“The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life; and he that winneth souls is wise.”- Proverbs 11:30
An apple tree brings forth lots of apples, but most of the apples will not end up producing other trees. When one of the apples falls to the ground and a seed ends up sprouting into another apple tree, the cycle is complete. The ultimate goal in soul winning is for you to win someone to the Lord who will bring forth his or her own fruit by becoming a soul winner, but not all of your fruit will complete the cycle. Think of soul-winning as a game of baseball and getting someone saved as getting to first base.
First base: The person gets saved
Second base: They get baptized
Third base: They start going to church regularly
Home plate: They become a soul winner
Sometimes when giving the Gospel to people you will strike out, but if you keep playing the game, eventually someone will get saved. In a baseball game if someone makes it to first base that’s a good thing. Some people will mistakenly think that we shouldn’t even try to get someone saved unless we know for sure that they will start coming to church and be fed spiritually, but that’s a terrible attitude to have.
Getting to first base could still result in an eventual run. Sometimes you stand around on first for a couple of plays before you move on to second base, and it might take the efforts of another player to get you to that next base and beyond. Don’t be a spiritual poor sport that refuses to play the game just because you can’t hit a home run every time.
Obviously, it’s better to make it to second or third base than just to first, but sometimes all you can do is get to first. Ideally, people should get baptized and start attending church right after salvation, but they don’t always show up for that since it takes some effort on their part.
When you are up to bat and the bases are loaded, that’s even better. As soul winners we come across people who are already saved or have already been saved and baptized. Someone else got them to first or second base, but it takes another batter to get them to third, which is regular church attendance. You might get an RBI by inviting someone who is already attending church to be your silent partner out soul winning. Next thing you know, they’ll be ready to do the talking, and they’ll start bringing forth fruit.
The game ends when a person dies or the Lord returns. Some people will die at first base, but at least they are saved and will go to heaven. It’s always exciting when you hit a home run, but just realize that at times the progress around the bases is more gradual. Each time a base runner advances is something to rejoice about. Got it? Good, because you’re up to bat…
Here is a sermon to go with this article
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