# Our personal soul-winning partner

Key Passage: Acts 1:8
Date: June 7, 2024

Turn your Bibles, if you would, to Acts chapter number one, Acts chapter number one in God’s Word. We are just going to focus on one verse this morning for a second time. We have had a lot going on. This is our third Sunday, I believe it is, speaking on the subject of the Holy Spirit. Lord willing, we will have one more Sunday on that subject.

Last week we really focused on the Holy Spirit, your prayer partner. Prayer is such a vital thing. If you are going to be what God wants you to be, your prayer life is key. Someone said you will never rise above your prayer life. Your prayer life is so vital.

God says, “I am going to assist you in that. I am going to help you in that.” God, the Holy Spirit, He is the guide in all truth. He will guide you in your prayer life. He will give faith to your prayer life. He will do so much. We talked about that last Sunday. This morning, we want to talk about the Holy Spirit, your soul-winning partner. When I say soul-winning, I am using a term that can be biblical.

The Bible says, “He that winneth souls is wise.” So we get that from the Bible, but we are talking about trying to win a soul to Jesus Christ. Without Jesus, we are doomed, friend. We talk about Memorial Day weekend, those that have given their lives for the freedom of our country. But Jesus is the one that gave His life for the freedom of our soul for all eternity.

If someone does not know Jesus Christ as their personal Savior, they are headed to an eternity in hell. Someone once said that Hollywood makes things that are not real seem like they are real. Sometimes, as Christians, we make things that are real seem like they are not real. This reality of hell is serious.

We are in the midst of a battle for the souls of mankind: some going to hell forever, and some going to heaven forever. The difference is Jesus Christ. So when I use this term soul-winning, I am talking about us trying to win that soul to the Lord Jesus Christ. Without Him, you will never be good enough. There is no hope without Christ.

I want to make that clear right at the beginning when I talk about the Holy Spirit, our soul-winning partner. I am trying to be cautious of my time today, but sometimes when we say soul-winning, we think of just Saturday morning or Thursday night when our church has organized soul-winning. That is a great thing, and I encourage you to go.

If you want to get better at witnessing to your friends and loved ones, a great way to do that is to go out with a church group. You will get paired with someone that has done it a lot, and you can learn so much that way. I am for that. But that is only one type of soul-winning. There are many, many ways. It could be to your neighbor. It could be to your uncle.

How many of you are going to see relatives tomorrow that, as far as you know, are not saved? Would you hold your hand up? I am surprised there are not more. It could be with your relatives. It could be with a coworker. I think so often about coworkers—you are with them for eight hours a day, five days a week. What a great opportunity to witness to them.

However it may be, in your neighborhood or elsewhere, soul-winning is trying to win a soul to the Lord Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit is our prayer partner, but also our personal soul-winning partner. We are going to start here in Acts chapter one, verse number eight. Would you please stand as we read God’s Word together, just to show the Word of God respect? Acts one and verse number eight of God’s Word.

We try to show the Word of God respect any chance we get. And for those men that are sleeping, we get them woke up anyway, too. Amen for that. Here we go, Acts 1, verse number 8. The Bible says, “But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you.” Let us pause for just a moment and talk about that. Right here, He is not speaking of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. He had already breathed on them and said, “Receive ye the Holy Ghost.” That represented—that was the beginning of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in a believer. The moment you turn to Jesus Christ,

He breathes into you the breath of life. You become a living, eternal soul, spirit. That is the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. But then beyond that, there is the empowering. After He breathed on them and said, “Receive ye the Holy Ghost,” He said a little bit later on, “Tarry ye here in Jerusalem until ye be endued with power.” He is speaking of that: the power of the Holy Spirit. He wants to give every young person here, every person, power to live for Him. We have mentioned many of the things He does for Christians, but one special thing He does: He wants to give you power to be a witness. Let us finish the verse out here: “But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you, and ye shall be…” What is the next word?

Can I pause for just a moment? I am afraid I will forget some of these details. I want to get them in; I think they are important. It does not say you shall receive power and ye shall be speaking in tongues. It does not say that, amen. Someone might say, “Well, if you have the power of the Holy Ghost, you are going to be running down the aisles and waving your hands.” By the way, I am not against raising your hands; that is a biblical thing. I am not even against somebody running, as long as they are not running for a show. That is hard to know sometimes. But I am not against that, but the Bible does not say when you have the power of the Holy Ghost that you will be doing those things. It says, “When ye shall receive the power, ye shall be witnesses.”

