 I'm going to equip you now and train you in the spiritual art of soul winning. As we go through the scripture, we're going to see various different steps in communicating clearly and accurately the gospel message. I believe God wants to make you a soul winner. So here's what I want you to do right now. Whether you're watching live or on the replay, I want you to comment the names of your loved ones who you're believing for that they would come to know Jesus. You can write several comments, again, live or replay. And then I'm going to ask that those who are listed throughout the comment section. So we're going to get kind of a prayer while going here, but it's also a declaration of faith. You're writing that name in faith, believing that God will save your loved one, believing that the Holy Spirit will draw them unto Jesus. And so just write their names in the comment section right now, it can be several names, several comments, that's okay. And then I'm going to ask those of you live and replay to write those comments. And then I'm going to ask those of you live and replay when you're reading the comments. If you read a few of those names, stop for a moment, pray for them. And let's all join in together as a community. This is now a prayer wall. That's what the comment section is. It's a prayer wall for the salvation of unsaved loved ones. Now, when you're explaining the gospel, and again, I'm going to show you how to explain the gospel clearly and accurately, when you're explaining the gospel, it's important to remember that really, it's a work of the Holy Spirit. We can do the possible, but only God can do the impossible. We can share the gospel, but only the Holy Spirit can convict the unbeliever. Only the Holy Spirit can draw someone to Jesus. So the gospel is not a product and you are not a salesperson. You are simply a presenter of the truth. And once you present the truth, you have to let the Holy Spirit do what He does. Still, we have to be responsible with the way that we communicate the gospel to those who don't know it, because we've been given a reason to hope. We've been given a reason to believe, and we have to be ready to communicate those reasons to the unbeliever. Now, whether you're praying for your unsaved family member, a sibling, a parent, a child, a friend, someone you meet on the street, you'll find that the components of the gospel really are simple. And you'll see, at least in what I've observed, there are three phases to the message of the gospel. This is something that I've just observed over my time in evangelizing, sharing the gospel at events in person and so forth. For the first phase, number one is the diagnosis. And this is usually the part that offends the self-righteous because the diagnosis communicates the need for a cure. The diagnosis addresses a problem. The diagnosis reveals the problem of sin. Now, we don't do this in a mean, spirited, or rude way, and we take no pleasure in making people feel bad, but we still must communicate the reality of sin. And the fact that sin does in fact offend God and the fact that sin does destroy, sin brings death. So number one is the diagnosis. This isn't the easy part. Picture a doctor telling a patient that they have a terminal disease that's going to ultimately result in their demise. That's not something a doctor wants to communicate. That's something a medical professional has to communicate in order to begin treatment. So first there's the diagnosis. And again, this is the part that offends the self-righteous. And then there's the presentation of the cure. Now, this is the part of the gospel that gives hope to those who know that they are sinners. You see, the self-righteous are offended at the diagnosis, but most people, I should say, I have no statistic for that, but many people already recognize that there's something internally wrong. And these are the ones that usually respond well to the gospel when it comes to the presentation of both the diagnosis and the cure. So first the diagnosis, you explain the problem of sin, then there's the presentation of the cure. The self-righteous do not like the diagnosis, but many people already know, yes, I'm a sinner. Yes, I need help. And so those are the people who usually respond well to hearing about the cure. Now, number three is the response. This is the challenge to all to come to the cross. So number one, diagnosis, number two, cure. Number three, response. The diagnosis offends the self-righteous. The cure gives hope to those who know they're already sinners. And the response challenges all to come to the cross. And really, there are different kinds of evangelism. Number one, there's confrontational evangelism. We see an example of this in Acts chapter two, where Peter stands up and begins to address the crowds and he preaches a message that is heart piercing. He preaches a message that is filled with the word, empowered by the Holy Spirit, and that ultimately results in the repentance of many. So that's open air, confrontation, coming right into the middle of their lives and presenting the truth of the gospel. That is a legitimate way of spreading the gospel. Now, some believers get offended at confrontational evangelism, and really what they're doing is they're participating in friendly fire because they're criticizing those who preach on college campuses. They're criticizing those who preach in the parks. They're criticizing those who preach in public places, not recognizing that this is actually a form of presenting the gospel. It may not be the way that everyone does it, but it is perfectly legitimate. Again, Acts chapter two is an example of this open air preaching that confronts people right as they're going through their daily life. Next, we see the relational evangelism, and this has to do with sharing the gospel one-on-one with someone. An example of this is Jesus and the woman at the well, just sharing one-on-one with them, communicating that truth, that love, that salvation message to someone who you know, this is a very effective form of sharing the gospel. Next, there's organizational evangelism. An example of this is Acts chapter two, verse 47, where the Bible says that many were added to their fellowship. So we see that the structure of the church itself serves in kingdom expansion and in soul winning. In fact, probably the greatest soul winning work ever to date is the local church. More people are saved at the local church than at evangelistic meetings. And I'm talking about the local church as a whole. All the churches together, all across the world, ultimately resulted in more salvation than say an evangelistic open air crusade or say a miracle service like what I host when I travel. The local church has its place in evangelism. People do come to church and do receive Christ in that way. So that's organizational evangelism. Next, we see supernatural evangelism. This is 1st Corinthians chapter two, verse four, where it's not just about the words, but there's also a demonstration of power. There's nothing wrong with using the gifts of the Holy Spirit or using the supernatural power of the Holy Spirit to demonstrate the validity of the gospel message. When people see demons come out of people legitimately and those individuals go from being tormented of the mind to being completely set free, then there's something to be said the message that's being proclaimed. When you heal the sick, when you pray for those who need a touch of God's power, these types of actions and demonstrations ultimately aid us in ministering the gospel. So, so far I've taught you the three phases of the message, the diagnosis, the cure, the response. And then I've shown you four different kinds of evangelism, confrontational evangelism, that's Acts chapter two, relational evangelism, Acts chapter 17, organizational evangelism, excuse me, relational evangelism is the woman at the well. Organizational evangelism is Acts chapter two, verse 47, and supernatural evangelism, first Corinthians chapter two, verse four. Acts chapter 17 too is a reference in my head where the apostle reasoned from the scriptures. So don't use that as a reference to the different types of evangelism. Okay, so basically we need to communicate the gospel in a clear way and in a succinct way. If you could communicate the gospel clearly and simply, you can be very effective when it comes to soul winning. Because again, as I said, you must do the possible and then God steps in and does the impossible. Here's a scripture that really encapsulates the gospel in almost the perfect way. Of course, all scripture is perfect, but when I say perfect, I mean an almost complete way. Of course, there are certain elements such as repentance that probably should be mentioned and should be cross referenced with other scriptures, but this is a really good succinct explanation of the gospel in second Corinthians chapter five, verse 21. Four, he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. So as I said, and I wanna clarify my remark of it being almost perfect, we know that the scripture is perfect. Let me make that perfectly clear. But when I said that second Corinthians five, 21 is an almost perfect, I mean it's an almost complete message of the gospel. It almost shows the whole picture. Of course, as I said, there are elements missing from this verse such as repentance, which of course the scripture also talks about. So we need the scripture as a whole. But second Corinthians five, 21 does a really good job of succinctly communicating the gospel message. In other words, Christ is treated by God as if he committed your sins. And it's this great exchange that's at the heart of the gospel. That Jesus will give you his eternal life in exchange for your temporary one. That those who believe on Christ Jesus for their salvation have this wonderful grace placed on them so that when God looks at the individual, he sees Jesus. And when God looks at the cross, he sees your sin. So God takes the punishment for your sin and he places it on Jesus through the crucifixion, that wrath of God being poured out upon Christ when he was being crucified. So it was more than just the physical pain that he endured, he endured the wrath of God for the sins of all who would believe. So that's a shortened explanation of the gospel. But let's break this down even further. So first, you have to show from scripture, you have to at least show them, sometimes you won't need to necessarily quote the scripture to them. Sometimes just simply sharing the gospel in a paraphrased manner can work, but everything you say must be directly based on the scripture. So first it has to be established that all have sin. Number one, all have sinned. And we see this in Romans chapter three, verse 10, as the scriptures say, no one is righteous, not even one. Romans 3.23 tells us, for everyone has sinned, we all fall short of God's glorious standard. So here we see two simple verses that make it very clear that there's not a single human being who is perfect. And because the scripture makes this so clear, we must also make this clear. We cannot be afraid of preaching about sin. I think what's happened over time, generationally speaking, is that each generation of the church has tried to make the gospel more palatable or likable to the generation in which it existed. And therefore, as time goes on, it's almost as if we've moved the line. So you go back maybe to the early church and you'll find that they've drawn certain lines in the sand as far as morality and culture and spirituality and truth go. And they drew this line in the sand. And then from generation to generation, it's almost as if we've erased that line and drawn another line that was a little further back. And so with each generation, there's this progression, further and further into sin, further and further into darkness. And so then it comes to the point that those who preach on sin are labeled as bigots, are labeled as haters, are labeled as the villains. We're seen as the bad guys simply for calling sin, sin. Simply for calling what the Bible calls evil, evil. And in doing this, we're staying faithful to the scripture, but you'll also see a backlash from society. They don't want to acknowledge this idea of sin. They don't want to acknowledge this responsibility that we have for our wrongdoing. They don't want to acknowledge that certain things do disappoint God or certain things do offend God's holiness. God has raised the standard and no one meets that standard. Now you say, how can that be good news? How is that the gospel? And this is where many Christians hesitate because we want to try to communicate all the benefits of favor with God as if that's the gospel when in fact the gospel begins with the diagnosis. Why would we need a savior if we didn't need saving? What does Jesus save us from exactly? Well, he saves us from sin and hell. You see, if there's no such thing as sin, there would never have been a need for the savior. If there's no such thing as sin, there was no need for the cross. If we could buy our own efforts, come to meet God's standards of holiness, then there would be no reason that Jesus would have ever had to die in the first place and thus trade places with us. But we must acknowledge then that the Bible makes it clear that there are certain things that are just wrong. And society as it supposedly progresses, remember not all changes progress, begins to become more violent, more agitated by the message of truth. The longer someone has been in darkness, the more irritated they become when you shine the light. And so in shining this light, we must remember that we have to communicate the truth about sin. Now, this does not mean that we need to be obnoxious. And boy, do we love our mean-spirited preaching. Boy, do we love when preachers are rude. But I often think with that individual, they're talking like that from the pulpit, but would they actually talk to someone they knew face to face like that? And so one of my philosophies is always to try my best to preach from the pulpit and the platforms that God has given me in the same way that I would communicate to an individual. And so this must be done in love. It's not that we get pleasure out of offending people. It's not that we're even trying to offend people. The truth all on its own is offensive. So no, we don't come at this in a rude manner or in a mean-spirited manner. We come at this in a truthful manner. But the reality is that if you preach on sin, you're gonna offend someone. You preach on sin, you're gonna be labeled certain things. But this is why we mustn't continue to move that line. And people become more and more shocked by the things that we call sin when they should be shocked at the sin itself. So the Bible makes it clear and this is something you have to communicate in the gospel message is the need for the cross. What is the need for the cross if there is no sin? So we see first that's part of the diagnosis phase is that all have sinned. Number two, it must be communicated that sin brings death. This is still the diagnosis phase. Romans chapter six verse 23 says for the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord. Get this and this is a crazy thought, especially for society today. Did you know that you have your own free will? And did you know that there are consequences for your actions? And did you know that God will hold you accountable for how you chose to exercise your free will? What a shocking thought, not for the church, not for you and I, but this idea right here alone is highly offensive to those who are perishing. In fact, the Bible says the cross itself is foolishness to those who are perishing. Here's what the word of God says in Romans chapter two, I'm gonna start at verse five, Romans two, but because you are stubborn and refuse to turn from your sin, you are storing up terrible punishment for yourself. For a day of anger is coming when God's righteous judgment will be revealed, he will judge everyone according to what they have done. He will give eternal life to those who keep on doing good, seeking after the glory and honor and immortality that God offers. But he will pour out his anger and wrath on those who live for themselves. Watch this, this is key. Who refuse to obey the truth and instead live lives of wickedness. There will be trouble and calamity for everyone who keeps on doing what is evil for the Jew first and also the Gentile. But there will be glory and honor and peace from God for all who do good, for the Jew first and also for the Gentile, for God does not show favoritism. Now, it's very clear here that there is consequence to sin. Now, we mustn't get this mixed up, we mustn't misunderstand this portion of scripture. I'm gonna clarify what this means specifically in Romans chapter three. In fact, it clarifies itself, I should say. So remember that in Romans one, the scripture is describing to the believer the state of the unbeliever. The scripture is describing how the unbeliever pushes God out of their mind. They want nothing to do with him that despite what creation has revealed, they harden their hearts and go on living the way that they want to live. And in doing this, they come to the place where ultimately they reject God and are rejected by God. But who receives this wrath ultimately? Well, it says very clearly in Romans chapter three, this shows us who the recipients of that wrath are and who are not the recipients of that wrath. Romans chapter three verses 24 through 26 say this, yet God in his grace, now this is later after the portion in chapter two that we just read. So it's adding and clarifying, yet God in his grace freely makes us right in his sight. He did this to Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty of our sins. For God presented Jesus as the sacrifice from sin. People are made right with God when they believe that Jesus sacrificed his life shedding his blood. So here we see it's not works, but it's by believing that we are saved. This sacrifice shows that God was being fair when he held back and did not punish those who sinned and sinned in times past. For he was looking ahead and including them in what he would do in this present time. God did this to demonstrate his righteousness for he himself is fair and just and he makes sinners right in his sight when they believe in Jesus. Now, here the scripture is making it absolutely clear that those who reject Christ, those who reject this gift of salvation are storing up for themselves the wrath of God. Now, if they don't repent, if they don't turn to Jesus, that wrath being stored up is ultimately poured out upon them. In fact, Romans talks in detail about the wrath of God and about being recipients of his grace and what it takes to experience grace and not that wrath. But here we see a very clear point established and that is that sin brings death. So there's the diagnosis. If you're telling someone spiritually their diagnosis, it would go something like this. Every single one of us have sinned. I've sinned, you've sinned and the consequences of that sin is death. The consequences are death. Now, what