Bread of Life Voice

PREAMBLE

The reason we were endued with the Holy Spirit is to be empowered for witnessing (cf. Acts 1:8). “The Charismatic renewal is a chance for the church and the whole world” – Pope… 19th May, 1965.

“One of the greatest strength of the charismatic renewal is the life in the spirit seminar” and “One of the greatest gifts of the charismatic renewal to the church is the gift of evangelization” – Bishop Gbuji.

“In this decade of evangelization, the church encourages the charismatic renewal to renew the grace of evangelization.” “The charismatic renewal is an authentic of the spirit to the church” – Bishop Gbuji.

The above quotes highlight the essence of today’s message; we are called to be witnesses.

INTRODUCTION
One of the fruits of the Holy Spirit was the spread of evangelization against all odds; even in the face of persecution.

Being a witness for Christ simply means being a soul winner; telling people about Christ, preaching the message of the kingdom. We’ve been given a task to continue the ministry of Christ (John 20:21).

MESSAGE OUTLINES:
1. Soul winning as a good choice for the wise (Prov. 11:30b, Dan. 12:2-3)

The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom, but engaging in the kingdom business of soul winning is wisdom itself. One of the greatest investment in eternity is soul winning. The number of souls we win is the thing we will be rewarded with on the last day. And these crowns with which we’ll be rewarded will stand for all eternity.

2. Soul winning as a great commission for all believers (Mrk 16:15)

By virtue of our Baptism, we are priests, kings and prophets. Hence, this great commission for us to go all out and win souls for God.

3. Compassion as the catalyst that pushes believers for soul winning (Mtt 9:35-38)

A good soul winner must have compassion like Jesus. When he saw crowd, he was moved in the Spirit and had compassion on them because they were like sheep without shepherd. You must have burden to convert the dying souls.

4. Methods of Evangelisation/soul winning

a. Our personal lives: Our lives must reflect the life of Christ. One of the confirmation that you’ve been with Christ is the life of humility. The life we live is the number one act of soul winning. By our lives, we can transform people who have been observing us from afar.

b. One to one evangelisation: We could be touched to talk to an individual about Christ.

c. Preaching/spreading the word about God: This could be in form of preaching in crusades, evangelical outreaches, bus evangelism, morning/evening cry. Here our job is to preach the gospel. It is not for us to be concerned about how many people are listening, especially in the case of morning cry. All that is expected of us is to spread the word. When preaching, we are scattering the seeds and it is not for us to bother how it will germinate. Holy Spirit does the work of conviction and conversion.

d. Act of charity: It could be visitation to prison, motherless baby home. This has a lot to do in the life of this people.

e. Media/modern evangelisation: This includes books, printed media like tracts. Other channels include radio or television evangelisation, social media.

5. Prerequisite for soul winning

a. Deep convinction of what you preach. Preaching is not motivational talk or story telling, its an impartation of life, therefore must come from inner convinction. The word we preach is life. This deep convinction only comes from a personal encounter. Encounter brings us to that point where we get to know God as we have experienced. Encounter makes faith real to us. You must have confidence in what you preach, because what we do is spiritual and faith is the 6th sense organ with which we perceive the spiritual.

b. Rich deposit of God’s word. We must have a rich deposit of God’s word. We must study the entire bible. It is from these words that the holy spirit brings conversion.

c. A life of prayer. Preaching that is borne out of prayer produces tremendous effect.

CONCLUSION
There is time for everything (Eccl 3:1). Now that we still have the breath of life is the right time for soul winning. We must be steadfast; not deterred by family or societal challenges. Let us continue to invest in the acts of soul winning, knowing that our labour in the lord is not in vain (1 Cor 15:58).

SHALOM!