How do I know if I have the power of the Holy Spirit? Are you witnessing? That is what the Bible says: “Ye shall be witnesses.” That is one of the main jobs of the Holy Spirit. Let us go back to the verse again: “But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you, and ye shall be witnesses unto me.” That is Jesus. You can show that to the JWs every once in a while. Amen. “Ye shall be witnesses unto me”—that is Jesus—both in Jerusalem, that is the local city, and all Judea, that is the county, if you will, and in Samaria, that is other counties, and unto the uttermost part of the earth. The power of the Holy Ghost is to be witnesses—your partner in witnessing to people.

Thank you so much for staying. You may be seated.

Friday afternoon, I received a text. I think Brother Bill Johan Sr. got that text too, but it was from Mark Hardy. Friday afternoon, his brother had just washed his truck there in the driveway. Then he turned, and he was walking out to his mailbox when he had a massive heart attack. Not Mark Hardy is his brother, but literally he just dropped. He had glasses on; his glasses broke, and he got cut from that. They think, really, before he ever hit the ground, he was gone. Just gone. That is tragic. We texted a little bit, and of course, we said we would be praying for you and whatnot. Yesterday I got to talk with Mark Hardy, and he reminded me—I forgot about it—that about 12 years earlier, Mark Hardy became passionate about telling others about Jesus Christ, being a witness for Jesus Christ.

He really got burned about that, even with family members. He wanted to make sure coworkers and family members knew. By the way, praise the Lord, people said he was in many different people’s lives. It reminded me of 12 years ago when he went to his brother. Sometimes it can be hard to witness to your family members; you understand that. But the Holy Spirit had empowered him and gave him some extra juice, if you will, some extra power. He went and talked to his brother, saying, “Hey, I am not trying to preach at you, I am not coming at you, but I love you, and I want to make sure that you are on your way to heaven one day.” His brother was not saved; he did not know about that, did not get all that. Mark Hardy had the privilege—I am not sure if he opened a Bible or just quoted Bible verses and told him about it—but he had the privilege of telling his brother about Jesus Christ. Somewhere around 12 years ago, his brother bowed his head and asked Jesus Christ to be his personal Savior. Wow, what a comfort it was yesterday to find out, “Hey, Pastor Paul, I know my brother is in heaven because I had the privilege of telling him, being a witness of Jesus Christ to him.”

Friend, when those phone calls come—I had a couple of those this week—it does not matter what kind of car they drive, it does not matter what kind of house they have. I hope they had a good marriage, and all those things are important. I am not trying to belittle those things, but at the end of the day, that is what really matters when it is all said and done: Are they in heaven or are they in hell right now? It is such a tragic story. I have told it before. I was not planning on telling it, but it just comes to my mind.

Years ago, we had a funeral here. The body was laid right here. The family members said, “Oh, she was saved. She was saved.” Their grandson wrote a bus to our church here, and I kind of preached the funeral with that in mind: this individual was saved. Families will tell you a lot of those things, you know, tell you what you want to hear. But when I left, we were going to the graveside. I walked out and down that sidewalk right there. One of the co-workers of the lady came and talked to me. She said, “Pastor Paul, thank you for sharing the gospel. I have tried to tell her many times about Jesus, and she never wanted to hear it.”

“I tried many times to get her saved and try to be a witness.” She never would get saved. “Thank you for sharing the gospel.” I said, “Wait a second. So she is not saved?” She said, “No, I tried many times. She would not get saved.” She said, “I am glad you shared the gospel, though. Maybe some of her family would get saved.” Here is the sad thing: We went to the graveside, and some of the family wanted to play some very demonic rock and roll music. Of course, I said, “No. We are not playing it at the church here. We are not doing that.” Even at the graveside, while I was running the graveside service, we were not doing it there. I was amazed at that graveside service. I spoke more about getting saved because now I knew the truth of it. At the graveside, you could see people gathered around. They did not want to participate too much in that, but they were waiting for me to say the last prayer and kind of step aside. When I did that, they had—oh, I cannot remember the song. Let us see here. Who listens to that kind of music all the time? Brother Andrew, you know that song? I am teasing, of course. But it was just a very hard, acid rock, like very demonic music they wanted to play so bad. When I prayed and stepped away from the casket, they put a boom box on top of the casket, just trying to play the rock and roll, just trying to get a fix to take them away from the fact that that lady had died.

