2 April 2021
THE
PRACTICAL TRANSFORMATION OF TRUE CONVERTS IN CHRIST
Acts
2.36-42, 1 Thess. 1. 5 – 10
True and genuine
converts are usually the products of well planned, prepared and power-packed
evangelistic outreach. The sinners heard and received the seed of God’s words
into their hearts, and this grow and germinate into a new life with new
character, conduct and consciousness of Christ for others to see. To these new
Christians, old things are passed away, and behold, all things are become new.
The process of soul transformation is
not just a casual occurrence, or an ad-hoc and mechanical call for unprepared
soul winning by unprepared soul winners. It is indeed a systematically planned
exercise, backed up by passionate prayers of deliverance for these souls from
the captivity of sin and Satan. The
soul winner must prepare by seeking God’s face in prayer and supplication for
himself, to be endowed with vision and burden for souls of men, and for souls
to be delivered from the captivity of Satan. The strength of his vision
determines his burden for souls which equally drives him to his knees for their
deliverance and liberation to the Lord (Acts 16.9). Our Lord
and Saviour Jesus Christ emphasize this need by giving his disciples the
illustration on the necessary planning required before any fruitful and
successful outreach. This was what made the ministry of Ezra, the scribe to
succeed in the Old Testament. Lack of preparation, whether in prayer or in the
study of the word, or in sparing quality time with the new convert, makes our
evangelism malnourishing which only produce half-baked converts who though, may
hurriedly, give their lives to Christ, yet does not endure to the end. Failure
to prepare or to plan is to experience failure on the battlefield. However,
effective preparation begets successful soul winning which brings deliverance
from sin and from the powers of Satan. Furthermore, adequate follow-up and
prayerful mentorship of new converts makes the new believer strong, confident
and courageous to stand for Christ, defend the faith and also become a powerful
instrument of soul winning for the Lord.
THE PATTERN
OF PURPOSEFUL SOUL WINNING. Matt.28.18-20, Mark 16.15-20, Luke
24. 46-47, Acts 3.19, Acts 26.18,
As every business has its basics requirements, so also
is soul winning. Every exercise of the gospel preaching must contain its basic
components which must include the following:
i. The Man (Matt. 4.18-20).
Only born again Christians are qualified to preach the gospel. The sinners
cannot lead another sinner to the Lord. Therefore The messengers of Christ must
firstly have known the Lord at salvation and must be known of the Lord. He must
firstly be a disciple of Christ himself before he can lead others to the Savior
(John 1. 37-41). He must have repented of his sins and departed
from all iniquities (1 Tim 2.19). He must be separated from
worldliness and worldly lusts, and must live a holy life (John 15.19).
ii. The Message (John 3.16).
The message of the soul winner is “the gospel”. This is the good news of
salvation for the sinful world. The soul winners message must include the
following
a. Everyone
in the world have been separated from God through their sins (Rom
3.23)
b. The
dilemma and helplessness of sinners (Jere 13.23, Rom. 7.24)
c. Eternal
judgement upon all sinners except they repent (Heb. 9.27, Luke 13.3)
d. The
Love and the will of God to save them (2 Peter 3.9)
e. Confession
of sins and faith in the Lord is very crucial to his redemption (Rom
10.9)
f. The
only way to salvation is Jesus and His atoning blood (Acts 4. 12, Matt.
26.28)
g. That
only faith in the Lord Jesus can guarantee eternal rest with God in heaven (Rom.
10.13)
That instead of being punished for the sins committed
in the past, a sinner can now be forgiven and pardoned to reunite with his
offended creator. In the message, though God is willing to forgive and has
practically sacrificed His only begotten son for his redemption, the sinner on
his part must be willing to repent and practically forsake all his evil deeds
so as to enjoy the forgiveness from God. Moreover, he needs to exercise faith
in Christ and accept Jesus as Lord and personal savior so as to be saved and to
receive the power to go and sin no more.
iii. The
mission and ministry (Matt. 28. 19-20). The mission of
soul winning is to make disciples of all nations for the Lord Jesus Christ.
Once the sinner repents of his sins, the soul winner follows him up and ensures
he is baptised in water. Thereafter, he begins to teach him everything the Lord
had commanded until he also becomes fishers of men. It is a life-long ministry
(an unfinished task) of every believer till Christ return as
idleness is not allowed in the kingdom of God. This must be carried out passionately, persistently,
perseveringly and purposefully.
