God's Methods Haven't Changed
by Dr. Dennis Corle
God is very methodic and consistent in everything He does. The sun always rises in the east and sets in the west. The seasons always rotate in the same order, and so on. He never changes. “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.” (Hebrews 13:8)
God has certain methods laid out in Scripture for reaching the lost, building a church, and living to the glory of God, to name a few.
There are those in our country today who say such things as: “Door to door soulwinning doesn’t work anymore.” (It doesn’t work any less, either! It works just as much as it ever did.) “You can’t win a soul in one visit.” (Isn’t it too bad that Jesus didn’t know that? He broke the rules and won many souls in one conversation.) “You have to visit by appointment or go to cocktail parties to break the ice.” This would completely eliminate door to door soulwinning as it is described in Acts 5:42, “And daily in the temple, and in every house, they ceased not to teach and preach Jesus Christ.” “You must stay within the scope of your influence. (How about enlarging your scope of influence?)
These people talk about ‘lifestyle evangelism,’ Calvinistic theology, and ‘the deeper life.’ They preach a salvation that begins with sinless perfection. They interrogate new converts and hold them off from baptism to see if they ‘stick.’ They accuse soulwinners of being shallow and plucking green fruit, and scornfully use terminology like “confrontational evangelism” and “easy believism” to criticize our results. They delight in asking questions like, “Did they REALLY get saved?” and “Where are they?” They scoff at the conversion of young children, laugh at the bus ministry, and emphasize the drive-in crowd and offerings instead of conversions and baptisms.
These folks are proselytizers rather than soulwinners; keepers of the aquarium instead of fishers of men. Their goal is church-building rather than people-building and they put a premium on white men with thick wallets instead of SOULS.
This same crowd conducted a survey of several hundred churches in which they came to the conclusion that only two percent of the people in our churches got there by way of door-to-door soulwinning. The statistic was cited to prove that door-to-door soulwinning is no longer effective. It does not prove that point at all. It does, however, present a sad commentary on the lack of personal soulwinning in the Bible-believing churches of America.
This low percentage does not support the New Evangelical philosophy, but rather is a product of their philosophy that has prompted us to renounce our soulwinning fervor. Because we have forsaken God’s program and tried to develop our own, we are experiencing barrenness. The only cure available is to get back to God’s methods. If they are used, they still work!
Those who say God’s method doesn’t work are not trying it. In the past two weeks I have personally led 21 people to Christ and seen 18 of them follow Christ in baptism using God’s method. One on one soulwinning can never be replaced by any amount of programs or promotions. Here are several observations from Scripture concerning personal soulwinning -- God’s method.
1. Soulwinning Is STILL Every Christian’s Responsibility.
The “GO YE” of Mark 16:15 was spoken by Christ just before His ascension to above 500 brethren. These were not all preachers. Go where? To every creature, (not just when the Spirit leads so that you can blame the Holy Spirit if you’re too backslidden to feel led.) The declaration of Acts 1:8 which states, “...ye shall be witnesses unto me...” was spoken to all the believers present at that time, not just the twelve apostles. Those wonderful results of 3,000 saved, baptized and united to the local church were not the fruit of one man’s sermon in an evangelistic service, but the fruit of 120 Spirit-filled soulwinners all preaching the Gospel outside the doors of the church.
An interesting statement is made in Acts 4:31. “And when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together; and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the word of God with boldness.” They all prayed. They all were Spirit-filled. They all spake the Word with boldness. It is abundantly evident in Scripture that soulwinning is not a gift or a talent or an endowment, but a command ... and it is every Christian’s job.
The New Evangelical crowd seek to replace Scriptural soulwinning with ‘Lifestyle Evangelism.’ I have a problem with this because the Bible does not say that “Faith cometh by seeing someone live that lifestyle,” but rather, “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” (Romans 10:17) When Peter and John were persecuted for their Gospel witness, no one said, “Stop living the lifestyle.” “But that it spread no further among the people, let us straitly threaten them, that they speak henceforth to no man in this name.” (Acts 4:17)
Psalm 107:2 doesn’t command, “Let the redeemed of the Lord live so,” but rather, “Let the redeemed of the Lord say so...” On and on we could go, because the Bible is clear that our witness is not just to be living the lifestyle, but also preaching the Word! You don’t dress like a fisherman and walk down along the lake expecting the fish to jump up on the bank, do you? Why should a fisher of men expect sinners to do the same just because of living the lifestyle? Get busy and go try to catch one!
