the Feast of Tabernacles represent Jesus Christ.  He says so in John 8:12:  “I am the Light of the world!”  According to rabbinical descriptions of the Festival, it included four large stands, each with four golden bowls.  These bowls could only be reached by a ladder.  The bowls were filled with oil and the worn undergarments of the priests served as wicks.  The stories may be exaggerated but it is said that when these sixteen bowls were lit, “all Jerusalem was illuminated.”  The symbolic meaning Jesus brings out of all of this is that the world is steeped in darkness because of sin (spiritual blindness) and He has come to be the Light.

Our text this morning serves as a “real life illustration” of what Jesus was teaching in chapter 8.  A blind beggar becomes a “visual aid to demonstrate how Jesus cures spiritual blindness.”  Again, remember that John uses this “double-meaning” often in His gospel.  Jesus is the Living Water.  Jesus is the Door, and so forth.

Jesus never did a miracle that did not have a message.  Many magicians tried to scam the people by doing “feats of magic,” or what the Bible calls, “lying miracles.”  These “tricks and deceptions” did not promote the message of the Messiah, but were simply to promote the magicians and fill there pocketbooks.

John’s double-meaning in this passage forces us to examine not simply the physical blindness of the beggar, but the spiritual blindness of the religious leaders, and Pharisees.  This encounter also demonstrates for us four foundational requirements for completing the Great Commission of the Lord to continue His work of seeking and saving the lost.  Engaging in this mission requires first of all,

1.  True Conversion (v38)   

Verse 13 tells us, ¹³ They brought the man who used to be blind to the Pharisees. 

Then the man did what all followers of Christ should be doing on a regular basis:  he gave his testimony.  Verses 14-15:

¹⁴ The day that Jesus made the mud and opened his eyes was a Sabbath.  ¹⁵ So again the Pharisees asked him how he received his sight. “He put mud on my eyes,” he told them. “I washed and I can see.”

The very essence of “soul-winning,” gospel preaching, evangelism, or whatever you want to call it, “seeking and saving the lost” is “telling others what you know about Jesus by experience.”  A witness simply testifies to what he or she has seen or heard.  Notice the beggar offers no doctrine or commentary—just the facts!  No debate; no doctrine; just the facts.

Observe also that the disciples, like most Christians today, would rather debate doctrine in the church than deliver the gospel message on the streets.  Look at their question in verse 2:

² His disciples questioned Him: “Rabbi,  who sinned, this man  or his parents,  that he was born blind?” 

This was a very common question for Jews, and for pagans as well in ancient times.  Physical afflictions were considered as punishment from the god’s, or in the Jewish context, Yahweh.  Like many theological errors, this premise contained some truth.  Sickness is the result of sin—particularly the sin of Adam.  If Adam had not sinned, death and disease would have been unknown to man.  So, the prevailing theological view was partly correct; but still totally wrong.  This man was no more a sinner than anyone else; and as we will see later, Jesus said that the real sinners were the religiously upright (I’d say religiously up “tight”) Pharisees.

What the disciples’ question does do, however, is focus the encounter on what is most important—not the physical, but the spiritual.  This passage is about the conversion of souls, not the elimination of the symptoms of sin.  The gospel may do the latter, but only after it has done the former.

Now, lost people will also want to argue doctrine or philosophy. 

¹⁶ Therefore some of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God, for He doesn’t keep the Sabbath!” But others were saying, “How can a sinful man perform such signs?” And there was a division among them.  ¹⁷ Again they asked the blind man,  “What do you say about Him, since He opened your eyes?” “He’s a prophet,”  he said. ¹⁸ The Jews did not believe this about him—that he was blind and received sight—until they summoned the parents of the one who had received his sight.

The Pharisees were more concerned that Jesus broke one of their 600 or so laws of the Sabbath than they were that a man born blind could now see!  They wanted to argue “doctrine.”

The Pharisees would not give up or give in.  They brought in the man’s mother and father to give testimony as to whether this was:  1.  their son; and 2.  he had been blind since birth. 

Still unsatisfied the Pharisees continued to question the man until they finally ridiculed him and expelled him from the synagogue.  All the man did was share what he experienced personally.