Unfortunately, all I can think about is she is in hell right now. It is an amazing thing. Their little boombox would not work. I thought, “Praise the Lord, God is working right now.” They tried a little CD player; it would not work. Praise the Lord. Finally, they pulled the car up as close as they could to that little graveside, put that CD in that car, put the windows down, and tried to play it. All the time that lady was burning in hell. It breaks my heart just remembering that. I tell these stories just to show how real the major battle, the warfare, is over the casualties of the souls of mankind—are they going to hell or are they going to heaven forever? It is such a vital thing that God has entrusted to us: the gospel for us to share it with others. God says, “You know what? I am not just going to give you the gospel, but I am going to come and assist you. I am going to give you power in sharing that gospel.”

The Holy Spirit comes. He does so many things. We have talked about it. He comforts you. He guides you. He is your prayer partner who helps you remember Bible verses. He will strengthen your inner man. He will do so many things for you. But one of the things He does is He says, “I want to give you power to help you be a witness for Jesus Christ.” I praise the Lord for the different ministries we have in our church, the school we just had graduation, and the different things. They are about to start a jail ministry, and all these different things are going on. But, Frank, can I say, we must never, never outgrow trying to win a lost soul to the Lord Jesus Christ? I heard somebody say a while back that it seems funny, but it seems like the storefront churches are the ones winning souls. I thought, “Wow, we used to be a storefront.” Pity us if we ever outgrow that, just trying to win souls to the Lord Jesus Christ. It is so vital. At the end of the day, friend, that is what matters.

Now here is the wonderful thing about it: You do not have to go witness to someone alone. Would you look over in Matthew 28? You know it. Matthew 28 is typically the verse we use when we are talking about the Great Commission. The Great Commission is found five times in the Bible. This is typically the one we use. It is kind of parallel, if you will, about the Holy Ghost when He empowers you: “Ye shall be a witness.” Look at this saying in Matthew 28, the last chapter. Look at those last couple of verses. Matthew 28, look at verse number 19, if you would please. This time He gives it in three parts, the Great Commission. He says, “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations.” What do you teach them? Salvation. How do you know that? The next thing: “Baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost; teaching them to observe all things, whatsoever I have commanded you.” Here it is. I want you to notice this: “And, lo, I am with you, even unto the end of the world.” Amen.

When you go witness—and maybe tomorrow you are going to see Uncle Joe or whoever it may be, and you say, “I am just niece Susie,” or whatever it is—and you think, “Boy, he can be mean; I am scared to go talk to him”—you are not going alone. “Lo, I am with you.” When you go talk to that coworker, your neighbor, not preaching at them, not trying to force it down their throat—by the way, the gospel is not just to be shown, it is to be taught. We just read, “teach.” You do not just teach with actions; you teach with your tongue. It is about us going and telling. Wherever you go and you are trying to tell the gospel, trying to ask him, “Hey, Uncle Joe, I am not trying to act like I know everything, but I love you and I want to make sure that is your way to heaven”—when you just go talk to him, friend, you are not going alone. You are a born-again Christian; the Spirit of God lives inside of you. He will give you power. He has empowered you. If you have the power of the Holy Spirit, you shall be a witness unto Jesus. You go to talk to that individual; you are not going alone.

You are not there by yourself. Someone is going with you. They are empowering you. It is God, the Holy Spirit. I have a younger brother. My sister is here, so we can tell all these stories about him. David, my younger brother, when he was little, his hero was Scooby-Doo. Come on now, you know. Helene, you probably remember this. For a while—he is younger than me—Scooby-Doo was with David everywhere he went. He had this imaginary walkie-talkie or something, and I still remember he would say, “6-6-88, Scooby.” Wherever he was, you know. I do not know how, but it seemed like that was a common number he would use. All these—Scooby-Doo, 12, 14—it just always seemed like Scooby-Doo was with him everywhere he was going as a little boy. We have the Holy Spirit there with us.