Christ has no hands but our hands
To do His work today;
He has no feet but our feet
To lead men in His way;
He has no tongue but our tongue
To tell men how He died;
He has no help but our help
To bring them to His side.
We are the only Bible
The careless world will read,
We are the sinner’s Gospel,
We are the scoffer’s creed.
We are the Lord’s last message
Given in deed and word;
What if the type is crooked?
What if the print is blurred?
What if our hands are busy
With other work than His?
What if our feet are walking
Where sin’s allurement is?
What if our tongues are speaking
Of things His lips would spurn?
How can we hope to help Him,
And hasten His return?
(Annie Johnson Flint)
R. A. Torrey said,”Personal soulwinning is the only thing worth doing and everyone can do it!”
2. Door To Door Soulwinning Is STILL God’s Main Method Of Winning The Lost.
“And daily in the temple, and in every house, they ceased not to teach and preach Jesus Christ.” (Acts 5:42) “...Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city... Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled.” (Luke 14:21, 23)
In John four, Jesus won a woman at the well, who in turn told all of her friends. In Mark five Jesus won a demoniac and told him, “...Go home to thy friends, and tell them how great things the Lord hath done for thee...” John one says of Andrew, “He first findeth his own brother Simon...” Though Andrew began at the scope of his influence, he did not stop when he had exhausted it, but merely enlarged his scope of influence. God has never commanded a sinner to come into the church to find out how to get saved, but He has commanded every believer to go where sinners are and tell them the story of Jesus.
The average church does not want any part of the crowd Jesus spent His life reaching. Invariably, Jesus went after the poor, the maimed, the halt, the blind, the dishonest publicans, the harlots, and the Samaritan who was separated by prejudice. Jesus spent much of His time with the most destitute, and He still loves them as much as ever today.
I’m not suggesting that the wealthy are any less needy; I’m simply reminding you that Jesus was driven, not by a person’s financial status, but by their spiritual need. Our commission is to take the Gospel message to every creature, rich and poor, and although no one should be sought just because of their wealth, neither should they be neglected because of their wealth. The man in Luke chapter 16 was wealthy, but he was also needy. The man in Luke 12 had a great abundance, but because nobody reached him with the Gospel, he lost his soul.
When the Bible tells us that Lydia was a seller of purple in the city of Thyatira, the indication is that she was a very wealthy woman. This purple was an extract of seashells, very costly, and only the very wealthy and well-to-do could afford it. It was a status symbol to wear this purple, perhaps like driving a certain kind of car would be today. Paul and Silas did not neglect Lydia because of her wealth, nor did they pursue her because of her wealth. They simply preached the Gospel to her and she responded with a hungry heart.
I’m thinking of two men I know personally who were very wealthy prior to their conversions. Today these two men are great soulwinners and preachers of the Gospel. I heard one of them say, “Don’t ever be intimidated about witnessing to someone with money, because they are just as lost and many of them are just as hungry as the rest of the world.”
3. Salvation Is STILL As Simple As Trusting Christ As Your Lord And Saviour.
More people will be in Hell because someone made salvation too hard for them, than because it was made too easy. The cultists complicate salvation by adding baptism, works, church membership, et cetera, all of which clouds up the matter and perverts the truth. They leave behind the simplicity of the Gospel and preach another gospel which is cursed of God. They abandon faith for works, and as the Pharisees, make their converts two-fold more the child of Hell than themselves.
God is not trying to make it hard for folks to get saved. He has made it as simple as it could possibly be. As a matter of fact, one of the greatest beauties of true, Scriptural salvation is its simplicity.
In illustrating salvation, God likens it to opening a door (Revelation 3:20), to taking a bath (Titus 3:5), to receiving a gift (Ephesians 2:8-9), to taking a drink of water (Revelation 22:17), to saying ‘YES’ to a proposal (John 1:12), to crying out for help (Romans 10:13), to going through an open door (John 10:9), to responding to an invitation (Revelation 22), to eating a meal (Luke 14), and to putting money in the bank (II Timothy 1:10). Salvation is SIMPLY by faith.