about those who haven't heard the gospel? This is a side note, but I know this question will come up. What about those who haven't heard the gospel? Well, Romans chapter one, verses 19 through 21 says this, they know the truth about God because he has made it obvious to them, for ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see his invisible qualities, his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse for not knowing God. Yes, they knew God, but they wouldn't worship him as God or even give him thanks. And they began to think up foolish ideas of what God was like as a result. Their minds became dark and confused. So here we see that there is the conscience given to each of us. The conscience is to the mind, what pain is to the body. Everyone has that conscience from the Lord. And when you do wrong, you violate that conscience. Furthermore, in creation, God has plainly spelled out for us a standard. We just innately know what is right and what is wrong. That is the programming from the hand of God. So each individual is judged based upon the sin that they committed, while knowing the difference between right and wrong. Now, let me use an analogy here. Let's say that there was a program that gave a second chance to those who committed murder. And this program allowed them to serve, not their life sentence, but maybe just a decade or so and they were allowed to get out early or they were allowed to get out when initially they had a life sentence. So in order to claim this, they had to A, know about it, and B, go through the process of taking advantage of what you would call this legal loophole. Now I'm not saying that salvation is a legal loophole. We won't push the analogy that far, but let's just use this analogy to help us put this in perspective. Let's say that an individual died in prison having committed the murder. There would be no outcry for them. We wouldn't say that's terrible. There was a free pass waiting for them and they didn't claim it. We would say, well, they probably did deserve that punishment and the free pass, that was just a plus if they wanted to take it. In the same way, we're not judged based upon whether or not we've heard scripture. We're not judged based upon whether or not we heard a preacher tell us steps one, two, three to be saved. We're judged for the sin that we commit knowing that it is wrong. And the gospel is God's grace that says, okay, you did commit this sin. You do deserve that punishment, but here is a way of escape from the wrath. This is why it's so important that we evangelize. So does the person even exist who hasn't violated God's standard? Does the person exist? Who didn't know that their sin was wrong? No, no such person exists. All of us have this intrinsic knowing of right and wrong and that was given to us by God. And so that's what you would do at least in the biblical sense with the individuals who haven't heard the gospel. They were given that opportunity when they knew in their conscience what they were doing. Next we see the third element of presenting the gospel that is communicating that Jesus paid our debt. And now we're in the phase of the cure. So first we establish the diagnosis, everyone has sinned, the wages of sin is death, it's a death sentence, it's terminal. Now here's where you begin to communicate the cure. Jesus paid the debt. Romans three, we just read a few verses from there. I'll read a couple more. But now God has shown us a way to be made right with him without keeping the requirements of the law. So there goes legalism, there goes workspace salvation, which I'll explain the balance of that in a moment. No, you can't just go on sinning, I'll explain that in a moment. As was promised in the writings of Moses and the prophets long ago, we are made right with God by placing our faith. Watch, this is so powerful. What a gracious God we serve. We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. And this is true for everyone who believes no matter who we are, for everyone has sinned. We all fall short of God's glorious standard, yet God and his grace freely makes us right in his sight. He did this to Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty of our sins. Romans five eight says this, but God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners. What a beautiful thing. What a gracious God. He didn't have to do that, you know. But this is the good news that there is a way of escape. That there is a way out from the wrath of God. Now, some think really deeply about this and they ask philosophical questions like, well, if God has to punish us, doesn't that make him subject to justice and doesn't that therefore put justice above God? Well, no, this is to misunderstand holiness and justice altogether. It's not that God is opening the book of justice and holiness and looking through the pages and going, oh my goodness, my hands are tied, I have to punish sin. That's not it at all. Rather, it's that God is justice. God is holiness and by his nature, he punishes sin and wrongdoing. So it's not that he has to obey the laws of justice, he is that standard. We call it justice because it is of his nature. And so it's both his justice and mercy on display here. He is intrinsically just. He is justice. So he pays our debt through being born of a virgin. We sit in Luke 1.35. The word becomes flesh, John 1.1 and 1.14. And then Christ goes to the cross after having lived a sinless life. And so now he has a record to trade with us, his perfection for our sin, his accomplishments for our failure, his life for our life. So how do you take advantage of this? How do you receive this free gift of God? This is still part of the cure and it actually begins to transition here into the response. So salvation, we must understand, we have to understand this. And this is probably gonna be the most important element of what I explained to you in regards to how we share the gospel, how we explain the gospel ourselves. And that is that salvation is by faith. What does that mean? Because I think there's a lot of misunderstanding about this. Let me tell you this. If you're worried constantly that your mistakes and your sins will cause you to finally lose your salvation even though you're continually pursuing the things of God, you're under legalism. Now again, I am not saying we can go on sinning. I am not saying there are no consequences for sin. I am not saying God's standard of holiness doesn't apply to the believer. But I wanna show you something that will help you to put this in proper perspective and actually empower you to live in holiness with even greater power. Watch this now. Ephesians two, four through 10. Very, very important portion of scripture. But God is so rich in mercy. And he loved us so much that even though we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead. It is only by God's grace that you have been saved. Verse six, four. He raised us from the dead along with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ Jesus. So God can point to us in all future ages as examples of the incredible wealth of his grace and kindness toward us as shown in all he has done for us who are united with Christ Jesus. Now watch this. God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can't take credit for this. It is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done. So none of us can boast about it. For we are God's masterpiece. He has created us a new in Christ Jesus so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago. This is powerful. If this is stirring something in your spirit as we read this scripture, I just want you to write in the comments section, live or replay, just write these two words, new creation. So how are we saved? How exactly does this work? So we know that Christ died in our place that's God's free gift because of his love, grace and mercy. And we need that gift because the wrath of God is being stored up for us. But then on the other hand, we're told that salvation comes by grace through faith. What exactly does that mean? What kind of a response is required from a human being? Does that response count then as a work? Well, let's explore this. I'm gonna give you a few analogies and then we're gonna dig into some scriptures. The first analogy I wanna give you is the surgeon. Now, if you've ever needed surgery, you know that you have to go into the hospital. You have to sign the papers or if you're not of age yet, a legal guardian has to sign the papers for your surgery. So let me ask you this. When you went into surgery, were you the one who performed the surgery on yourself? I know it's a silly question, but think about this. Were you the one who performed the surgery on yourself? No, of course not. Who performed the surgery? The surgeon. Did you do anything to make that surgery a success? No. Did you study the anatomy of the human body so that you could perform the procedure? No. Did you pay for the education so that you could perform the surgery on yourself? No. It was all the surgeon. All you did was get on the table. All you did was surrender yourself to the work of the surgeon. You didn't wake up after surgery and no one wakes up after surgery and say, says I really did a good job. But it would impact myself on the back. I was asleep, but man, did I really do a good job. I feel better than ever. Now, in the same way, when we are saved, we cannot save ourselves. Look, there's nothing that we can do to save ourselves. Period. So people try church, people try righteous living, people try charity, people try morality, people