We are all interested in the salvation of souls. First of all we want our children to be saved. We want the people in our families to be saved. Then we want our friends to be saved. We want the people that we are in contact with to be saved. But as we grow in our Christian experience, the time comes when we look out at every single person in the world, we realize every single person that we meet up with is somebody that Jesus died for, and we want to see them saved. What can we do so that they can be saved?

There was a time in my life when I thought that the way you went about it was either publicly or privately, to teach people about the various doctrines of the Bible. And then of course, if you could persuade them to accept those things, then they could be baptized, and be a part of the church and they could be saved. I worked along those lines for quite a while, but I knew that I was not very effective or efficient in what I was doing.

I wanted to learn how do you save a soul? Is there a butter way to do this?

When I was a young minister, I was working alone. I did not have the privileges that some people do to work under someone else of experience. As soon as I got out of school, the Conference where I went, was short of help. But they sent me to the largest city in the state and they said, "You are the pastor there."

And so I just started in. And I said, "Lord I havent learned anything in school really to prepare me for what I am trying to do. I have studied Greek, I have studied Hebrew, I have studied History, I have studied Public Speaking, I have studied Accounting and Business Management, I have studied Sociology and Psychology. I have studied all of these things and I do not know what to do. And Here I am. I am in the biggest city in this state (which was Fargo, North Dakota. It is still the largest city). What am I supposed to do? I need some help."

So the Lord was very good to me. About that time, it was shortly after I moved there, they brought a man who was a very experienced evangelist. In fact, our family knew this gentleman when he had been an evangelist before that time in the state of Colorado where we lived. And his name was Harold Williams. And it was my privilege to have a number of different evangelistic campaigns with this man. He didn'tt have nearly as much education as I had.

I learned something very interesting while I was a pastor. This is just on the side, just for your thought. I heard this actually at a conference office at a meeting of ministers from a person who had been one of the leading evangelists in the Adventist church, and he was in the ministerial association of the General Conference at that time. He came and he was talking to ministers and he said something very interesting. He said, "Very often our best evangelists are the people who have had the least education." Now isn't that interesting? What is the matter with our educational system? The more education you get the worse you are. And what are you suppose to do? And this man, Harold Williams, didn'tt have very much education. He had gone to Keene, to the Adventist College at Keene, Texas when it was only a Junior College. He went there for two years after high school. And I think that was all the education he had. Then he was an evangelist.

He had gone out into pastoral work. He was a very talented evangelist. I learned a lot of things from him. One of the things I learned from him that I never forgot, and that is that you always want to remember that if you want to save a soul it is Gods plan to first reach the heart.

Now different ones of us are different. We have different temperaments, different ways of thinking, of going about things. And from my way of being trained and educated, my entire approach to Christianity was very academic, very theological. I had all kinds of arguments, and all kinds of proofs. And I still have these arguments and proofs in my mind for I studied them carefully.

But it takes something more than knowing all of these answers to the objections and being able to explain all the prophecies and the doctrines. It takes something more than that to save a soul. What does it take to save a soul? You have to get to the persons heart The Bible says that, "out of the heart are the issues of life."

I want to read to you a short statement that Ellen White wrote to our young people. She wrote this in the Youth Instructor over one hundred years ago and it appeared in the Youth Instructor January 19,1893. And this statement I think will help us to get started in a study. Just a few practical points that we can put in practice on how to save a soul. Listen to what she said. She says,

"When Christ crucified is preached, the power of the gospel is demonstrated by the influence it exerts over the believer. In place of remaining dead in trespasses and sins, he is awakened. The simple story of the cross of Christ, [now notice she is going to specify some things here. She says if people hear about the cross something is going to happen] His suffering and dying for the world, His resurrection and ascension, His mediation in the sinners behalf before the Father subdues and breaks the hard and sinful heart and brings the sinner to repentance."

Now is that not an interesting statement? It subdues and breaks the sinners heart and brings him to what? To repentance. What is it that will do all of that? It is the simple story. And what is the simple story? It is the simple story of the crucifixion of Christ on the cross. Emphasis is placed upon the simple story of Christ, His suffering and dying for the world, His resurrection, [that is the third point] His ascension, [that is the fourth point] and mediation in the sinners behalf, that is, His work as the High Priest before His Father.