4. Interrogation Of New Converts Before Baptism Is STILL Unscriptural.
Some churches have a board of people who feel qualified to determine a convert’s sincerity by his ability to answer doctrinal questions that no new convert could answer. The Great Commission says nothing about a board sitting in judgment of the new converts. (I have never seen a board that didn’t have a few termites in it!) The tragedy is that those who conduct the trial are usually not soulwinners themselves, but Pharisees. On the day of Pentecost they won them, baptized them, and added them to the church without any of this man-made hierarchy.
I remember well the first revival I ever held. When I arrived, the pastor took me for a short ride in his car and showed me his ‘territory,’ as he and the others pastors in the area had divided it up. (Of course, they did not believe in the bus ministry, so this justified their laziness.) He then let me talk to some folks about Christ and two were saved. They came that night to walk the aisle and profess their faith in Christ, and were met by some old men who took them behind a curtain and kept them there for more than forty-five minutes interrogating them. Needless to say, that was the last we saw of them.
I was so upset that they chased off my baby converts. I asked the pastor, “Don’t you think you can trust me to know for sure that they are saved? When was the last time one of those guys went out and had someone saved? Do they even know what a real convert is?” Until we get away from these gestapo tactics and get back to the Bible method of doing things, we will fail to reach people effectively and see them added to the local church.
5. Baptism Is STILL To Be Cared For Immediately.
“...Repent, and be baptized every one of you...” (Acts 2:38) “Then they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls.” (Acts 2:41) “And he took them the same hour of the night, and washed their stripes; and was baptized, he and all his, straightway.” (Acts 16:33) I am amazed at how backslidden we Baptists are in relation to the baptism of converts. I go to churches that are building fellowship halls and don’t even have a baptistry. They have padded pews but no baptismal garments. The personal workers have never been trained to get anyone baptized after they get saved. Many preachers never give an invitation for baptism.
In still other cases, they have a baptistry with no water in it. Some churches are using the baptistry as a storage room, which proves they seldom use it. Either they are not expecting God to do anything, or they are not planning to obey this part of the Great Commission if He does accidentally save someone.
Is it any wonder that their churches are not growing and why they can’t keep new converts? The reason is simple: Baptism is a conserver. The converts that you do not baptize, you will not keep. You cannot expect them to be obedient in church attendance and other matters while being disobedient in the first command God has for a child of God to obey. They will quickly be out of church altogether.
The New Evangelical crowd have ridiculed us, seminared us, and intellectualized us out of soulwinning. Fundamentalists have tried to invent a new way of doing God’s work, but God’s methods haven’t changed. It grieves me that many good preachers and churches are following the advice and teaching of those who have departed from the Scriptural approach to reaching people. Many are scorning soulwinning as a forgotten tool of days gone by. But the Bible hasn’t changed, and it still points to you and I and says, “YE shall be witnesses.”
I pray that God will get us back on center, back to using God’s methods. They still work. God’s Methods Haven’t Changed.
6. Children are still the main harvest.
“But Jesus said, Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 19:14) “And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 18:3)
Sixty to sixty-five percent of all the people who ever get saved do so between the ages of 6 and 12. Another 20 to 25% get saved in their teen years. Only 10 to 15% of all the people who ever get saved get saved after age 20. We’d better not allow the skeptics of this generation to cause us to abandon our children’s ministries. I do not know of a ministry that has a better souls-for-dollars return than the bus ministry. Jesus loves the little children, and we should as well.
7. Public invitations are still God’s way of inviting people to receive His Son, Jesus Christ.
We have been affected by a modern day resurgence of the cancer of Calvinism, as well as the influence of the yuppy who is shaken from his comfort zone by public invitations. The Lord Jesus gave them frequently, and God’s methods haven’t changed.
“For I also am a man set under authority, having under me soldiers, and I say unto one, Go, and he goeth; and to another, Come, and he cometh; and to my servant, Do this, and he doeth it.” (Luke 7:8)
“Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.” (Matthew 16:24)
“Again, he sent forth other servants, saying, Tell them which are bidden, Behold, I have prepared my dinner: my oxen and my fatlings are killed, and all things are ready: come unto the marriage.” (Matthew 22:4)
When the woman with the issue of blood touched the hem of His garment and was healed, He looked at her and said, “Who touched me?” Do you think He didn’t know? He was calling for a public profession.
