The way Paul did it

[Gerry]

One way of "opening the door" is by sharing your own testimony. This is the way Paul did it. And when it comes to Soul winning, the first name that should come to mind is Paul.

There are two occassions recorded in the Book of Acts, where Paul did this. One you will find in Acts 22. The other is in chapter 26, when Paul was before King Agrippa.

Here Paul was very tactful, and respectful, and courteous, while at the same time being very firm, and pointed and truthful in all ways.

The Spirit filled Soul winner always exhibits the Fruit of the Spirit which is Love. Love is kind, and Paul waskind and sincere. Four times in this chapter Paul issued a personal appeal exhibiting this love.

Paul told his story the way it really was. He told exactly WHAT he was before his conversion, and how he was affected by his conversion and what he now was.

He told it honestly, without exagerating how bad he was nor how good he had become. He simply told the truth in a kind and gentle way.

If we are going to use the testimony approach, we should use the example set by Paul in this 26th chapter. Paul made his testimony relevant for those to whom he spoke and for the times in which he lived.

Paul was Kind and Gracious. That is what we Must be. We must be joyful and enthusiastic in telling others what Jesus means to us in a personal way. We must speak in a positive way of the assurance of our own salvation so that others will have cause to search thier own hearts and question the certainty of thier own salvation.

If we want to be Soul winners, we must follow the pattern Paul sets as far as joy, honesty, and enthusiam, are concerned. And we must present the Gospel in a loving, kind, sincere, and assured way!

May God bless us as we serve Him as Soul winners.

 

 

[altya]

I use my testimonies a lot while preaching, sometimes just a part of it. It really works.

 

[Gerry]

Yes! Amen! Glory to God! After reading some of these other testimonies, I am once again awed by His Power. No wonder people are moved to salvation when hearing of what God has done for others.

 

[DaveKerwin]

your personal faith story is very strong for winning the lost to christ.

But how do you open up such conversation? I remember doing this one time, it was awesome. Being a college student, we opened up what we called a prayer table. We did this in the food court/hang out area for the students. It was a long table, with the three of us sitting behind it. There was a sign on the table that said "Free Prayer" and listed below it what would be some good things to get prayer for. Some people saw it and kept walking, others came and asked us what it was about. We would ask people when they walked by if they wanted free prayer, they would say no. And we would remind them that it was free, and what an unbeatable deal that was!

One girl stopped to sit with us after we asked her if she wanted prayer. She was hesistant at first. But she sat down with her ice cream cone and talked with us. We asked her what we could pray for her for, and just got to talking. She shared about her life, then we shared about ours (which is what the topic of the thread is about). So it ended up that as her ice cream was melting, so was her heart! She had already been witnessed to by her best friend who was recently saved. So she prayed with us to accept Christ as her savior. It was awesome.

 

[Gerry]

WOW! One plants a seed, another waters, another gathers the harvest in. This is indeed beautiful. Thanks!