The most important aspect of this story is not the man born blind could now “see with his eyes,” but that the man born blind could now “see with his heart.”  Look in verses 35-38

³⁵ When Jesus heard that they had thrown the man out, He found him and asked, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?”  ³⁶ “Who is He, Sir, that I may believe in Him?” he asked. ³⁷ Jesus answered, “You have seen Him; in fact, He is the One speaking with you.” ³⁸ “I believe, Lord!” he said, and he worshiped Him.

Why do so many people never share Christ with others, or even have a desire to share?  I think the only thing one can conclude is that they:  have nothing to share.  A person will never even want to be a soul-winner, much less become one, until that person has had a genuine conversion—a life transforming encounter with the Living God!
Too many church-goers are as blinded by religion as the Pharisees. They may be able to see 20/20 with their eyes, but they are as blind as a bat in the heart.  Becoming a soul-winning, fully-functioning, follower of Jesus Christ takes a genuine conversion. 

Soulwinning is about souls being “converted” not baptisms being counted.  That’s the main issue in learning to “see with the heart.”  The other requirements, I will cover more quickly.  Learning to See with the Heart also takes,

2. COURAGE (20-22; 34)
I have already shown you that the religious leaders grilled this man in regard to what he said happened.  Even the man’s parents did not stand up for him.  Look verse 20-22:

²⁰ “We know this is our son and that he was born blind,” his parents answered. ²¹ “But we don’t know how he now sees, and we don’t know who opened his eyes. Ask him; he’s of age. He will speak for himself.” ²² His parents said these things because they were afraid of the Jews, since the Jews had already agreed that if anyone confessed Him as Messiah,  he would be banned from the synagogue. ²³ This is why his parents said, “He’s of age; ask him.”

His parents knew that if they sided with their son, they would be thrown out of the synagogue and be scorned by the community.  One absolute fact of following Jesus is this:  “the world, especially the religious world, will hate what you have to say about Jesus.”  Soul-winners must be courageous.  Jesus, Himself reminds us (John15:18):

¹⁸ “If the world hates  you, understand that it hated Me before it hated you.

Then, the Pharisees had enough of the man.  In verse 34 we read, “You were born entirely in sin,”  they replied, “and are you trying to teach us?” Then they threw him out.  KICKED TO THE CURB!

If you are more concerned about gaining the favor of men than the favor of God, you will never be a soul-winner.  If you are more concerned about avoiding ridicule and persecution, than you are the judgment you will face before the Father if you don’t share the gospel, you will never be a soul-winner.

Jesus said, “I came to seek and to save that which is lost!”  His reward for that mission was a beaten, bloodied body nailed to an old rugged cross.  God’s mission requires courage.

The Devil doesn’t care how excited a person gets in church—as long as that person leaves that excitement in the pew.

3.  COMPASSION (v1)

Notice the difference between the blindness of the disciples, and how Jesus “Saw With His Heart.” 

¹As He was passing by, He saw a man blind from birth.

The word translated, “saw” is inflected by the third person singular ending, “he,” not the third person plural ending, “they.”  They were all travelling together, but the disciples “passed by” the blind man without “seeing” him.  Our text clearly states only Jesus “saw the blind man.” Obviously, we are not talking about “physical sight” in this instance.

Notice as we said before that the disciples wanted to “discuss” the man’s condition, Jesus wanted to “fix” it!  So many of God’s people want to “discuss” world affairs rather than do the one thing that is guaranteed to “fix” world affairs—preach the gospel!

So many churches preach about hell as if they are glad lost people will go there.  I remember a new preacher of a church, noted for preaching about hell.  One day a member came to him and said, "I didn’t like our last preacher. He told us we all deserved to go to Hell." The new preacher replied, "Well, haven’t I told you the same thing?" "Yes," the man answered, "but; you said it like you really didn’t want us to go there."

People in the world will not care what you know until they know that you care.  Conversion is our goal—Compassion is our vehicle.  We accomplish the “Great Commission”—“go into all the world”—by practicing the “Great Commandment”—to “love God with all our heart, all our souls, and all our mind, and love our neighbors as ourselves.” 


