Somebody's Got to Start ...
Somebody’s Got to Start
…Somewhere
…Somehow
…Sometime
If the people in your town are going to have an opportunity to go to Heaven, somebody has to start winning souls. That somebody must be saved already. That somebody must be surrendered to do the Lord’s bidding. That somebody must have a burden to see people saved. That somebody needs to be filled with the Spirit. That somebody needs to get some “how to” training for presenting the Gospel and leading a person to Christ. That somebody needs to enlist some help from his fellow Christians. That somebody needs to set a schedule for soul winning and follow it.
Somebody, Somewhere
It is so easy to listen to the success stories of somebody two states or half a continent away from where you are and assume it is easy where he is. Surely the people in that town are eager to be saved and standing in line waiting for the soul winner to get to them.
In reality their somewhere has its own peculiarities and its own difficulties. It may not be exactly like your locale, but I assure you it is not easy there either. The difference between their somewhere and your somewhere is the somebody who decided to make a difference.
Your somewhere may be in a large urban area with people in abundance.
Your somewhere may be in a small- to medium-sized town in the heartland of America.
Your somewhere may be a village in some mountainous or desert area.
Your somewhere may be a placid, rural setting a long way from the thronging cities.
But wherever your somewhere is located, you can be the somebody who gets a burden, gets stirred up, stays excited, sticks to the plan, gets the Gospel out and energetically goes after men, women, boys and girls.
Somebody, Somewhere, Somehow
Once you settle the somebody (that’s you) issue and the somewhere (that’s where you are) issue, the next concern will be the somehow issue. If you are going to do this, how do you go about it? Well…
1. You can pick a neighborhood of 200 to 300 homes and knock on every door once a month.
2. Leave literature that has information about your church on every door.
3. Start a bus route in the area.
4. Witness to the people who will talk to you.
5. Schedule things at church that will be of interest and promote them to the folks.
6. Keep records on the positive contacts you have in order that you can keep your relationship with the people growing.
7.Watch for troubled situations. If (when) you find alcohol problems, drug addiction, troubled families, etc., be prepared to offer the services of your church. When people are in trouble, they need more than our sympathy. They need our help.
8. Once you reach a few people in the neighborhood, get them to help you reach others there.
9. Take your pastor with you one month and introduce him to everyone.
10. Keep working the area over the months and years to come.
11. After a year or so, enlarge your area to 400 to 500 homes.
12. Enlist other soul winners and train them to do what you want done.
You will, with their help, begin to multiply yourself.
Somebody, Somewhere, Somehow and Sometime!
If I’m the somebody, if my somewhere is the place and if the somehow is settled, the question is the timing. When do I do this? When Andrew came to Christ, the Bible says that,
“He first findeth his own brother Simon, and saith unto him, We have found the Messias,
which is, being interpreted, the Christ. And he brought him to Jesus.”— John 1:41,42.
“Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.”— II Cor. 6:2.
“For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”— Rom. 10:13.
All three of those passages suggest very strongly to me that the Lord is open for business at all hours of the day. You need not wait until Sunday. Whether it is day or night, the time to be saved is “now,” whatever hour is on the clock.
So with the Lord always ready and the people in our somewhere already lost (John 3:18), we would be wise not to wait on this until sometime later.
Somebody? We know who that is!
Somewhere? We know where that is!
Somehow? We know how to be about it!
Sometime? We now know the time!
How about it, friend? Let’s get after this and get it rolling.
Amen