A preacher friend of mine preached for a man he went to college with years ago. The man told him, “If I’d quit giving an invitation, I could run 1,000. He has since done exactly that and has inflated his numbers, but has allowed everything fundamental to slide. He now has a large social club instead of a church. Of course, Baptist came off the sign. Thank God!
8. Church growth is still supposed to be the product of getting people saved rather than proselyting.
“Then they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls.” (Acts 2:41)
“Praising God, and having favour with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.” (Acts 2:47)
The early church had no other Baptist church to steal members from. They had to convert Jews and Gentiles with the Gospel.
9. Prayer is still the way to spiritual power.
“And, behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you: but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high.” (Luke 24:49)
To tarry means to wait on Him in prayer. He is saying, “Don’t leave home without Me.” It is very apparent that the Book of Acts church understood that. They had a ten day prayer meeting in the upper room that resulted in the coming of the Holy Spirit in power, recorded in Acts 2:1, “And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.”
In Acts 4:31 they prayed again and the power came again. “And when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together; and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the word of God with boldness.”
In Acts 16:25 Paul and Silas prayed and God answered in power as He shook the prison with an earthquake that led to a revival. This is STILL God’s method.
10. God’s method of spiritual leadership is still servitude.
When the disciples argued about who would be the greatest, Jesus told them that they were not to embrace secular leadership principles that made the leader the beneficiary. The dialogue is recorded in Luke 22:25-27.
“And he said unto them, The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them; and they that exercise authority upon them are called benefactors. But ye shall not be so: but he that is greatest among you, let him be as the younger; and he that is chief, as he that doth serve. For whether is greater, he that sitteth at meat, or he that serveth? is not he that sitteth at meat? but I am among you as he that serveth.”
In this passage, Jesus distinguished between secular leadership which is oppressive, and spiritual leadership which is servitude. Today we are graduating little kings and queens from our colleges instead of servants.
But God’s methods haven’t changed.
God has certain methods laid out in Scripture for reaching the lost, building a church, and living to the glory of God, to name a few.
There are those in our country today who say such things as: “Door to door soulwinning doesn’t work anymore.” (It doesn’t work any less, either! It works just as much as it ever did.) “You can’t win a soul in one visit.” (Isn’t it too bad that Jesus didn’t know that? He broke the rules and won many souls in one conversation.) “You have to visit by appointment or go to cocktail parties to break the ice.” This would completely eliminate door to door soulwinning as it is described in Acts 5:42, “And daily in the temple, and in every house, they ceased not to teach and preach Jesus Christ.” “You must stay within the scope of your influence. (How about enlarging your scope of influence?)
These people talk about ‘lifestyle evangelism,’ Calvinistic theology, and ‘the deeper life.’ They preach a salvation that begins with sinless perfection. They interrogate new converts and hold them off from baptism to see if they ‘stick.’ They accuse soulwinners of being shallow and plucking green fruit, and scornfully use terminology like “confrontational evangelism” and “easy believism” to criticize our results. They delight in asking questions like, “Did they REALLY get saved?” and “Where are they?” They scoff at the conversion of young children, laugh at the bus ministry, and emphasize the drive-in crowd and offerings instead of conversions and baptisms.
These folks are proselytizers rather than soulwinners; keepers of the aquarium instead of fishers of men. Their goal is church-building rather than people-building and they put a premium on white men with thick wallets instead of SOULS.
This same crowd conducted a survey of several hundred churches in which they came to the conclusion that only two percent of the people in our churches got there by way of door-to-door soulwinning. The statistic was cited to prove that door-to-door soulwinning is no longer effective. It does not prove that point at all. It does, however, present a sad commentary on the lack of personal soulwinning in the Bible-believing churches of America.
This low percentage does not support the New Evangelical philosophy, but rather is a product of their philosophy that has prompted us to renounce our soulwinning fervor. Because we have forsaken God’s program and tried to develop our own, we are experiencing barrenness. The only cure available is to get back to God’s methods. If they are used, they still work!