try strange standards. They try all of these different things. But let me tell you this. Even if you were to, from this point on, like from this day forward, you never again sinned. You never again thought an evil thought. You never again did anything dishonest. You never again allowed a sinful state of being to have influence in you, like pride or anger. You never again did anything wrong and you gave everything you had to charity and you attend a church every day and you prayed every day and you evangelized and you did nothing but good works. You fed the poor, you housed the orphans and so forth and so on. You did all these good works and never did anything wrong again. You still wouldn't be able to amount to God's standard. One sin is enough for a death sentence. That's how holy God is. Now, people who are offended by the idea of punishment for sin, it's just because they're not offended enough by the sin itself. That's how much of a violation one sin is against the holy standard of God. It's not that we only sin for a certain amount of time. I mean, some people say, well, why would God punish us for an eternity if we only sin for a lifetime? Well, it's not how long it took you to commit that sin. It's the level of wickedness of the crime. We don't say, well, you know, it only took them about three minutes to commit the murder. So maybe we should only punish them for a few minutes because it only took them minutes to commit the murder. No, it was the atrocious nature of the crime that ultimately brought about the prolonged punishment in the same way when we sin, even one sin, is such a violation of God's holiness that it amounts to eternity of punishment. Why? Because God is eternally holy and therefore a sin against him results in eternal punishment. So we can't save ourselves. That's the diagnosis and the cure is, but he can save you. So how do I do this? Well, I can't save myself. So what do I need to do? I need to surrender my life and get myself on that table. Jesus is the surgeon of the soul. It's like cashing a check. Imagine I write you a check and say, here's a check, I'm gonna wipe out your debt today. Here's a check. I want you to go pay off the house. I want you to go pay off your car. I want you to pay off your student loans. Let's say I gave you that check right now and I handed it to you. You said, why? I said, I just feel generous today. Not that I could do that, but let's say I did. And I handed it to you and you walk away with that check and you go to the bank and you cash the check. Really, does going to the bank count as a work or an act of faith? Going to the bank isn't the work. Going to the bank isn't earning it. It's a demonstration that you believe the check is going to clear. In the same way, he offers us salvation and it's not that we respond or that our response, we should respond, but it's not that our response amounts to a work. Our response is simply faith to receive what he's done, to believe him at his word. On January 6th, 2017, I wrote an article that many have used on salvation and I was exploring the differences between faith and works and how we're saved. And the analogy that I saw in my mind was a tree. So picture salvation like a tree. Most people think that good works are the roots of that salvation. So they think that the tree goes down because of the good works. It builds its strong root system. And then as a result of the good works, the fruit of salvation is produced. Now that's legalism. That's a workspace gospel. Guys, that is heresy. Rather, the truth of the matter, it's not that good works are the roots of salvation. They are the fruits of salvation. That salvation tree isn't rooted in good works. That salvation tree is rooted in faith and ultimately grows to produce the fruits of good works. We know that genuine salvation ultimately produces it. One more analogy to help us understand how salvation works. Picture a long hallway. And at the beginning of the hallway, there's one door. At the end of the hallway, there's another door. And you come in through that first door, you walk along that long hallway and then you exit through the back door. Now, that first door represents what we call justification. Justification is your position. Because of what Christ did for you, it's complete, it's done. There's nothing more you need to do. You simply believed and therefore he saved you. You simply believed and therefore you opened that door. So justification is your position. Picture now yourself opening that door of justification and then shutting that door behind you. You're in the door, justification. Now you have that long hallway. What's that hallway? That is sanctification. And sanctification is the process by which you become holy. And so no matter where you are in that hallway, sometimes you take 10 steps forward, two steps back, sometimes five steps forward and no steps back. But wherever you are in the process of sanctification, so long as the door of justification is closed behind you, you are still in the process of salvation. And then at the end of course is glorification and that is the promise of God, the perfection of you when you finally become just like him. So justification, sanctification, glorification. First door, hallway, last door. Position, process, promise. A lot of believers confuse the process for the position. They confuse the hallway for the entryway. And so they think that their works are what get them closer to God or further from God. Let me ask you this. How could you get any closer than God being within you? You can't. So it's not that our sin causes God to abandon us and leave us. Yes, it grieves his heart and no, you should not sin. So I Paul writes, shall we go on sinning? No, by no means. Rather, what happens when we sin is that we lose our sight of God. We lose our awareness of his presence and that produces all sorts of negativity in our lives. So no matter where you are in that hallway, you're still in the process. So God is not looking for you to be perfect. He's looking for you to be submitted to the process of being perfected. Progress, not perfection, is the sign that you're through that first door. So this is by faith then. And again, a lot of believers get that reverse. Like they make a mistake and they go, oh my goodness, was that it? Did I seal my fate? Did I lose my salvation? Am I finally done? And the type of teaching that produces that fear in you is never Bible-based. Yes, there should be a healthy fear of sin. But if you're constantly wondering if you're gonna lose your salvation, if you're constantly looking over your shoulder, wondering if every little mistake is finally gonna do you in, then you don't have a proper view of salvation. Now again, this is what freaks people out because they say, well, you can't tell people that because then they're gonna just live lifestyles of sin. No, not a true believer. A true believer doesn't hear that as an opportunity to go on sinning. A true believer says, thank God for his grace. Because of that grace, I'm gonna respond now with the lifestyle of holiness. Here's some verses here for you. John 17.3, and this is the way to have eternal life. Right here, he tells us, to know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, the one you sent to earth. Here's another one, Romans 10.9. If you openly declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. Acts chapter 16, verses 29 through 31, the jailer called for lights and ran to the dungeon and fell down trembling before Paul and Silas. Then he brought them out and asked, sirs, what must I do to be saved? They replied, believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved. Simple, along with everyone in your household. John 3, 5 through 7, and then verse 16 says this, Jesus replied, I assure you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and the spirit. Humans can reproduce only human life but the Holy Spirit gives birth to spiritual life. So don't be surprised when I say you must be born again for this is how God loves the world. He gave his one and only son so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. So what happens when we believe? It all comes down to faith. Once we believe, that gives God permission. Now I know some people will have issues with that word permission. I'll explain that in a moment. Once you believe, that gives God permission to transform your nature. Otherwise it would not be of your own free will. Now, I know that might bother some people. God needs permission. No, God does not need permission to save anyone. Rather, he chooses to work on a permission-based system. Why he does it, I don't know. Like for example, why does he use us to preach the gospel? He can just come down himself and preach it. He can send angels. He can send supernatural visions but he chose us. Can he preach it himself? Can he cause angels to preach it? Absolutely, does he? No, because it's of his own choosing. Think about the limitations that Christ allowed in his own life. Luke chapter two, verse 52 says, Jesus grew in wisdom stature favor with God and favor with man. Meaning that he grew. If he grew, it means he allowed himself limitations. Could he have at any moment removed those limitations from himself? Absolutely, because he was always God. So in the same way, this is just the way God chooses to work. He chooses to work with our free will and that's just how he does it. In his sovereignty, and this may sound ironic to some, in his sovereignty, he's chosen to work with our free will and that's just the way it is. So it all comes down to