You are going to go talk to that person. Maybe it is your spouse, that you love, and you just want, in a kind way, not preaching at them, to go talk to them about their salvation. You are not going alone. He loves to empower His people to be a witness. That is so vital, friend. Now let me say this about the Holy Spirit: He is going to be busy whether I participate with Him or not in drawing people to Jesus Christ.

John 16 says He reproves the world of sin: “Because they believe not on Jesus.” That is what He is going to do, whether I participate or not. I think about Jesus; He said, “And I, if I be lifted up, I will draw all men unto me.” How does He do that through the Spirit of God? They do not fall for this Calvinism stuff where only certain people can get saved. They say, “Well, they have to be drawn.” No, He said, “I will draw all men unto me.” The Spirit of God will be busy doing that, and He is always working drawing. The Holy Ghost, whether I participate or not, is always trying to draw people to the cross. He is busy at that.

Have you ever had a friend—maybe I am using that term lightly, friend—no matter what is going on, you say, “Hey, you want to do something?” and they always want to do what they want to do? You are like, “I get that every once in a while, but can we do what I want to do? I am tired of doing what you want to do.” Anybody else? You do not know anybody like that? Ms. Jennifer knows somebody. I am glad a couple of you do. I can be like that if I say, “Hey, Holy Ghost, come over here and comfort me, strengthen my inner man, help me remember the Bible, bring the Bible verses to me, do all these things for me.” And the Holy Spirit says, “Hey, I like to see people saved. How about let us do what I like to do?”

He is reproving the world of sin. He is drawing every man to Him. When I say, “Hello Spirit, I like to follow your agenda today. I want to be what you are about. I do not want to try to change you to fit me; I like to change me to fit you.” Boy, the Holy Spirit says, “I have some power to assist you. You are going down the same avenue I am going down now.” You are kind of delighting in the Lord, and He is giving you the right—He is giving you the actual desires of your heart—and you are being pliable to Him, and He is changing you. Now I am beginning to go the same way the Holy Spirit is going. The Holy Spirit says, “Boy, I have some power for you now.” “But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you, and ye shall be witnesses.”

I worked at Union Tank Car Company in East Chicago, Indiana. It was a large factory. They made tanks, railroad car tanks. If you see a railroad tank car go by and it says UTLX and it is falling apart, I welded that thing together years ago. Amen, you know. If it is on TV and it is leaking poisonous gases, I welded that; that is why it is leaking. We made those cars. For a while, I was just a floater in the large plant, and I would be traveling over. One day they said, “Hey, we need someone to go over there and work in this department with…” Literally, this was his name—I do not know what the real name was—but everybody called him Wolfman Jack. Wolfman Jack was one of those guys. He had a long beard. When you are welding, if you are not careful, you will catch your beard on fire. So he had rolled his beard up and had a curler right there. He would walk around work with a curler right there, his beard rolled up in his curler so it would not catch on fire. Wolfman Jack—a lot of gain, activity, all that, drugs and everything else. My partner—it was very hard to get fired; it was a union place. My partner got fired one time under the tank. We were partners in the work position because he was carrying a gun to protect himself in case of a fight, you know. That is about the only way you get fired. Actually, I think he got hired back a little bit later on. That is the place. Wolfman Jack, with his curler in there, the story was that Wolfman Jack had taken his shovel, killed a man with a shovel, and then dug a hole and buried the man with the shovel. So I made sure when I went over to work with Wolfman Jack that there were no shovels around. Amen.

When I went over there and started working with Wolfman Jack, the Holy Spirit—you know what He is about—He reproves the world of sin because they believe not on Jesus. He is the one drawing all men to Jesus. The Holy Ghost said, “Hey, Paul, I thought you are a soul winner. What about Wolfman Jack right there?” I said, “Lord, he does not want to hear that right now.” The Lord said, “How do you know that?” I said, “Just look at him, Lord, come on now.” I went and started talking to Wolfman Jack. You never go alone. If you are going and you are sincere and you are wanting the Lord to use you, the Lord empowers you. “Lo, I am with you always.” Wolfman Jack, honestly, he did not get saved that day, but he was so appreciative of that. I was a young man; he was an older man. He was never mean to me, but maybe just a little, you know, “Yeah, what do you whippersnapper want? What do you need?” that type of attitude. But after I witnessed to him, he treated me so well. If anybody ever had anything bad to say about me, I said, “I am going to get my friend Wolfman Jack to take care of you, buddy.”