Those are the five points that she specifically mentions. She says that they will subdue and break the hard and sinful heart and bring the sinner to repentance. Now let us think through just for a few minutes, what is it about that story, those five points, that will have such an effect on the sinners heart and will subdue his heart and break his heart and bring him to repentance?

If that happens, that person is on his way to salvation. When a person repents, he is on the road to salvation. They may not be baptized yet, they may not be able to explain the twenty three hundred days yet, they may not even know the Sabbath yet. But if they have repented, if his heart is subdued and broken, he is on the way to salvation. Isn't that right? Wouldn'tt you agree?

Now, what is it about that story that would do this? We need to understand a little about how it works so that we will be able to help tell the story in an effective way. Now if you think this through in your own mind, some of you will be able to remember this, for some of you did not grow up in a Christian home. But some of you grew up in a Christian home, so ever since your babyhood you heard the story of Jesus.

Now I can remember when I heard the story of Jesus when I was a little boy. I can distinctly remember what I heard about the story and the questions that went through my mind. I can remember. And Ill tell you that one of the big questions that went through my mind (and that was when I was not more than four of five years old). I heard this story, and I was told that this person that died on the cross was equal with God the Father. By the way, is that true? Thats true. And He was the One that made the stars and everything in the world. And Ill tell you, I was only four or five years old, and when I heard that story right away I had a question. And anybody I think that has a rational type of a mind that thinks through questions is going to have this question. And the question that I had was, "Why did that have to happen?".

Have you ever asked that question? Have you ever studied the story of the cross? It is so horrible. And you say to yourself, why did all of this have to happen? Well why did it have to happen? Well here is why it had to happen. Open your Bibles to I Corinthians 15.

Paul tells very briefly the story of the gospel. The story of the cross is the story of the gospel. It says "Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received and in which you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast that word which I preached to you unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died. (For what?) Why did that have to happen? What does it say here in verse three? He died for our sins.

You know friends that the average sinner has no comprehension of how bad sin is. In fact it is so bad that there are a lot of people that in their minds they have catalogued "great big sins" and "little sins." All that they are guilty of are just the little sins because theyve never killed anybody, theyve never robbed the bank, theyve never stolen the check book from their employer, theyve never stolen a car, and theyve never burned someones house down. So they are pretty good people. They know that there are some pretty bad people out there but thats not them. But the Bible doesnt teach that. You cannot find anyplace in the Bible where we are pretty good. The Bible doesnt teach that. The Bible teaches that we have all sinned. Romans 3:23. And because we have sinned, that includes me, because of that Jesus had to die on the cross. Why did He have to die on the cross? Because Ive sinned.

If a person can once comprehend that (its a simple fact); it is something that the average sinner does not comprehend. The Story of the cross is just a story theyve never thought through. Why is it? Its not just for somebody that is a bank robber or murderer. It is because of what Ive done. And if the Holy Spirit drives that home to your heart so that you realize its because of what I did, Jesus had to die on the cross, something is going to happen inside. I didn'tt know that I was in that bad condition Lord, that even the Son of God would have to die? Thats right. The Son of God would have to die because of what I have done.

And this puts sin in a completely different framework. And people in our society, they have been so deluded by this idea that there are big sins and little sins and all the sins that theyve done are little ones, so that they are really not that bad. In fact, people even have names for them. They call the little ones, "menial sins". Thats a theological term by the way. There are mortal sins and menial sins.

But I want to tell you friends. Anything that is sin is mortal. Sin is a life and death issue.

And either, I am going to pay the price for my own sins by dying eternally, or else Im going to accept the price that Jesus has already paid for my sins.

Now listen what she goes on to say, "When a person hears this story of the cross, they understand about the suffering of Jesus, that He died, was resurrected, that He went back to Heaven, and now He is up in Heaven and He is my Priest, an all powerful Mediator."

Do you know what that means? Ellen White says that the devil does not want Gods people to comprehend that we have an all-powerful Mediator. Do you know what it means to have an all-powerful Mediator? That means that if you are the worst sinner around that there is somebody who can deliver you from your guilt. People that everybody knows are sinners, murderers, and robbers, people that do heinous things; they still have an all-powerful Mediator.