faith. And once you do believe, that's when transformation happens. See, some people have the wrong view. They think, well, I have to do all these good things in order to be saved and accepted. No, you simply have to believe. And the moment you believe, you're saved. But if you're truly saved, then what's gonna result? Good works, holiness, a desire to live clean. So this idea, this notion, this fear is totally unfounded. Brother David, you can't tell them that it only takes faith to be saved because then they'll go on sinning. Well, only a sinner would want to go on sinning. Those who believe and truly believe have their nature supernaturally transformed by God. Remember the surgeon of the soul. They have their nature supernaturally transformed by God in such a way that now they are committed to holiness. And that's one of the fruits of having been saved in the first place. On a side note, this is why I sometimes lead people in what's called the sinner's prayer. You've heard it said, oh, you don't see the sinner's prayer in the Bible. Well, it's true, in the Bible, you don't see the sinner's prayer, but you know what you do see, sinners who pray. So on this subject of the sinner's prayer, and this is just a side note, this is still the point about salvation by faith, these are things we have to understand that we might explain them. You don't have to explain it all like this in the full context of what I'm giving you, but you at least have to be able to communicate this element of faith that it's by believing in Christ Jesus. It's by trusting in his work. It's by taking God up on his offer, like, okay, I'm gonna take you up on that. You say that Christ's life, death, and resurrection is good enough to redeem me from my sin. I'll take you up on that, I'm gonna believe you. And that is what ultimately results in salvation. But on a side note here, talking about the sinner's prayer, as I said, in the scripture, you won't see the sinner's prayer, but you will see sinners who pray. Around this subject, there have developed a lot of conspiracy theories. You know, oh, watch out for false conversions. There are so many sitting in the pews that think they were saved by the sinner's prayer. Well, first of all, I know very few people who prayed the sinner's prayer and thought that it was the sinner's prayer who saved them. They truly believe that it's Christ Jesus who saved them. So granted, not everyone who prays the sinner's prayer is saved and granted, we have to communicate the gospel message in a way that's clear and accurate and granted, it's not the prayer that saves anyone. We should teach the true gospel to avoid confusion, but so long as an individual truly believes, it doesn't matter how they express that belief. I'll show you. John 1.12 says, "'But as many as received him, "'to them gave he the power to become the sons of God. "'To them gave he power to become the what? "'The sons of God.'" Even to them that believe on his name, pretty simple there. Ephesians 2.8 and 9 will read it in the King James version, for by grace are you saved through faith and that not of yourselves, it is a gift of God, not works lest any man should boast. So we see here that there are different expressions of that faith, but ultimately it comes down to do you trust in Jesus as your Savior and Lord? There's only one way. There's only one way. John 14.6, I'm the way, the truth of life. No man comes to the Father but by me. But we also see in scripture here that sometimes the Bible says you wanna be saved, you have to confess and believe. You wanna be saved, you have to be born again. You wanna have eternal life, you have to know the Christ and the Father God. These are the scriptures telling us how to be saved. Do you know what all these things have in common? Faith. So if someone is standing before God or repeating a prayer of salvation and they know it's not the prayer saving them but that they're ultimately putting their faith in the cross and in Christ and that gospel message has clearly been expressed in them, you think God's gonna deny them salvation? I see that you believed, but the way you express that belief isn't good. The way that you publicly declare that you now believe in me, I'm gonna reject that. There's no way. So as long as the individual understands that they're putting their faith in Christ and as long as they understand that that faith in Christ is what saves them, they can express that in any way. I've seen some people when they have that moment of salvation, they're weeping. They can't even get words out. I've seen some people saved while they're saying the sinner's prayer. They know it wasn't the prayer that saved them and we know it wasn't the prayer that saved them but they were truly surrendering to God and putting their faith in him while praying the sinner's prayer. Wonderful. I also know people who didn't necessarily have that moment where they walked through it in a ritualistic way. They simply just turned from their sin, put their faith in Christ and from that day forward they went on living as a Christian, as a follower of Christ. So let's not be religious and condemning people for the way that they're expressing their faith in God so long as they come to faith in God that's ultimately what saves them. Faith in Jesus, more specifically. Now, what about the book of James? Because in the book of James chapter two we see that the scripture tells us that unless you have works your faith is dead. Well, this is really simple and I'll give you the succinct explanation here. If you look at James chapter two as a whole you see that this is not describing works that save but this is describing true faith that produces works. In other words, if you truly have faith and your faith is genuine, that true faith will ultimately produce works. So this is talking about genuine faith that produces works, not works that genuinely produce faith. Also, we see in Ephesians two, eight and nine that the Bible differentiates between faith and works. We just read it but the Bible clearly says you're saved through faith not of works. So there we see the scripture drawing a very clear line that faith is not considered a work and works are not considered faith. In God's mind the two are separate so that we don't need to necessarily worry about that contradiction where someone would ask, well isn't faith a work? Well not in God's definition when the scripture talks about works here it's talking about religious attempts at being saved. Now, there are some common mistakes that occur when people explain the gospel. So we just went through this. I'll give you a quick recap. Diagnosis, cure, response. Let me know in the comments section if this is helping you. Diagnosis, cure, response. Part of the diagnosis was all have sinned. You have to explain that. You have to explain that sin brings death and then we're getting into the cure now. Jesus paid our debt. He was the substitution for our sins, our punishment, the wrath of God that was supposed to be poured out on us. God pours out on him. God treats Jesus as if he's the one who committed our sins and that is truly an act of love. And then we see that salvation comes by faith. Here's the cure. Now I believe that's my response. I have to believe in the Lord Jesus. I put my faith in him. And to truly believe that will produce works. Works do not produce faith. Now, here are some common mistakes that people make when explaining the gospel. The first is this works-based explanation of the gospel. And this is to say that you have to do good, keep doing good and always do good in order to be saved. Now, that is almost true, which is why it sounds true, but really it's twisted. And guys, let me just call it for what it is. Just like the prosperity gospel is heresy, the works-based gospel is heresy too. I mean, it's as if they'll say, well, Jesus plus doesn't work, but then they'll say, well, you need to be saved. And then you need to believe every doctrine correctly just as I do. Otherwise, you're not a true Christian. Well, that's just works. So let's look at what the scripture says here. Romans chapter four, verse three, for the scriptures tell us Abraham believed God and God counted him as righteous because of his faith, period. Isaiah 64-6 says, but we are all as an unclean thing and all our righteousness are as filthy rags and we all do fate as a leaf and our iniquities like the wind have taken us away. So when you believe that salvation comes by works, it's either going to produce spiritual pride or it's gonna produce hopelessness. You're either going to think of yourself, well, I'm actually accomplishing these things, I'm doing pretty good. Like the rich young ruler, I go to church on Sundays, I know the Bible, I quote the scripture, I'm staying away from those really, really evil sins and I'm doing pretty well and therefore they get this spiritual pride and they think that they saved themselves. On the other hand, there's those who despair, those who become hopeless. They think, well, I could never save myself and there's no amount of works that I can do and if that's what it takes to be saved, I'm just gonna fail every time. So they say, forget it, I'm just gonna go full all in into the world. I'm gonna have what the world has to offer me and I'll deal with the consequences later. Both of those result because of a workspace explanation of the gospel. And again, here's some diagnosis points for you. If you're constantly worried about losing your salvation, you believe a workspace gospel. If you wonder that your last mistake finally