I say that to say it does not matter who it is when you go witness to them. You are not going alone. God empowers you—God, the Holy Spirit. Yesterday we went out; I love it. We went out a little bit witnessing in one neighborhood. Nothing really happened that we could see, though the gospel was given out. That is always something wonderful happening. We said, “Hey, we have a little bit more time. Let us just go for a blitz for 15 minutes. Let us go to a little apartment complex and try to see what happens.” Fifteen minutes. Man, we really had to be back here at noon because Brother Josh had grandkids, and you have to be there for that. Amen. Come on now, grandparents. We had to get back here by noon. I loved it. We just pulled into that neighborhood. “Go there, go there!” Yesterday, they took off all that bus. It just seems like some people were empowered. The Holy Spirit wants to give you power to be a witness. “Ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you, and ye shall be witnesses.”

Now, let us just talk about this for a second. Let us talk about that word “witnesses.” I have been trying to say it a couple times here: “Ye shall be witnesses.” It does not necessarily say you shall see a lot of people saved. I like that. It does not say that every person you talk to, you have to see them saved. It does not say that. It says, “Ye shall be witnesses.”

Maybe a better term might be “soul warners” instead of “soul winning.” I am not against soul winning; it is a Bible term, but my job is to witness for Jesus Christ. It does not mean everybody gets saved. In fact, I know not everyone is going to get saved. That is not my job. Jesus, over in Matthew 4:19, said, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” Brother Fontaine was a great fisherman. He was in our church for about 20 years. I hated when he went home for a lot of reasons, but one reason was because he would take me fishing. He was a good fisherman. He would find the spot, have the boat ready, everything ready to go, and he would put you on the fish. He fished Percy Priest Lake for like 30 years. He never fished a hole in that lake. Can I be honest with you? There were times when fishing with Brother Fontaine, he would say, “Hey, did you catch anything?” “No.” In fact, I would kind of wait. He would say, “All right, Pastor, they are biting, man.” I said, “Tom, let us go.” I said, “They are biting! All right, let us go.” I wonder how many days he went and he did not catch them.

It does not say you are going to be catching every day. He just says, “Hey, you have the power of the Holy Spirit. Ye shall be witnesses.” It does not mean every time, all the time. I think most people go through seasons. It is kind of like fishing. Sometimes you are in and you are catching every time you go. Then sometimes, man, I am just happy if I get a nibble. You say, “Well, you want to catch a fish?” Yeah, but I do not care. It is better than sitting and doing nothing. I would rather feed worms to those fishes than nothing at all. You do not know what I am talking about.

There are times. I remember several years ago, when our children were younger, both children were home, and we went over to Cherokee National Forest. We were riding four-wheelers in the Cherokee National Forest when they allowed that in portions of it. I was determined: we were over there for a week or so, and I was going to see somebody saved on vacation. I witnessed probably more than I should all the time. I was witnessing everywhere to anybody. If you moved, man, I wanted to witness to you—gas station, you know. We were in the middle of the Cherokee National Forest, and there was a pickup truck out there in the mud. It was just stuck. I do not talk about Brother Tim; they were buried. We tried to hook up; we did not have good enough cable. We tried to pull them out with our four-load—little four-wheelers—we could not pull them out. It was starting to get dark, and there were four people in this pickup truck, stuck up there. Finally, we said, “We cannot get you unstuck, but we will give you a ride out of here.” We had four-wheelers, maybe one dirt bike—I cannot remember all. I had at least two on my… I was driving the four-wheeler. I think I had two on the back and one on the front, if I remember right, because maybe we were doubled up on one of them, too. I had three individuals right there in the Cherokee National Forest on my four-wheeler, and I was trying to witness to them, amen. I was desperate; I was trying anything and everything. Literally, I witnessed to them more than I typically do, but can I be honest with you? I did not have anybody say yes.

It is like that sometimes fishing, and it is like that sometimes witnessing. By the way, they say the average person to get saved has already heard the gospel six times. So maybe you are one of those six getting to them. But it says, “Ye shall be witnesses.” Witnessing. I do not always witness like that—I should, but I do not. I am just trying to tell you, friend, you do not always get them saved, but you keep going. Look over in Psalms 126. This is a wonderful promise over there. Psalms 126. Would you look at verse number six? Psalm 126, verse number six.