Do you realize that when the Apostle Paul was before Nero Ellen White says, "there was a time that God gave Nero himself an offer that he could have a pardon." He was the worst criminal probably in the world at that time. God through the apostle Paul gave him an offer of pardon and he thought it over and he made a clear decision. Now he didn'tt make the right decision, but he had an offer. The same decision came to Felix.

And when a person hears the story of the cross they have to make a decision, because this person that died on the cross, that suffered on the cross for my sins, is not only a Saviour, but He is something else. Peter said, that God has made him to be two things, both Lord and Christ [I learned that from another evangelist that I was working with as a young minister]. And you will find it several times in the first part of the book of Acts. The Apostles put special emphasis on this when they were preaching on the day of Pentecost. They said, Jesus is two things, He is both Lord and Christ. Now the word Christ means 'the Anointed One or, 'the Saviour. He is both the Lord and He is the Saviour. And He cannot be just one if He is going to be your Saviour from sin. He has to be the Lord of your life.

Oh, people say, I dont want anybody to be the lord of my life. I want to be lord of my own life. Go ahead and try it. Lots of people have seen how it works out .Arc you the best lord your life could have? Try it and see. There is somebody that if He was the Lord of your life you would be better off than if you were your own lord.

And sometimes people have to go into sin and get burned really bad before they get it figured out that they are not very good at managing themselves. And they need both a Lord and a Saviour. Jesus wants to be your Saviour from sin. But He cant be your Saviour from sin unless He completely transforms your life, because your heart is so wicked.

When I worked with Elder Williams, and we would be visiting in somebodys home, he would say, "look all you have to give to the Lord is a wicked heart, and a weak will. And thats all you have, but if you will give the Lord your wicked heart, and your weak will,

Hell change it. He will be the Lord of your life and Hell change your life."

Now when a person hears the story of the cross their heart is subdued. They want to repent and the Holy Spirit starts to work on their heart. Do you know, Ellen white tells us that any time that we tell somebody the story of the cross that Angels draw near to work on their heart? Did you know that? Any time that we tell somebody the story of the cross Angels draw near to work on their heart. And here is what will happen. She says, "The Holy Spirit sets the matter before him in a new light and the sinner realizes that sin must be a tremendous evil to cost such a sacrifice to atone for it. For he hears that 'God so loved the World that He gave His only begotten son that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life."

And so, a person begins to realize that sin is much worse than he had any idea, because of the remedy that was required, the remedy that was required to save man from the consequences of his guilt. And why was all this done? We just read the text in John 3:16. Why was it done? Because God so loved the world that he gave.

Lets look at a few other points. This is another one that I learned also from Elder Williams that I have thought about many many times. He used to quote this sentence to me from Volume 7 over and over again when we were riding in the car between visits. He would quote the statement from Volume 7 where Ellen White says, that one sentence of scripture is worth more than ten thousand of mens arguments." He drilled me on that until I can still say it. "One sentence of scripture is worth more than ten thousand of human arguments." So what does that mean when you are talking to somebody, and you are telling them the story? How do you tell it? You want to use the words of scripture, to tell the story. Because the word of scripture will be sharp and powerful and will affect their heart and mind more than anything that you can say. Itll go right to the heart of the matter. So, you want to show them from the scripture the story of the cross of His suffering, His death, His resurrection, His ascension, His standing at the right hand of the Father as our mediator. And then, as the person sees why this was done, that it was done because of my sins, because of my sin, not somebody elses. This is the remedy for my sin that God has provided. And there isn't any other remedy. There is no other remedy.

And then, here is one more point. You always want to make an appeal. You can make an appeal to a person when you are visiting for the very first time. They may not know anything about doctrines yet, but you can make an appeal to them. Do you want to accept what Jesus has done for you? Do you want to accept Him as the Lord of your life, and your Saviour from sin?