did you in, you believe a workspace gospel and I don't say this to scare you, I say this to wake you up. I don't say this to condemn you or to put you down or to anger you or to offend you. I'm saying this because you need to break free from that mentality. It's not works that save us. You didn't do anything to save yourself and therefore you can't do anything to keep your salvation. That's the reality. And again, here's where that conspiracy theory mindset comes up. Well, you can't tell believers that because if you tell believers that now you're gonna have to clarify that they can't go on sinning. Isn't it interesting that Paul the apostle explained the good news in such a way that he himself had to clarify, what am I saying? Shall we therefore go on sinning? Why did he have to clarify that? Why did he have to come back and say but I'm not saying to go on sinning? It's because he explained the gospel exactly as I'm explaining it to you now in that it really is initiated by faith and it's kept by faith. In other words, Jesus, I'm doing a trust fall. Look, my eternity is not a game. My eternal soul is too valuable to me to just trust to anybody. So Jesus, I believe in what you did on that cross. I believe you saved me. I believe that that substitution was good enough and therefore I entrust my soul to you. I'm taking you up on your offer. I'm banking everything I have on you. I'm not betting on anything in this world. All my chips, if you will, are on the cross. Everything is on that and it's not just a bet. It's not just wondering, hoping it works. It's an assurance and in that you're saved. Now you say, that's too easy. That's too easy. That's too easy. If it was any harder, we would mess it up. It's simple enough and we already mess it up. And again, that religious voice comes back, well, wait a minute, wait a minute. You can't tell them that good news because then they're gonna keep sinning. No, that's not true. That's simply not true because if they truly come to put their faith in Christ and then they receive salvation, guess what? He transforms their nature and now their desires change. Now their heart changes. It's better that than them going on their whole lives. Really, it's the lie of the enemy for the opposite reasons. The lies of the enemy will tell you, you have to work for it because guess what? Now you're trusting in your own righteousness and in trusting in your own righteousness, you're not putting your faith in Jesus and therefore relying on your own righteousness, you never come to true salvation. And that's a scary thought. Talk about the enemy's lies and tactics. That's the real one right there. And so those who truly believe now have faith produced and those who truly believe now have righteousness produced so that when I put my faith in him, he gives me a new nature that ultimately causes me to live clean. Instead of trying to get holiness through works, you should get holiness by faith. You're trying to change your behaviors when only God can change your nature. You're trying to do it like that person who needs surgery. They can change their diet. In some cases, their diet doesn't do anything. In some cases, their exercises don't do anything. In some cases, their medication doesn't do anything. Sometimes they just need surgery. And in the same way people try to do these works, works, works, works, I need to get saved and then I need to continue being saved by doing good. And that's when you have to ask questions like, well, how many good works do you have to continue to do? And what's the percentage exactly? Is it 51% doing good, 49% doing bad? At what point does it then become something that's detrimental to your salvation? What exactly are the sins that disqualify you? What's the one that takes you out? What exactly, now am I saying you can't lose your salvation? Look, I already told you that debate doesn't even matter because true Christians are gonna be focused on living holy. True Christians are gonna be focused on being more like Jesus. That's the fact of the matter once you get a new nature. So let's not get caught up in arguing over things that aren't even ours to judge. Rather let's look at what the scripture says. And the scripture teaches us that we receive salvation through faith and therefore it's kept by our trust in him. We just believe that he's taking care of it. And again, let me say this one more time for those who would accuse me of saying, well, he's saying you can do whatever you want and I'm gonna clear that up in a moment. I am not saying that you can just go on sinning. I'm saying that your righteousness doesn't save you. I'm saying that by doing good or having a higher percentage of good in the day than bad is what keeps you safe. Not at all. That's heresy. That is heresy. Plain and simple. That's not even a, that right then now you're getting into cult like beliefs. What I'm saying is that if you truly do trust in Jesus there'll be a transformation of your nature. And in that transformation comes the desire to do good. Next we see a nullical prosperity. That's a fact. There's nothing that can, there's nothing anyone could do to convince me otherwise. The Bible talks about prosperity. The Bible talks about provision. The Bible clearly teaches that if you use good wisdom and principles of stewardship that God brings increase to your resources. That's a fact no one can debate that. Here's the problem. It's when you take those doctrines of increase, you take those doctrines of provision and prosperity and replace the gospel with them. The gospel is not health, wealth, and happiness. Do I believe in prosperity? Absolutely. Positively 100% I believe in biblical prosperity. But do I believe that you'll never have any hardships? That's nonsense. Do I believe that the heart of the gospel is all about what you can get from the material world? No, that's nonsense. Do I believe that we serve God and treat Him like a genie? Gimme, gimme, gimme, that's nonsense. Do I believe that we can just speak whatever we want into existence? No way, not a chance. If we did, there'd be nothing but chaos in this world if we had that ability. Do I believe that God heals? Absolutely. But do I also believe that He's sovereign and sometimes the miracle doesn't happen? That's a fact. So we have to make sure we're not putting these in the wrong place. When you take a side doctrine and make it the gospel, you're in trouble. And it's not just that. People don't even just do it with prosperity. They do it with miracles. They do it with prosperity. They do it with healing. They do it with prophecy. They do it with deliverance, not only that. They do it with doctrine. They do it with eschatology. They do it with what day of the week do you worship? And they take all these side doctrines and they make them central to the gospel and you end up with confusion and not the real gospel. So when I say prosperity gospel, I'm talking about replacing the gospel with the belief that if I just do the right things, everything in my life is gonna be perfect 100% of the time. Jesus just blows that theory up right here in John 1633. These things I have spoken unto you that in me, He might have peace. In the world, you shall have tribulation, but be of good cheer. I have overcome the world. Now there's the danger in promising health, wealth and happiness. Come to Jesus, He'll make you rich. Come to Jesus, He'll heal your body. Come to Jesus, He'll make you happy. Because the problem is that that's not always the case. Jesus promised people are gonna hate you. They're gonna turn on you. You're gonna have tribulation. Again, let's balance this. Does the Bible teach that if you steward your finances with wisdom and generosity that God will increase you? Yes. Does the Bible teach that healing miracles happened? Yes. Does the Bible teach that we'll have joy in life abundantly? Yes. Are those realities central to the gospel? No. They're not the gospel. The gospel is what I showed you earlier. The exchanging of our life for Christ, the recognition of sin, repenting from that sin and then turning to the cross. And when you promise prosperity now, now you're gonna disillusion a lot of people because they come into it thinking, oh, I'm gonna get it all fixed. Then they get Christ. They receive salvation. Nothing changes as they thought it would. And they're left thinking, I guess that didn't work. You shipwreck their faith. They leave and they say, okay, well, I don't want anything to do with that. It doesn't work. It's not real. Why? Because we made false promises to them and we told them a gospel that wasn't true. Again, the Bible does talk about prosperity, healing miracles. That's not the point. The point is when you make that the center of the gospel and you teach that every Christian will always experience the overflow of what you might call prosperity. That's the prosperity gospel. So beware of the workspace gospel. Beware of the prosperity gospel. Also, beware of the sin permitting gospel. We just read a portion or I referenced the portion in James chapter two that talks about the fact that if you're not producing good works, you're not walking in holiness, you gotta look at your salvation. Now notice I did not say that you need to do good works to be saved. I said that if there are no good works and there's no desire for holiness, then that might show you that you were never saved in the first place. And that's an even scarier truth. Deceive, trusting that I could just say a little prayer and go on living as I wanted to live and I wear Christianity like a