Those who say God’s method doesn’t work are not trying it. In the past two weeks I have personally led 21 people to Christ and seen 18 of them follow Christ in baptism using God’s method. One on one soulwinning can never be replaced by any amount of programs or promotions. Here are several observations from Scripture concerning personal soulwinning -- God’s method.
1. Soulwinning Is STILL Every Christian’s Responsibility.
The “GO YE” of Mark 16:15 was spoken by Christ just before His ascension to above 500 brethren. These were not all preachers. Go where? To every creature, (not just when the Spirit leads so that you can blame the Holy Spirit if you’re too backslidden to feel led.) The declaration of Acts 1:8 which states, “...ye shall be witnesses unto me...” was spoken to all the believers present at that time, not just the twelve apostles. Those wonderful results of 3,000 saved, baptized and united to the local church were not the fruit of one man’s sermon in an evangelistic service, but the fruit of 120 Spirit-filled soulwinners all preaching the Gospel outside the doors of the church.
An interesting statement is made in Acts 4:31. “And when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together; and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the word of God with boldness.” They all prayed. They all were Spirit-filled. They all spake the Word with boldness. It is abundantly evident in Scripture that soulwinning is not a gift or a talent or an endowment, but a command ... and it is every Christian’s job.
The New Evangelical crowd seek to replace Scriptural soulwinning with ‘Lifestyle Evangelism.’ I have a problem with this because the Bible does not say that “Faith cometh by seeing someone live that lifestyle,” but rather, “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” (Romans 10:17) When Peter and John were persecuted for their Gospel witness, no one said, “Stop living the lifestyle.” “But that it spread no further among the people, let us straitly threaten them, that they speak henceforth to no man in this name.” (Acts 4:17)
Psalm 107:2 doesn’t command, “Let the redeemed of the Lord live so,” but rather, “Let the redeemed of the Lord say so...” On and on we could go, because the Bible is clear that our witness is not just to be living the lifestyle, but also preaching the Word! You don’t dress like a fisherman and walk down along the lake expecting the fish to jump up on the bank, do you? Why should a fisher of men expect sinners to do the same just because of living the lifestyle? Get busy and go try to catch one!
Christ has no hands but our hands
To do His work today;
He has no feet but our feet
To lead men in His way;
He has no tongue but our tongue
To tell men how He died;
He has no help but our help
To bring them to His side.
We are the only Bible
The careless world will read,
We are the sinner’s Gospel,
We are the scoffer’s creed.
We are the Lord’s last message
Given in deed and word;
What if the type is crooked?
What if the print is blurred?
What if our hands are busy
With other work than His?
What if our feet are walking
Where sin’s allurement is?
What if our tongues are speaking
Of things His lips would spurn?
How can we hope to help Him,
And hasten His return?
(Annie Johnson Flint)
R. A. Torrey said,”Personal soulwinning is the only thing worth doing and everyone can do it!”
2. Door To Door Soulwinning Is STILL God’s Main Method Of Winning The Lost.
“And daily in the temple, and in every house, they ceased not to teach and preach Jesus Christ.” (Acts 5:42) “...Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city... Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled.” (Luke 14:21, 23)
In John four, Jesus won a woman at the well, who in turn told all of her friends. In Mark five Jesus won a demoniac and told him, “...Go home to thy friends, and tell them how great things the Lord hath done for thee...” John one says of Andrew, “He first findeth his own brother Simon...” Though Andrew began at the scope of his influence, he did not stop when he had exhausted it, but merely enlarged his scope of influence. God has never commanded a sinner to come into the church to find out how to get saved, but He has commanded every believer to go where sinners are and tell them the story of Jesus.
The average church does not want any part of the crowd Jesus spent His life reaching. Invariably, Jesus went after the poor, the maimed, the halt, the blind, the dishonest publicans, the harlots, and the Samaritan who was separated by prejudice. Jesus spent much of His time with the most destitute, and He still loves them as much as ever today.