Psalm 126, verse number 6. The Bible there says, “He that goeth forth and weepeth.” Some are waiting for the burden, but no, no, no, that is not the order. You go forth, then God gives you the burden. “He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed,” amen. The Word of God is right there. The precious whole book—the gospel—bearing precious seed. What does He say? “Shall doubtless”—without a doubt—“come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him.” That is the promise: If you go long enough, if you are faithful at it, without a doubt you will get someone that wants to get saved. Somebody is going to get saved. You will bring forth your sheaves with rejoicing. That is not necessarily just church; that is going to be heaven one day. We will bring them with us. God promises if I am faithful to witness…

That word “witness”—so much we could say, we are going to run out of time. But that witness… Someone says, “Well, I do not know how to win a soul to the Lord Jesus Christ.” Satan can make it seem like it is so hard. Typically, it is not as hard as Satan makes us think it is. Actually, we are just witnessing by Jesus. What did Jesus do in your life? You are being a witness about how Jesus has changed your life, how He saved your soul from eternal hell. You are being a witness of how He has transformed your marriage, how He has transformed your life. You are being a witness of Jesus Christ. You say, “Pastor, I do not know the Romans Road.” Come, we can teach you all that stuff, but you do not have to know the Romans Road. You just tell them what Jesus did in your life. That is what it is talking about: “Ye should be witnesses.” If nothing happens, get your gospel tract. “Hey, friend, let me give you something to tell you how to go to heaven.” Often that is the start of it. Be witnesses. Wonderful promise. You keep going, bearing the precious seed. “Shall doubtless come again with joy, bringing his sheaves.”

I hope she does not mind me telling this story. I did not ask because she probably would have said no if I had asked. Yesterday, Ms. Angela was out with my wife, and they were out. She has been working there, witnessing. They were talking to a lady, and she has gotten good about just talking about whatever. But then, we are going to get to the gospel. Church is a good thing, but more important than that is, are you sure you are going to heaven? The lady was like, “No, I do not know.” “Would you like to know?” “Yeah, I would like to know.” She said, “Oh, no, she wants to know. What do I say? What do I do now?” Praise the Lord, she told her the gospel. That lady said, “I want that.” She bowed her head and asked Jesus Christ to be her Savior. As far as I know, it was her first one forever. I do not know exactly everything about it. They got done. This apartment complex is going to be mad at me for telling this. But they got done. The lady got saved. They shared verses and all those things. Close the door. Ms. Angela just started crying because when God used you like that, and that power of the Holy Spirit—she said, “Man, you are in unison with Him. He is working through you.” It is probably not near as hard as the devil wants you to think it is. Young people can win souls to the Lord Jesus Christ. By the way, young people, you do not know how long your friend is going to have you. You say, “Well, they are young.” I never dreamed. One of my classmates, a year younger than me, I never knew his home life was so bad. He got in a fuss and a fight with his parents, and he left. When they were gone, he took a gun right in the doorway so they would see him when they came in. He took a gun and blew his brains out. I thought, “Paul, I never witnessed to him.” I regret that to this day, all these years later; I never witnessed to him. You must witness, even as a young person, you must witness.

You do not have to know from Genesis to Revelation and then backwards. Learn what you can, but friend, you just tell them what Jesus did to you. Witnessing is not as hard as you think it is. God says, “I want to assist you in this: witnessing for the Lord Jesus Christ.” Let us get a handle on this. I want you to look back over there in Acts 1. Go back there very quickly. I want you to see the very next verse, Acts 1. Look at verse number 9 very quickly here. We are going to get one last thought in here. We are done.

Acts 1, look at verse number 9. He just said this in verse number 8: “But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you, and ye shall be witnesses.” Now look in verse number 9, right there, verse number 9: “And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight.”

Friend, before Jesus ascended—I am talking about He had already died on the cross three days later. He rose again about 40 days later. He proved, “I rose like I said I was going to rise,” and He has proven that. He showed Himself to many, many people many times during that period, but His last time He appeared was right here. His last words—the last words of Jesus before He ascended, the very last words—He said, “Hey, let me talk to you about getting the power of the Holy Ghost. Let me talk to you about being a witness for Jesus Christ.” Last words are important, friend. While He said these words, “Ye shall be witnesses unto me in Jerusalem and all Judea and Samaria.” That was His last word. Jesus is emphasizing being a witness.

