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Jim Bray, The Power of the Word: www.thepoweroftheword.com
Everyday, if we obey God’s “Great Commission” given to each of us, we need to be concerned about and looking for opportunities to give the gospel message to the lost all around us–at our front door, our mail box, the store, bank, gas station or wherever our daily or weekly routine takes us. While there are other good methods of personal evangelism and soul winning, there is no quicker or easier method of soulwinning than the daily distribution of Gospel tracts!
First, it is truly the quickest method of personal soulwinning because it literally takes only seconds to do, and that’s very important! Why? Sometimes, though we might have the time to sit down with someone and go through the plan of salvation with them, they don’t have the time. At other times it’s the other way around, when they have the time, but we don’t. But probably most of the time, neither they nor we have the time right then to sit down and go through the Gospel message together. Therefore, in our very busy routines in this very fast-paced world, passing out gospel tracts to people all around us is probably the very best solution to this time problem of getting the salvation message to others who are in a hurry. It only takes 10 seconds to hand someone a tract and ask them to read it, but that 10 seconds could make the difference for them between life and death, and between Heaven and Hell! (As a matter of fact, “it only takes 10 seconds” just might be an excellent theme for a soulwinning conference at your church sometime!) If we don’t carry gospel tracts with us daily wherever we go, we probably will walk right on by unsaved people without having time to give them the Gospel message or to even think about their need. So tracts can greatly help us carry out God’s “Great Commission” everyday! They’re like “little preachers” that always have the time to present the salvation message to people we meet when we’re in a hurry and don’t have the time to talk with them right then. Also, tracts are always willing to wait as long as necessary till those people who didn’t have time to listen to us before finally have the time later on to sit down and read the tracts at their convenience, and as the Holy Spirit convicts and reminds them later to read!
Second, it is truly the easiest method of personal soulwinning because any believer, even a brand new convert, can do it, even if they haven’t yet memorized the references for all the salvation verses. Even believers who tend to be shy or nervous when talking to others (especially about salvation) can very easily hand a person a tract and simply ask if they would read it. We need to have soulwinning churches today and see them grow numerically by being filled with new believers, and nothing will add new converts to churches quicker than having their members active in daily soulwinning and passing out tracts everywhere they go. Certainly, there’s no quicker or easier way for believers to witness to others and reach the most people in the least amount of time than by always carrying tracts with them and passing them out wherever they go.
Of course, we should not only obey the “Go ye” of the Great Commission, but before we “go”, we should know that we’re prepared as “fishers of men” with gospel tracts in our pockets or purses! Before we go as fishers of fish, should we be prepared by taking our pole with us? Well, of course! Then before we go as “fishers of men”, it’s even more important that we be prepared by taking our tracts with us! We wouldn’t think of being unprepared by going anywhere without our money wallet for financial reasons. Then we certainly shouldn’t think of being unprepared by going anywhere without our “tract wallet” for soulwinning reasons! Remember: “don’t leave home without it!” “Go ye” – prepared!