I’m not suggesting that the wealthy are any less needy; I’m simply reminding you that Jesus was driven, not by a person’s financial status, but by their spiritual need. Our commission is to take the Gospel message to every creature, rich and poor, and although no one should be sought just because of their wealth, neither should they be neglected because of their wealth. The man in Luke chapter 16 was wealthy, but he was also needy. The man in Luke 12 had a great abundance, but because nobody reached him with the Gospel, he lost his soul.
When the Bible tells us that Lydia was a seller of purple in the city of Thyatira, the indication is that she was a very wealthy woman. This purple was an extract of seashells, very costly, and only the very wealthy and well-to-do could afford it. It was a status symbol to wear this purple, perhaps like driving a certain kind of car would be today. Paul and Silas did not neglect Lydia because of her wealth, nor did they pursue her because of her wealth. They simply preached the Gospel to her and she responded with a hungry heart.
I’m thinking of two men I know personally who were very wealthy prior to their conversions. Today these two men are great soulwinners and preachers of the Gospel. I heard one of them say, “Don’t ever be intimidated about witnessing to someone with money, because they are just as lost and many of them are just as hungry as the rest of the world.”
3. Salvation Is STILL As Simple As Trusting Christ As Your Lord And Saviour.
More people will be in Hell because someone made salvation too hard for them, than because it was made too easy. The cultists complicate salvation by adding baptism, works, church membership, et cetera, all of which clouds up the matter and perverts the truth. They leave behind the simplicity of the Gospel and preach another gospel which is cursed of God. They abandon faith for works, and as the Pharisees, make their converts two-fold more the child of Hell than themselves.
God is not trying to make it hard for folks to get saved. He has made it as simple as it could possibly be. As a matter of fact, one of the greatest beauties of true, Scriptural salvation is its simplicity.
In illustrating salvation, God likens it to opening a door (Revelation 3:20), to taking a bath (Titus 3:5), to receiving a gift (Ephesians 2:8-9), to taking a drink of water (Revelation 22:17), to saying ‘YES’ to a proposal (John 1:12), to crying out for help (Romans 10:13), to going through an open door (John 10:9), to responding to an invitation (Revelation 22), to eating a meal (Luke 14), and to putting money in the bank (II Timothy 1:10). Salvation is SIMPLY by faith.
4. Interrogation Of New Converts Before Baptism Is STILL Unscriptural.
Some churches have a board of people who feel qualified to determine a convert’s sincerity by his ability to answer doctrinal questions that no new convert could answer. The Great Commission says nothing about a board sitting in judgment of the new converts. (I have never seen a board that didn’t have a few termites in it!) The tragedy is that those who conduct the trial are usually not soulwinners themselves, but Pharisees. On the day of Pentecost they won them, baptized them, and added them to the church without any of this man-made hierarchy.
I remember well the first revival I ever held. When I arrived, the pastor took me for a short ride in his car and showed me his ‘territory,’ as he and the others pastors in the area had divided it up. (Of course, they did not believe in the bus ministry, so this justified their laziness.) He then let me talk to some folks about Christ and two were saved. They came that night to walk the aisle and profess their faith in Christ, and were met by some old men who took them behind a curtain and kept them there for more than forty-five minutes interrogating them. Needless to say, that was the last we saw of them.
I was so upset that they chased off my baby converts. I asked the pastor, “Don’t you think you can trust me to know for sure that they are saved? When was the last time one of those guys went out and had someone saved? Do they even know what a real convert is?” Until we get away from these gestapo tactics and get back to the Bible method of doing things, we will fail to reach people effectively and see them added to the local church.
5. Baptism Is STILL To Be Cared For Immediately.
“...Repent, and be baptized every one of you...” (Acts 2:38) “Then they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls.” (Acts 2:41) “And he took them the same hour of the night, and washed their stripes; and was baptized, he and all his, straightway.” (Acts 16:33) I am amazed at how backslidden we Baptists are in relation to the baptism of converts. I go to churches that are building fellowship halls and don’t even have a baptistry. They have padded pews but no baptismal garments. The personal workers have never been trained to get anyone baptized after they get saved. Many preachers never give an invitation for baptism.
In still other cases, they have a baptistry with no water in it. Some churches are using the baptistry as a storage room, which proves they seldom use it. Either they are not expecting God to do anything, or they are not planning to obey this part of the Great Commission if He does accidentally save someone.