2. PRACTICE OF SUCCESSFUL SOUL
TRANSFORMATION Mark 16. 20,
Every
believer must be committed to soul winning. Our commitment must be to obey the Master’s
command. The early apostles rose up immediately and went everywhere preaching
the word. They were ready to sacrifice everything for the gospel to be preached
as the Lord had commanded. Even during imprisonment and severe persecution,
they kept on spreading the gospel of Salvation. They were men (and women) with
clear vision of the danger and the doom of the lost. They were also very
conscious of the damnation of their disobedience to their Master and the reward
of obeying His commandments. These fundamental factors
propel them to carry on the commission.
II. PURPOSEFUL FOLLOW UP AND
DISCIPLESHIP OF CONVERTS
i.
Be an example in doctrine, lifestyle, in
prayer, in faith and in Service to the Lord. (1 Tim. 4.12)
ii.
Be sacrificial in your outlook – spend
and be spent (2 Cor. 12.15)
iii.
Be consistent in looking after their
welfare (Phil. 2. 4-7)
iv.
Be concerned about the new converts (1
Thess 2. 7-8)
v.
Be compassionate to them, don’t over
estimate their understanding of God’s word and don’t underrate their faith
vi.
Be faithful in your demonstration of
your faith before them
vii.
Identify with them in their challenges,
but lead them to the Lord as the true solution to their problems. Teach them to
pray and lead them to sound trust and confidence in God.
viii.
Teach and train them how to evangelize
and win soul for Christ.
ix.
Encourage them to endure afflictions and
overcome temptation
x.
Demonstrate to them to wait for the
Lords appearing.
iii. PASSIONATE AND SYSTEMATIC MENTORSHIP OF THE NEW
CONVERTS
Christ-like mentorship entails that we
feed the new converts with adequate and appropriate word of God that matches
their age in Christ. This will make them to grow and teach them to become
strong in the Lord. We therefore need to do the following in mentorship
i.
Encouragement
to continue in faith (Col. 1. 21-23)
ii.
Endurance
to the end in spite of worldly deceptions (Matt. 24.11-13)
iii.
Enlistment
into God’s Service. Give them work to do in the House fellowship
iv.
Enrolment
in the work of Evangelism
v.
Empowerment
in the Holy Ghost (like Ananias did to Paul in Acts 9.17)
vi.
Engagement
tin spiritual warfare. Let them know they have power over Satan to conquer his
manipulations
vii.
Intercede
on their behalf day by day.
viii.
Decision
making
P3.
THE PRODUCTS OF TRUE TRANSFORMATION. Acts 2. 42-47, Acts 8. 6-8, John 4. 36, 39-, Matt. 25.34, Dan. 12. 3
When
sinners are practically and truly transformed to the Lordship of Christ, they
are not only beneficial to themselves, they are also a blessing to the kingdom
of God and to the service of Christ. In the experience of the early apostles,
the genuineness of the converts’ transformation brought profound unity into the
early church and made the church of Christ greatly vibrant.
There
is great joy in heaven whenever a sinner repents and come to the Lord. The
untold joy in the heart of the soul winner himself is sufficient to motivate us
for evangelism. More power is given to the obedient and resourceful believer to
do exploit for the Master. His name is written in God’s book of life and he
shall wear a crown at the end of his journey with the assurance that he had not
labored in vain. However, the church of God will become stronger and stronger.
As more converts and believers are added to the church, there will be numerical
growth and the believers shall be encouraging one another in the ways of the
Lord till He comes. But disobedience shall be penalized by the great Judge at
His coming. We need to rise up to this task of evangelism. Preaching the gospel
must be our daily habit, and bringing
souls to the Lord must be our principal focus as we see the days of Christ
approaching.
They are transformed
from sinners to saints (Eph. 2.5)
They are transformed
from fear to faith
They are transformed
from followers of impotent gods to serving the Living God
They are transformed
from failure to success
They are transformed
from the foolishness of the world to wisdom through the Word
They are transformed
from worldliness to Godliness
They are transformed
from being eartly to become heavenly citizens
They are transformed
from laying their treasures on earth to having treasures in heaven
They are transformed
from looking downwards to death to looking upwards for the rapture