coat. I put it on my culture like a necklace and I have this good moral standard that my family and I benefit from but we never really allow it to transform our lives. Well, now you're left with trouble. And that ultimately results in the wrath of God coming down upon you. So then we see, we must show that all have sinned. Sin brings death. Jesus paid our debt. Salvation is by faith. What's left call upon him, a response. Now the Bible says in Romans 10, 13 for everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. Now here's where some have trouble because they say, wait a minute and again, this is for the really deep philosophical thinker. They say, what about those who are mute? They can't call upon the Lord. And this is true. I mean, that's actually a fact. But you know, remember I showed you all the different ways the scripture describes salvation coming about. Really it's describing one way but there's different expressions of that. So confessing with your mouth and then there's believing in your heart and then there's being born again and then there's turning from your sin and then there's knowing Jesus. All of these things the Bible says result in eternal life or being saved. But really when it comes down to it, the common denominator is this expression of faith, a life that expresses a genuine faith in Christ Jesus. So Jesus will give you again his eternal life in exchange for your temporary one and it simply requires a response of faith. Now I wanna show you what happens here. Once you've accurately presented the gospel, what do you do? So you show them these different things. You communicate that gospel clearly. All have sinned, sin brings death, Jesus paid our debt, salvation is by works and then you have them respond in faith to Christ. Really you can't do that. That's the Holy Spirit but you give them at least the opportunity to have the Holy Spirit working through them in that way. And I know I worded that in a strange way but I think the context of what I'm saying will ultimately demonstrate what I mean. Now what do you do after you've explained the gospel? Well, we see that we present the truth. Isaiah 58.1, Luke 5.32, Acts 3.19, there's another example, now repent of your sins and turn to God so that your sins may be wiped away. Well there we see repentance as the expression of faith. Acts 17.30, God overlooked people's ignorance about these things in earlier times but now he commands everywhere to repent of their sins and turn to him. 1 Corinthians 6.19, yet preaching the good news is not something I can boast about. I am compelled by God to do it. How terrible for me if I didn't preach the good news and this is where we must be bold. Declare it, preach it and once you present the truth, practice purity. This is so important. Let me show you something in Luke chapter 11 verses 33 through 36. No one lights a lamp and then hides it or puts it under a basket. Instead, a lamp is placed on a stand where it's light can be seen by all who enter the house. Your eye is like a lamp that provides light for your body. When your eye is healthy, this is important, your whole body is filled with light. But when it is unhealthy, your body is filled with darkness. Make sure that the light you think you have is not actually darkness. If you are filled with light, with no dark corners, then your whole life will be radiant as though a floodlight were filling you with light. In other words, the effectiveness of your light shining has to do with the purity in your life. Hypocrites are the greatest barrier to the proclamation of the gospel aside from the unbeliever's love for sin. One of the greatest things you can do as a Christian to increase the effectiveness of your evangelism is to live a pure life. Otherwise, you give them a reason to doubt. They look at your life and they say, well, they don't really believe it, why should I? They don't even believe what they're teaching me, why should I? Now, of course, God can use anyone that he wishes. He can use a hypocrite, he can use a donkey, he can use the devil, he can bend anyone toward his will any time, he is sovereign. But in order to become that light, you must practice that purity. You may be telling them one thing about the gospel and then living another. I mean, you can tell them that sin is destructive, but if you're out partying with them and participating in sin with them, your faith, what is it? It's a hobby. It's not really who you are. And I'm just giving you the truth. And so they see that. And hypocrisy is a barrier between those who we're witnessing to and salvation. When we live lives of hypocrisy, we're giving the unbeliever that we're evangelizing an excuse to be dismissive with this gospel message. Number three, you have to pray for them. I think about Romans chapter 10 verse one, Brother in my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they might be saved. So here we see very clearly that you could pray for someone's salvation. So you present the truth, practice purity, pray for them. We read 1 Corinthians 2-4, where not just persuasive words are being used, but demonstrations of power. You present the power. Number five, you demonstrate love. You show them the love of God. And this is a very important point I want you to get. Before I give that to you, I want to encourage you, if you haven't already, to subscribe to EncounterTV. I post teachings like this, do live streams like this all the time. Also leave a like right now when you're watching live or replay if you're being blessed by this message. So number six, this is key, release them to the Lord. Now this is the hardest part, because you have to come to understand that you are not the savior, nor are you the Holy Spirit. Here's something that I've seen done, and forgive me if this offends you, but I have to tell you this because ultimately I want your loved ones to be saved. I've seen this often with parents who agitate their children. They are constantly nitpicking at their lives, thinking that's evangelism. Constantly nagging them about how they disapprove of them, thinking that's evangelism. Look, you can present the gospel and you can demonstrate what is wrong and what is right from scripture. But once you've clearly communicated that, they know it's on them now. And the problem comes when we try to play the Holy Spirit. I remember this one time I was preaching at a church and I was aware of a situation where this couple was dealing with the family issues, specifically with their son. Their son was falling away from the faith. In fact, he began to fall into some things that were just, it was so heartbreaking for the mom and dad. So I'm preaching that Sunday morning, I'm preaching on getting back to the basics, a love for Jesus. Now this guy hadn't stepped foot in church for a long time, hadn't responded, hadn't worshiped, none of that. He just hardened his heart toward the things of God. So I give this altar call and the Holy Spirit draws him. He comes to the front, he's being touched by God. You could see this guy is on the verge of tears. His parents are watching, they're praying, but they're kind of keeping their distance, letting God do what he does. And then one of their family members comes to the altar and instead of just letting the Holy Spirit work on him, puts his hands on his shoulder, gives him one of those altar call neck massages, starts praying really loud in his ear and just starts giving him like life advice and telling him things that he probably heard a thousand times. The moment I saw the guy do that, that heavy weight of glory, it was like I saw it, lift off of him. Now I'm not saying that you shouldn't persistently pursue your loved ones. I'm not saying that you shouldn't be persistent about sharing the gospel with those that you care about. What I am saying is simple. That you present the gospel and the Holy Spirit does the convicting. Don't nag your loved ones constantly thinking that that's showing them love, you're pushing them away. In fact, when someone hears preaching against their sin and they choose to reject that preaching, what happens is their heart becomes a little bit harder. That's what the Bible teaches, that every time they turn from that preaching of the truth, they harden their heart. So really all you're doing is giving them more opportunities to harden their heart. And again, I'm not saying never tell them what's wrong. I'm not saying never talk to them about sin. I'm saying once it's reached a certain point where they get it, they know what you're saying, they understand but they're choosing their own path anyway, all you can do at that point is what I showed you. Pray for them. You practice purity, present that power, present that love, be there for them when they're down. Pray with them when they're struggling. Show them that love and that love will begin to soften their heart. Trust the Lord. Acts chapter 20 verse 26 says, I declare today that I have been faithful. If anyone suffers eternal death, it's not my fault. Don't pool, just release them. You know, if you've ever had anybody pool on your wrist or your arm to get your attention, you'll know what your first instinct is. When someone pools on you, your first instinct is to what? Pool back, why? Because it's just human nature. When someone pools too hard, you wanna pool away. And that's what they're gonna do. You pool on them constantly thinking you're doing something and you're just causing them to push you back. They're getting angry, they're getting frustrated, they're getting annoyed and they're hardening their heart