The Bible declares that God “sees with His heart,” a heart filled with compassion for the whole world:  “For God SO loved the world that He gave His only Son!”  We need to see with our heart if we are going to see souls won to Christ.

Now, as jazz singers like to say, “let’s bring it on down.”  Let’s “see” (pun intended) where the rubber meets the road today.  Soulwinning requires that we learn to “See With Our Hearts.”  Seeing With Our Hearts requires radical, true conversion.  It requires courage.  It requires God-sized compassion.  And it requires:

4.  CONVICTION (v4)

⁴ We  must do the works  of Him who sent Me  while it is day.  Night is coming when no one can work. ⁵ As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”

This is the whole point of this passage—and the point Jesus has been making all the while the Jewish were lighting the sixteen bowls of oil during the Feast of Tabernacles. 

The world is blind—smothered in the darkness of sin.  Jesus is the Light which shatters the darkness and pushes back the blackness of sin in our world. 

Until we, God’s people, the Church, become fully convicted that we were saved to participate in the salvation of others, we will never see the blackness of our world pushed back or flood of the sewage of sin turned off!

Conviction. That’s the key to soulwinning.  Notice in verse four we meet a little word again that I have told you about many times, and just a few weeks ago when I preached on the Woman Who Got Well.  Remember, that most people “avoided going through Samaria” when travelling from Jerusalem to Galilee or vice versa.  In that instance we read this (Jn. 4:4):

⁴ He had to travel through Samaria.  Now, here in 9:4 we read, We must do the works of Him Who sent Me.  “Had to; must.”  This is the little Greek word, dei (pronounced, day).  It refers to an absolute necessity, or a moral obligation. 

Until every church member becomes totally convicted that he or she has a moral obligation to God to share the gospel with other people—no matter what the risk—the church will die.  Oh, it may continue to stumble around like characters in the Zombie Apocalypse, but it will be dead!

“Convicted” means to be “totally convinced to the point of resolute action.”  Are you “convicted” that you have a moral obligation to share the gospel?  If not, you are “convicted” in another sense.

“Convicted” can also mean, “proven guilty of an offense by verdict of a court.”  If you are a believer and NOT involved in sharing the gospel, “you have been convicted by the Court of Heaven of being derelict of duty!” 

Listen to this verse from the prophet Ezekiel 33:: 


The word of the Lord came to me: ² “Son of man, speak to your people and tell them: Suppose I bring the sword against a land, and the people of that land select a man from among them, appointing him as their watchman, ³ and he sees the sword coming against the land and blows his trumpet  to warn the people. ⁴ Then, if anyone hears the sound of the trumpet but ignores the warning,  and the sword comes and takes him away, his blood will be on his own head. ⁵ Since he heard the sound of the trumpet but ignored the warning, his blood is on his own hands.  If he had taken warning, he would have saved his life. ⁶ However, if the watchman sees the sword coming but doesn’t blow the trumpet, so that the people aren’t warned, and the sword comes and takes away their lives, then they have been taken away because of their iniquity, but I will hold the watchman accountable for their blood. 

One of the theological giants in American Christian history was Dr. R.A. Torrey.  He helped Dwight Moody, the great evangelist, establish Moody Bible Institute.  He then came to Los Angeles to establish the Bible Institute of Los Angeles (BIOLA).  While in L.A. he established and pastored the Church of the Open Door.  A passionate evangelist and pastor, R.A. Torrey once boldly declared,

"I would like to ask what right any man has to call himself a follower of Jesus Christ if he is not a soulwinner? There is absolutely no such thing as following Christ unless you can make the purpose of Christ’s life the purpose of your life."

“Seeing With Your Heart” means one is fully convicted that every believer has a moral obligation to share the Good News that Jesus saves with other people!

Now, this is a hard, direct message but one that is needful for us to hear.  We must “do the works of Him Who sends us.”  To do this work, we must learn to “See With Our Hearts”—to see the world as God sees it and then serve the world as Jesus served it.


There is no other path to hope and renewal for our church.  There is no other hope for mankind.  We are not called to “save” our church, save our community, save our nation, or even save the world.  We, the disciples of Jesus Christ are called to “save souls.”

Would you seriously consider asking God for the boldness and courage to become a soulwinner.  It is the only work that matters for eternity.