SOUL-WINNING
LESSON 5 of 7
"YOU ARE PROGRAMMED FOR SUCCESS"
(Genesis 1:26-27: "And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our
likeness: and let them have dominion...")
- INTRODUCTION: In this day of defeat and despair we need to go back to the Word of God
and have our minds washed by the water of the Word. "So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the
word of God." (Romans 10:17) We need to turn to the Bible and see our position
as Sons of God, our purpose in time and eternity and most of all understand that we are
programmed for success.
- WE ARE PROGRAMMED FOR SUCCESS BY DESIGN: MADE IN THE IMAGE AND LIKENESS OF GOD
- What kind of God is God?
- He is creative
- He is powerful with the ability to perform
- He is all sufficient
- We are made in His likeness
- Genesis 11:6: God declared that "now nothing will be restrained from them,
which they have imagined to do." Man was designed for success.
- God's sufficiency lies in "imagined
to do": where there is a will, there is a way
- WE ARE PROGRAMMED FOR SUCCESS BY PURPOSE (to have dominion over the earth):
- Man's original purpose was to have dominion over the earth and subdue it. The very purpose
for which man was created has fulfillment in success
- Revelation 4:11: ANSWER TO THE AGE-OLD QUESTION OF WHY WE'RE ALIVE:
Man was created to give glory to his God
- Does a father get pleasure out of a wining, crybaby kid who is always complaining?
- Does a father enjoy seeing his son always rejected, failing and unable to succeed?
- Neither does our Heavenly Father get glory in a crybaby, whining child who is "living
under the circumstances." "Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit..."
(John 15:8)
- WE ARE PROGRAMMED FOR SUCCESS BY KNOWLEDGE (listen to your subconscious)
- What do your private hopes and desires picture?
- They desire your success
- They picture you doing well
- They see you overcoming--prospering
- How do your dreams or subconscious mind portray you?
- They picture you as "the star"
- They picture you as "on top"
- They see you as "succeeding"
- WE ARE PROGRAMMED FOR SUCCESS BY MOTIVATION
- Great rewards are promised to everyone who overcomes. Jesus gave the members of the seven
churches of Asia great motivation by promising them tremendous rewards for overcoming. Note these promises:
- Revelation 2:7: "...To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of
life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God." Paradise, or Third Heaven, speaks of the
position the overcomer will enjoy: right in the middle of the headquarters city of Heaven.
- Revelation 2:11: "...He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second
death." The second death is eternal hell (Revelation 20:14). This means that the
overcomer will deliver himself from the possibility of sending someone to hell.
- Acts 20:26: Paul said he was free from the blood of all men
- Psalm 51:14: King David pleaded, "Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God..."
- Revelation 2:17: "To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden
manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written..."
- "Hidden manna": an inner joy such as the meat of satisfaction which Jesus spoke of in
John 4:32--the soul-winner's triumphant joy
- The "white stone": speaks of Jesus voting or special recommendation resting upon the overcomer
- "A new name": Abraham formerly Abram (Genesis 17:5),
Israel formerly Jacob (Genesis 32:28), Paul formerly Saul (Acts 13:9)
... a new name showing distinction or position earned
- Revelation 2:26: "And he that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the
end, to him will I give power over the nations:" The overcomer will rule and reign with Christ
for 1,000 years during the "Millennial Reign"
- Revelation 3:5: "He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white
raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before
my Father, and before his angels."
- "Clothed in white raiment": denoting righteous service rendered
- "Confessed before God": declared before the Great Monarch of Heaven and all the
Holy angels as an overcomer
- Revelation 3:12: "Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple
of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of
the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God: and I will
write upon him my new name."
- "A pillar": one who is proven, substantial and will not "go in or out" (of God's rules)
anymore
- "The name of the city of my God": the name of the headquarters city upon him, denoting
special position and service
- "my new name": special honor, reward
- To him that overcometh, sit with me in my throne. Share the glory of the Son of God
because he overcame
- What is there to overcome?
- If there are such great rewards promised to the overcomer, where is there to overcome?