Oh people are scared because they have been running their own life. So they need to find out that there is somebody that if He is their Lord they are going to be in better shape than they are now, running their own life. And so you need to have some questions to ask. Here is one, that I like to use: Can you trust Him with your life? (Because if somebody is going to be the Lord of your life, your are trusting Him with your life.) The one who loved you enough to be nailed to the cross for you, Can you trust Him? If somebody loved you enough to be crucified for you, do you think you could trust Him? If you cant trust Him, who can you trust? You can trust Him more than you can trust yourself. And if you can trust Him to be the Lord of your life and commit your life to Him a miracle is going to happen inside.

Now nobody can tell you by rote how to win a soul, just step one, two ,three. Different people are different. You are going to have to respond and talk to them about the situation that they are in. And sometimes the Lord reaches different people through different means. Sometimes a person is reached like this friend of Jim and Debbies. Sometimes something happens, and we dont know why. Some great tragedy happens. And sometimes the Lord reaches somebody through that method. Sometimes the Lord reaches a persons heart and they become receptive and listen to the gospel because of some sickness to themselves or somebody in their family. Once in a while somebody turns to the Lord because they realize that the Lord has sent some great blessing into their life.

Now I dont know why it is, but in my experience, I have had more people turn to the Lord because something terrible has happened in their life than something wonderful. I cant explain to you why that is. Somehow, if things are going wonderful and we are unconverted, generally we just want to stay in control and make it more wonderful until it all crashes. And then when we cant control it ourselves anymore we realize we need some help.

But the most wonderful work that you can do, whatever your employment is, is how do you spend your time if you can win a soul? Now the few things that we have gone over this evening will help you in your relations when you are talking to other people. They dont need to know a lot of doctrines, before you can make an appeal to them if you have been able to talk to them about the story of Jesus. By the way, even people in the Catholic religion believe the story of the cross. You can talk to a Catholic, a Protestant, and you can talk to a Buddhist about the story of the cross too. You can talk to an atheist about the story of the cross, because nobody that is educated can deny the story of the cross. They cannot deny it, if they are educated.

Because the story of the cross is authenticated by secular history, you dont have to believe the Bible. A secular historian, Pliny, the Roman historian, has that written down. The story of Jesus being crucified by Pontius Pilate is in the secular history books. And you dont even have to believe the Bible to know that happened. And so, therefore, you can talk about it to anybody.

But the big question is why did it happen? And when you understand the big question of why did it happen, that demands a response. Since He did it for me am I going to respond to it? Am I going to accept it? Am I going to allow Him to be the Lord, the Ruler, and the Master of my life?

Now I want to invite you to pray. You know right now Im dealing with a number of people right here in the local Wichita area, who are studying the Adventist doctrines. And very often--and maybe this is partly my fault too--people that are newly come into the faith they get excited and they want to tell people about all these different doctrines, and they have tremendous trouble. Maybe thats our fault too, that we dont teach these people before they are even baptized how to reach somebody else.

The way you reach them is to get to the heart first. Im not depreciating the Sabbath, dont misunderstand, but it does not do any good to keep the Sabbath if you dont know Jesus. Because--let me tell you-- there were some people who crucified Jesus and went home to keep the Sabbath. And they are not going to be saved. It doesnt do any good to keep the Sabbath if you dont know Jesus, if you havent given your heart to Him. The first thing a person needs to do is to give their heart to Christ, to yield to Him, to be their Lord and Master. And then changes will happen.

One more point and then were going to close. This is something I also learned--I learned this one when I was still a teenager. My brother learned on his own. I didn'tt learn it on my own. I learned it from Elder Frazee. If you want to save somebody in your family, or some friend that doesnt know the Lord, and they havent given their heart to Christ; If you want to be able to explain to them in simple language, how they can be saved, you should make a special study of a little book. And that books name--the original name, or title--was Steps to Christ. When I was young, I studied through that book. If you study very carefully through that book, and you mark down the texts that Ellen White quotes in it you will be able, in just a few minutes, to go through those steps and to explain to somebody, from the Bible, how they can come to Jesus and be saved.

And so youre looking for more help, how to appeal, and what texts to quote to lead a person to Jesus. Make a careful study of the book Steps to Christ to show them step by step what to do and the steps that you take to come to Christ to be saved. And that will help you.