all because you wanna play the Holy Spirit. Sinner's sin. That's what they do. That's why you very rarely see me reacting to anything in the world. Like every time something happens in the news, like, oh, this celebrity drank blood or this celebrity sold their soul or this politician said that, I'm thinking, why are we reacting? The world is the world. And you're never gonna change the world by reacting to it. You can't change culture that way. You change it by sticking on the message, staying true to what the word of God says and holding fast to those messages. Don't get on the trends, stay on the truth. That's what brings effectiveness. And so, you know, we do that. We as the church sometimes, we like to do that. Oh, there's that sin, there's that sin, there's that sin. Yes, call out sin when it begins to harm those who are innocent. Yes, call out sin when it's advancing. Yes, get involved with pushing back against the darkness but we're not really going to accomplish much by complaining and nagging is all I'm saying. Call it out but let the Holy Spirit do what he does. So once the seeds of the word have been planted, let God do his work. Your power is in prayer, not in confrontation. There's a time for confrontation. And I've seen this in my own life where I'll speak with someone again and again, talk with them. And after a while, they just say, you know what, I get what you're saying but this is how I want to live. I say, okay, wipe the dust off my feet. My, your blood is not on my hands. I preach the truth to you. And this is really difficult for many believers because you walk around with this burden on you and you feel guilt, you feel shame, you feel like it's your responsibility to save them. And you're just obsessed with these people. And this is, I know this sounds harsh but some of you need to be set free from this. Even if it's your children, listen to me now. I know this is hard to hear. Even if it's your children, your children shouldn't rob you of peace like that. I know it's not, it doesn't seem like the right thing to do but do you realize that by leaving them in God's hands, you're actually positioning them in the best place that they can be. You're losing your joy. Think about how the enemy works. Just think about how this is affecting you. You're losing your joy, you're losing your peace, you're becoming tense, tangled up in your own emotions, frustrated, you've got like this cloud, this heaviness, all because they won't get saved and guess what you're showing them? You're showing them heaviness. Every time you talk to them, it's tense because you're working out of the hurt that you feel for them going the wrong way and if every conversation you're just bleeding all over them, they're not gonna wanna be around you. Why not instead say, okay, I've done what I can do. My nagging is done now. Now it's the Holy Spirit's conviction and you keep praying for them. And wouldn't it be great if they felt so loved by you that they could still come around you? Wouldn't it be great that when they hit rock bottom, they knew who to call and they knew that if they went to you, they could actually come to you and receive mercy and grace and prayer and repentance rather than being nagged and preached to and just criticized in every way? Again, please don't hear what I'm not saying. There's a time to preach against sin but there's also a time to let that person have the consequences for the life that they've chosen and you can't lose your joy and peace just because they're not responding to the gospel in the way that you want. This is what's so key, guys. We have to make sure, we have to make sure that we are not trying to do the Holy Spirit's job. That's key. Now I wanna pray with you and then we're gonna check in on the chat in just a moment. Let me do something here. I'm looking at the chat at your prayer request and I wanna see names, guys. I can see it on the screen here but it's more on time with me right here. I wanna see it on the screen, the names of your loved ones. Let's pray that God would bring salvation, Father in the name of Jesus. I pray for each one right now and I ask you, Lord, that you would bring salvation to their household. May we be good stewards as we explain the gospel, Lord. And help us to do it by your word and by your spirit. Touch each one I pray in the name of Jesus and I want you to say it because you believe it, say amen. Now I know it's usually at this point in the live stream you say thank you for the good word and then you're on your way. But I want you to keep watching because I think it's important that we as Christians get involved. So don't just take, take, take by listening to the message but I want you to hear what I have to say so that you might get involved and help this ministry. 1 Corinthians 9.16 says, For though I preach the gospel, I have nothing to glory of. For necessity is laid on me, ye woe is unto me if I preach not the gospel. You guys, every believer has the responsibility of preaching the gospel in every season of life. Now there are some who evangelize on the street, as I said, there are some who use the local church as a means of evangelization. There are some who personally evangelize one on one and so forth and so on. But this ministry is one of the many ways that you can evangelize. Let me show you something. When someone gives a monthly gift of $15 or more a month to this ministry, they're helping us to reach 225 people with the word of God a month. When someone gives $30 or more a month, they're helping us to reach 450 people a month with the gospel or the word. When someone gives $60 a month, they're helping us to reach 900 people a month. Think about that. By giving $60 a month, you're helping us reach 900 people every single month. When someone gives $120 a month, they help us reach 1800 people a month through their giving to this ministry. Now on your own, if you went out and used $15, $30, $60, $120, if you went out on your own and tried to do that, it wouldn't necessarily work out the way you think it would because it's not a group effort. But all of us together, because of all these little gifts coming in from all around the world, all of us doing our part, the reach is exponential. So I wanna challenge you today. If you believe in this ministry and you believe in soul winning, there's no reason why you shouldn't be partnered with us on a monthly basis. There's no good reason. And I promise you, you'll be so glad you did it. You're not gonna do it and go, you know what, I really regret having helped that ministry. I really regret being a part of the kingdom of God. I really regret helping with world evangelism. You're not gonna regret it, I promise you. Think about it as a streaming service or any of those things that you pay monthly for. There's no reason why you shouldn't be partnered monthly with this ministry for the gospel, especially when we have these different levels of giving that are attainable. You can do this in any economy. Don't believe what the world says about things falling apart and everything coming to an end. Listen, even if that's true, don't you want the last things that you do to be kingdom things? Don't you want to be involved in soul winning? So I encourage you, sign up to become a monthly partner with us. On the form, you go to the website, davidhernandezministries.com slash donate and you can sign up for a monthly gift. You can sign up for 10, 15, 20, 30, 60, 100. Anything monthly helps. And I want to challenge you. I think that if everybody watching right now, we got several different streams going. We got YouTube, Facebook, some will watch on the app and so forth. We have lots of different streams going but if everybody watching right now were to do $5 a month, $10 a month, doesn't matter, anything at all of any amount, we would see such an increase. We wouldn't even know what to do at first with all the resources. We could build so many things. We could expand the broadcast. We could do more events all over the world. That's really all it takes as resources to go around and expand the kingdom of God. So help us right now by becoming a monthly supporter. Now if you say, okay, I can't be a monthly supporter, I don't really like adding to my monthly expenses. Okay, then give your $5 a month gift for the year and give a total amount of $60. If you're planning on being a $10 a month, give a gift of 120. But whatever you do, do something. Everybody watching this needs to do something. Why? Because we're all Christians. We all love the work of God. We all need to be involved in soul winning. So I challenge you though, sign up to become a monthly supporter and then stick to that support. Stay faithful, be with this ministry. Again, you can go to davidhernandezministries.com slash donate. You can sign up for a monthly gift. I challenge you to do that right now. And again, just to give you a little recap here, $15 or more, 225 people a month. $30 or more, 450 people a month. What else can you spend $30 on that's better than reaching 450 people with the word of God? $60 a month, 900 people a month. $120 a month, 1800 people a month. That's effectiveness, guys. So help us out. Go right now to the website davidhernandezministries.com slash donate, sign up for a monthly gift or give a one-time gift. Now, if you enjoyed this teaching, you'll also enjoy how do I hear the voice of the Holy Spirit, three keys. In that teaching, I give you three very basic, simple keys that you can apply right now to begin hearing the voice of the Holy Spirit with both confidence and clarity.