In the Parable of the Sewer, Jesus explained what has to be overcome:
- Matthew 13:22: The "care of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches,
choke the word, and he becometh unfruitful."
- Mark 4:19: Again: cares of this world; deceitfulness of riches; lust of
other things choke the Word
- Luke 8:14: Again: cares, riches, pleasures of this life bring no fruit
to perfection
- How do you overcome?
- 1 John 5:4: We overcome by faith. "For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is
the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith."
- Romans 10:17: FAITH in what? Simply in God's Word (the Bible).
- Hear and understand our purpose (in the light of living in this world). Hear of God's
will for our life. Hear of God's plan and purpose for us (in the light of eternity). Turn from this
world and walk by faith and accomplish (by faith) what God intended ... then rewards come to overcomers
- WE ARE PROGRAMMED FOR SUCCESS BY CONSTRUCTION
- Man is a teleological being. By "teleological" we mean he is a goal-striving being.
He is designed for eternity. We are citizens of Heaven. Jesus appeals to man's teleological
disposition by letting the apostles see His glorified Kingdom on the Mount of Transfiguration
(Matthew 17:1-9)
- WE ARE PROGRAMMED FOR SUCCESS BY OPPORTUNITY.
- We live in a day of soul-winning and Holy Spirit power
- Joel 2:28-32: Joel prophesied of our day of success
- In the Old Testament dispensation only
the divinely chosen were filled or anointed with divine power
- Prophets: the Spirit came upon Elijah. Elisha wanted a "double portion" (2 Kings 2:9)
- Judges: the Spirit came upon Gideon (Judges 6:34), upon Samson
(Judges 14:19), etc.
- The specially chosen: God filled Bezaleel with the Spirit in order to equip him to be
able to build the Tabernacle (Exodus 31:1-11)
- Joel foresaw our day and joyfully foretold that the day would come in which all of God's
children could be filled with the Holy Spirit. "I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh"
(Joel 2:28)
- Sons
- Daughters
- Old men
- Servants of slaves
- Handmaids or floor scrubbers
- Peter stated by inspiration that the fulfillment of Joel's prophecy began on the day of
Pentecost
- Acts 2:15-21: "For these are not drunken, as ye suppose, seeing it is
but the third hour of the day (9 AM)." ... "But this (what they were seeing) is that
which was spoken by the prophet Joel;" Then he continues by quoting Joel 2:28-32,
"And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh..."
- The prophecy was to continue until "...The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the
moon into blood..." (Joel 2:31-32; Acts 2:20) And the end of the Tribulation
(Revelation 6:12)
- This means that the same fullness and power of the Holy Ghost which was experienced by
the Saints on the Day of Pentecost and in the Book of Acts is available for us who live today!
- This means that the same success in winning souls which they experienced on the Day of
Pentecost and in the Book of Acts is available for us who live today!
- Do not confuse "speaking in tongues" with the hurtful and malpractice of the modern
tongue speakers of today. They could understand the languages spoken on the Day of Pentecost:
"And how hear we every man in our own tongue, wherein we were born?" (Acts 2:8)
And then Peter lists various different countries which were represented by people speaking different languages
(Acts 2:9-11)
- The filling of the Spirit and speaking in tongues were never the same.
The filling of the
Spirit has always existed and was to empower and enable the Christian to do his job successfully.
Speaking in tongues was the gift of speaking in another man's language so he could understand and be
saved
- This divine power is for you today.
- Ephesians 5:18: "And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess;
but be filled with the Spirit;" God will give you the fullness to him who asks and obey Him.
- Acts 5:32; Luke 11:13: If you will obey God and ask Him to empower you and help you
overcome your fear, he will answer and make you into a very successful soul-winner
SUMMARY
- You are programmed for success. Who will you listen to? The voices of doom and defeatism or the
voice of God? Who will you believe? Your doubts, the lies the devil shoots into your mind or the Bible?
Believe the Bible and succeed. Believe the Bible and walk by faith and enjoy the abundant life.
After all that is the reason Jesus came:
"I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly."
(John 10:10)
