All Souls Are Mine: Why Soul Winning Begins with Asking

Sermon outline

All souls belong to God and He has told the church to ask for them, so wise believers capture souls by strategy and by persistent intercession, trusting that every prayer is filling the clouds that will pour out.

1. He that wins souls is wise: capture souls with strategy

   Other translations say 'he who takes souls' and 'he who captures souls is wise'. Capturing takes art and strategy, not a spur-of-the-moment effort: thinking, planning, organising and then activating. That is why the church has advertised the Phoenix meeting with posters, banners, newspaper articles and flyers, to reach backsliders, people who stopped going to church after being offended, and those who do not yet know God.

   Illustration: As little boys they tried to trap birds by propping up a cardboard box on a stick with a string tied to it and bird seed or bread underneath, and pulling the string when the birds hopped in. 'Not that we were very successful', but it took a plan.

   “To capture something, it takes an art.”

   • Proverbs 11:30

2. First of all, intercession for all men

   He makes the church read the verse again and again until they read it with gusto, because the Word is exciting. People will not be saved without prayer and intercession: the god of this world has blinded nations and communities, and since Adam's high treason gave him control, his lease has not yet run out. Until Christ returns, God is waiting for the church to take territory in the spiritual atmosphere first, then preach, heal and set people free. He tells them that he, Pastor Zubeda, Pastor Wesley and other pastors have all been woken in the night to pray, and that this is the spirit of intercession.

   Illustration: A man who stands in front of a woman and mumbles 'I think I love you' will not win her; you say it with enthusiasm, and that is how to read the Bible. When you wake at two or three in the morning, it is not thirst: God is moving you to pray.

   “We are not going to get people saved without intercession.”

   • 1 Timothy 2:1
   • 2 Corinthians 4:4
   • Ephesians 6:12
   • 1 John 3:8
   • Revelation 12:12

3. All souls are mine

   God says all souls are His, including the unsaved in your family and the ethnic groups of the nations. So why are the churches not overflowing? Because we have not asked. He says this is not ambition to grow a church: people are dying every day, and the church has something to do.

   Illustration: He has been weeping and interceding for souls; it is no longer 'I'm happy, you're happy, let's jump and have chocolate cake together.'

   “We have not asked.”

   • Ezekiel 18:4

4. Ask of Me, and I will give you the nations

   Put Ezekiel 18:4 beside Psalm 2:8 and God is saying all we have to do is ask: not beg or cry, just ask, for your street, your town, your city and your nation, then lead them to Christ one by one, family by family. He calls the church to move beyond praying for personal needs, which he has taught them to believe for, to the heart of God for souls. Every member who tithes and gives shares in the fruit of the TV and radio programmes, the printed material and the crusades their giving pays for.

   Illustration: If your area is Chatsworth, pray, 'Lord, I ask you for the souls in Chatsworth.' He reads out the countries people text him from after the TV programmes and tells the church, 'It's not Pastor, it's us.'

   “He did not say beg. He did not say cry. He just said, ask.”

   • Psalm 2:8
   • Matthew 6:33
   • Philippians 4:17

5. If the clouds be full of rain, they empty themselves

   Every prayer, whether five seconds or five hours, has been rising to the throne room like water vapour filling the clouds, and now they will pour out. When you pray for someone and they seem to get worse, the devil is trying to make you recant your confession. The years of Saturday morning and late night prayer are about to bear fruit: the nets are ready, God has prepared people, and no area is too hard. Make the souls of men the main request of every prayer time, and expect the meetings to grow from hundreds to stadiums.

   Illustration: When the ministry started they prayed on Saturday mornings and late at night for years, and it seemed nothing significant was happening. Mothers praying for children and wives and husbands praying for each other: 'it's not in vain.'

   “Your prayers have not been in vain. It's been ascending to the throne room of God.”

   • Ecclesiastes 11:3
   • 2 Corinthians 9:10