If it is just this lifetime down here, if it is just 70 or 80 years maybe—can I be honest with it?—sometimes I think if I am at the funeral home or somewhere, if it is just this, it is a little empty. You make a little money, and your wife spends the money. Come on now. You make money, you spend money, you laugh a little bit, you cry. If this is all there is, it is just a touch. This is not the big picture. This is not what it is all about. This is just a drop in the bucket. He said, “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures down here.” This is not the big thing. Lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven. That is the big thing for Him. He is saying in His last words, “Hey, be busy, be busy witnessing for Jesus Christ.” That is the big thing.

Let us not spend our lifetime just focused on the here and now. Yes, we must take care of things. Yes, focus on that one. But never forget, let us be a witness for Jesus. Sometimes it is sad. We are spending all our energy, all our life, all our resources on this now, but this now is going to be gone one day. What if I spend my life and everybody thinks I am wonderful and I do all these things down here but never win a soul? And what if some individual—nobody knows about them, maybe they are not wealthy, maybe they are not big time on anything, they are just a dud, as a lot of people say—but they focus on this thing: witnessing for Jesus Christ? They have made more of an eternal impact than I have ever made.

If I could come up with a cure for some kind of disease, and maybe it would take a million people, and they would spare their life for 20 years, I would add 20 million years of life to people. But if one individual—that individual would be on all the billboards, everybody would know about them—if you take one little soul winner somewhere, and he leads just one soul to the Lord Jesus Christ, he has added more than 20 million years of life; he has added eternity. That individual has added 20 million years of life, but those years, 20 million years, are still full of sorrow and tears and heartache, and they die crippled in a hospital bed like everybody does eventually. But that person who sees one person saved has added 20 million years plus of joy and happiness. We cannot get away from witnessing.

I think about it sometimes: What is my life really going to matter in a thousand years? I have prayed a little differently for our church—I do not know when it changed—but just help us to make an eternal impact. What is it going to matter in eternity? It is not going to matter how my truck is and all the rest of that. That is not wrong. I am not saying those things are wrong. But, friend, what is it going to matter in a thousand years? Jesus’ last words: “Ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you, ye shall be witnesses.” Put your heads down and close your eyes. If you are there and you say, “Preacher, I want to use His power, God living inside of me, the Spirit of God. I want His power, and I want to use His power to be a witness, to be a witness.”

Oh, God spoke to my heart. I will never claim to be the best, but I want to do my part in witnessing for Jesus Christ. If that is you, just slip your hand up, slip your hand up across all sections. “I want to be, I want to use my life, the power of the Holy Ghost that He gives me, to be a witness, the best I can.” God bless you. You do not have to have it all together; nobody does, honestly. But you are a witness for Jesus. Maybe one more person: “I want to use the Holy Spirit’s power He gives me to be a witness.” Maybe one more: “I want to use that to be a witness for Jesus Christ.” God spoke to my heart about that. That is wonderful. Friend, at the end of the day, that is going to be the big thing: Are we a real witness for Jesus?

Maybe you hear this morning and say, “Preacher, right now, the Lord is laying on my heart one individual.” Not that I do not want to witness to anybody else, but there is one individual in particular. Maybe it is a neighbor, maybe it is a friend, maybe it is a coworker. But there is one individual who says, “Pastor, by God’s grace, with His help, He has assisted me. I am going to do my best to pray and witness to that individual.” God is speaking to me about one individual. I feel like the Lord is laying them on my heart; I need to talk to them about their salvation. If you are there and you say, “I have an individual on my mind, on my heart,” would you slip your hand up? “I’ve got somebody.” God bless you. The Holy Spirit will do that. Anybody else? “I’ve got one individual.” The Lord just keeps putting them in my mind. That is good. He is the guide in all truth; He will guide you. Maybe one more person the Lord is impressing upon my heart about this individual. That is wonderful. Thank you so much. You can put your hands down.

