Key Verse: Verse 8 - “For from you sounded out the word of the Lord not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place your faith to God-ward is spread abroad; so that we need not to speak any thing.”
Key Words: For from you sounded out the word of the Lord
The priority of every church should be the souls of men, women, boys, and girls. Every one of us should be soul-winners. The word you in I Thessalonians 1:8 refers to the entire church. No excuses – we are all to be witnesses for the Lord.
Years ago Dr. R. A. Torrey, the well-known evangelist and successor of D. L. Moody, was preaching about the need for every person in Christ, to reach those who are out of Christ. That night, after preaching about the responsibility of every believer to be an active witness for Christ, a woman came to Dr. Torrey and said excitedly, “Dr. Torrey, you are wrong; you are dead wrong! Until tonight you were my favorite preacher, but no more.”
Dr. Torrey sought to calm the woman down. He said, “Why are you so upset over the message tonight?” She said, “You said every Christian ought to be an active witness for Christ. I thoroughly disagree with that!” Dr. Torrey asked, “Why?”
This woman, who had been a Christian for several years said, “I am a widow with three young boys. I spend all day and part of the night slaving behind my sewing machine seeking to eke out a living for me and my boys. I hardly ever leave my apartment. Dr. Torrey, how do you expect me to be a witness and soul-winner when I have to spend most of my life behind a sewing machine? I have no time for visitation, etc.” Dr. Torrey asked, “Did you ever witness to the milkman or iceman?” The woman bowed her head in shame. The Lord convicted her; she asked Dr. Torrey’s forgiveness for the way she acted, and prayed and set out by God’s grace to be an active witness for Christ. She realized that even though she spent most of her time behind a sewing machine she could still be a witness for Christ.
The next day her iceman, George, came to the door bright and early. She had on her best dress, the best table cloth on the table, and a large open Bible on the table with a bouquet of beautiful flowers. (She did all this so George would ask some questions in order that she could talk to him about the Lord.) As George was leaving, he said, “I’ve never seen that open Bible before, and the place looks so nice.”
The woman said nothing as George left. She realized she had failed to witness to George as she had set out to do. She ran to the door and called, “George! George!” He came back to the apartment. She said, “Sit down, please. George, I have known you for several years and you have been in this home many times delivering ice, yet I have never spoken to you about your soul. George, if you died today where would you spend eternity?”
George, with tears in his eyes, said, “I have just come out of a two-week revival meeting and although I knew I should have gone forward, I didn’t have enough courage. I was just hoping that someone would somehow take the Bible and show me how to be saved today.”
That day the widow woman, although a Christian for many years, led her very first soul to Christ. Many of us are like this woman. Although saved for many years, we are so slow in catching the soul-winning vision.
How many souls have you led to Christ? Are you a part of your church’s soul-winning program? I certainly hope so!
What to do:
No better day than today to begin witnessing for Christ.
Dr. Mike Rouse
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