Is it any wonder that their churches are not growing and why they can’t keep new converts? The reason is simple: Baptism is a conserver. The converts that you do not baptize, you will not keep. You cannot expect them to be obedient in church attendance and other matters while being disobedient in the first command God has for a child of God to obey. They will quickly be out of church altogether.
The New Evangelical crowd have ridiculed us, seminared us, and intellectualized us out of soulwinning. Fundamentalists have tried to invent a new way of doing God’s work, but God’s methods haven’t changed. It grieves me that many good preachers and churches are following the advice and teaching of those who have departed from the Scriptural approach to reaching people. Many are scorning soulwinning as a forgotten tool of days gone by. But the Bible hasn’t changed, and it still points to you and I and says, “YE shall be witnesses.”
I pray that God will get us back on center, back to using God’s methods. They still work. God’s Methods Haven’t Changed.
6. Children are still the main harvest.
“But Jesus said, Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 19:14) “And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 18:3)
Sixty to sixty-five percent of all the people who ever get saved do so between the ages of 6 and 12. Another 20 to 25% get saved in their teen years. Only 10 to 15% of all the people who ever get saved get saved after age 20. We’d better not allow the skeptics of this generation to cause us to abandon our children’s ministries. I do not know of a ministry that has a better souls-for-dollars return than the bus ministry. Jesus loves the little children, and we should as well.
7. Public invitations are still God’s way of inviting people to receive His Son, Jesus Christ.
We have been affected by a modern day resurgence of the cancer of Calvinism, as well as the influence of the yuppy who is shaken from his comfort zone by public invitations. The Lord Jesus gave them frequently, and God’s methods haven’t changed.
“For I also am a man set under authority, having under me soldiers, and I say unto one, Go, and he goeth; and to another, Come, and he cometh; and to my servant, Do this, and he doeth it.” (Luke 7:8)
“Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.” (Matthew 16:24)
“Again, he sent forth other servants, saying, Tell them which are bidden, Behold, I have prepared my dinner: my oxen and my fatlings are killed, and all things are ready: come unto the marriage.” (Matthew 22:4)
When the woman with the issue of blood touched the hem of His garment and was healed, He looked at her and said, “Who touched me?” Do you think He didn’t know? He was calling for a public profession.
A preacher friend of mine preached for a man he went to college with years ago. The man told him, “If I’d quit giving an invitation, I could run 1,000. He has since done exactly that and has inflated his numbers, but has allowed everything fundamental to slide. He now has a large social club instead of a church. Of course, Baptist came off the sign. Thank God!
8. Church growth is still supposed to be the product of getting people saved rather than proselyting.
“Then they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls.” (Acts 2:41)
“Praising God, and having favour with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.” (Acts 2:47)
The early church had no other Baptist church to steal members from. They had to convert Jews and Gentiles with the Gospel.
9. Prayer is still the way to spiritual power.
“And, behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you: but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high.” (Luke 24:49)
To tarry means to wait on Him in prayer. He is saying, “Don’t leave home without Me.” It is very apparent that the Book of Acts church understood that. They had a ten day prayer meeting in the upper room that resulted in the coming of the Holy Spirit in power, recorded in Acts 2:1, “And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.”
In Acts 4:31 they prayed again and the power came again. “And when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together; and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the word of God with boldness.”
In Acts 16:25 Paul and Silas prayed and God answered in power as He shook the prison with an earthquake that led to a revival. This is STILL God’s method.
10. God’s method of spiritual leadership is still servitude.
When the disciples argued about who would be the greatest, Jesus told them that they were not to embrace secular leadership principles that made the leader the beneficiary. The dialogue is recorded in Luke 22:25-27.
“And he said unto them, The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them; and they that exercise authority upon them are called benefactors. But ye shall not be so: but he that is greatest among you, let him be as the younger; and he that is chief, as he that doth serve. For whether is greater, he that sitteth at meat, or he that serveth? is not he that sitteth at meat? but I am among you as he that serveth.”
In this passage, Jesus distinguished between secular leadership which is oppressive, and spiritual leadership which is servitude. Today we are graduating little kings and queens from our colleges instead of servants.
But God’s methods haven’t changed.