Maybe you hear this morning. Two more questions, and those challenges will be done. You said, “Preacher, I am going to pray, and I am going to work towards this goal. I am going to ask, ‘Lord, help me in these last eight months of the year to see at least one.’ Lord, guide me and empower me. I will do my best to obey. I will not be perfect, but I will do my best to obey You. Would You use me to see at least one soul by the end of the year?” I am going to pray and work towards that gospel. I am going to take the challenge. I am going to pray and work through it—just one, at least just one by the end of the year. I will say, “I will take that challenge.” If you are there, slip your hand up. “I am going to pray and work towards that by the end of the year, just one, just one.” God bless you. I thank the Holy Spirit is pleased when we get going in the same direction. He longs to help in all the other areas; I am not trying to dismiss or belittle that. But, oh, friend, He is about—He is reproving the world of sin—why? They need Jesus. They need Jesus.

I would be remiss if I did not mention this, but maybe you hear this morning, and you yourself do not know for sure you are going to heaven. You yourself do not know that Jesus is your personal Savior. There is never a time—there has never been a time—when you are truly born again, like a lady expecting nine months and all that, but there is a point, there is a time when that child is born. There must be a time you are truly born again, when you are coming… Oh, I was always told, “No, no, there is a time when you are born again.” Jesus said, “Ye must be born again.” Maybe you hear this morning and say, “I do not know. I do not know that I am on my way to heaven. I do not know that I am born again. I do not know that I am a child of God.” Preacher, I need to settle that right there.

If that is you this morning, I will not call your name, won’t embarrass you or anything like that. I would like to pray for you. “Preacher, I do not know that I am a born-again Christian, do not know that I am saved.” If that is you, just slip your hand up. If anybody is like that, slip it up. “I do not know that I am saved myself.” God bless you. Would there be somebody else? Somebody else? “I do not know that I am a born-again Christian.” Anybody else? Oh, God loves you. We love you; I mean that. I know you, and I am going to pray for you in just a moment here. We are going to all stand. When we stand, I will say just a quick prayer, and I want to pray then. When I say amen, if you raised your hand about any of these decisions, would you come to an old-fashioned altar and just spend some time with the Lord about that? Would you do that? As for His power to be a witness, He wants to empower you to be a witness. If you are not sure you are born again, there will be some men standing up front. There will be a man standing in the back. If you go back there, shake their hand. They will get a lady—if you are a lady—and they will get a lady to take the Bible, show you how you can know for sure you go to heaven. We would love to be of assistance in that. You can go to bed tonight, not doubting it, not worrying about, “Hey, I am born again, I am on my way to heaven.” We would love to be of assistance in that. Would you please stand right where you are? We are going to have a word of prayer as soon as I say, amen.

If you raised your hand, do not wait for anybody else; come down to an old-fashioned altar and spend some time with the Lord. If you raised your hand and you are not sure you are saved, go to those men. Please go right to those men, and they will get a lady—if you are a lady—and they will take the Bible and show you how you can know for sure you are going to heaven. We would love to be of assistance in that. Let us pray. Would you come? Lord, we come to You, Father. Thank You that You assist us in this angle of witnessing. Forgive me, Lord, so many times I have put witnessing down on the bottom shelf, and I have stacked all kinds of things on top of it. Forgive me. Help us, Lord, to be filled with Your Spirit and be empowered in this thing of witnessing. Lord, this individual raised their hand. Let them know we love them very much. Lord, I pray they leave today knowing for sure they are born again and on the way to heaven. We rejoice in that. Would You give them courage to just step out? Lesser invitation in these few minutes, Lord, please. We thank You and praise You for what You do, Lord. In Jesus’ name, we ask. Amen. Would you come? If you raised your hand, would you come? Do not wait for anybody else. Be a witness. “Give me Your power, so I will be a witness.” Would you let Him know that? You are saved. Go find two men down here, a man in the back. Go, go, go! Shake their hand. They will get a lady for the Bible; they will show you how you can know.

I have told that story many times, but nobody in my family was saved before I was even born—none of my uncles, aunts, mom, or dad. Nobody. Someone put a tract out in a hospital, and my grandmother got that tract. She could read English well; she was hungry for truth and gave it to my mom. My mom read that gospel tract, which is a home run. She got saved. About a year, a year and a half later, my dad got saved, and my uncles and aunts, and so many others, from one tract. You just never know when you plant the seed out. Just plant the seed out. Just witnessing. I cannot control who gets saved or not, but I can control if they get the gospel or not. That is our job. “Ye shall be witnesses.”

Original File: Pastor Paul Chisgar - Our personal Soul-Winning partner - Sunday AM 05252023