Find the Thirsty Souls (Acts 16:11-14)
The title of today’s word is, “Find the Thirsty Soul.” This means that, in the field, God has prepared the thirsty souls. I am the person who must find those souls. In the field, God has prepared these kinds of souls and wants you to find them.
Introduction – My State
In order to be in this state of finding thirsty souls, my current state is important. If my state is looking for something else, then this title will not be fulfilled. As you listen to the Word today, think about what you are looking for in the world. According to your thoughts, you will find things accordingly. But depending on my state, the thing that I look for differs.
Genesis 3 Me Physical Success
If I am me-centered, then I will look for physical and successful things. That’s why when you go out into the field, what do people look for? They look for these three things. Then, these answers will come out in your life. But these things cannot strengthen and develop our spiritual state and that’s why because we are in this state that leads to destruction. And who are the type of people that look for these thirsty souls?
Prayer – State
You need to be in a state where you can pray the prayer Jesus taught. Our Father Who art in heaven
Heaven – Father
Right now, this God is in control and is moving all of creations and everything in the universe and He is your Father.
Name- Hallowed
Hallowed be Your name. His name is holy and it is set apart. It is a unique name, it is not on the earth, and that is why mankind cannot imitate this at all.
Me – God’s Kingdom to be Established
God’s Kingdom to be established on this earth. Whose prayer will be able to find these thirsty souls? It is those people who pray for the Kingdom of God to be established on this earth. Then, God will give the answer of finding these thirsty souls.
Will – This Earth
Your will be done on Earth as it is in heaven. What is this will? It is saving lives, it is finding these lives. And depending on what kind of prayer you pray, the results in your field will differ.
Daily Bread – Physical, Spiritual
Give us our daily bread, the people who aren’t deceived by their daily bread, instead believe that God will provide for them every day. And rise people who know God will give them the spiritual food that they need.
Forgive –
And a person who can forgive others. And the state of a person who’s able to forgive others just as how they have received forgiveness from God. But before we do this, if we aren’t able to forgive others, then we won’t be able to find the thirsty souls. And people who are within this state will receive the answer.
Temptation
Lead us not into temptation, what kind of temptation? It’s so that we don’t return to this state.
Evil
So that I don’t fall into Satan’s temptations of being centered on myself and to deliver us from evil.
Spiritual
For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever, and only in God is there glory, and this is the spiritual state we must have. All of this is the spiritual state in order to look for the heavenly things. Then, you will be able to receive the answers on this earth of finding the thirsty souls. As you do this, God has already prepared all the things in the field. According to this prayer topic, that is how God is working.
Today, we read Acts 16. We looked at this person named Lydia, and how are we going to find people like this? When we do world evangelization, God has surely prepared these thirsty souls, but these thirsty souls are hidden. The people who are within the state of Genesis 3, 6, and 11 are not able to see these kinds of people. God only reveals this to those who are within this spiritual state of prayer. There are some characteristics of the thirsty souls.
1. Thirsty – Characteristic
1) Grace
For Lydia, you can see that at once, she accepts this seat of grace. As soon as they received the gospel, Lydia asks Paul to come into her house. Because she was thirsty to listen to this gospel, she wants to listen even more, and she says, “Can you relay this to our family as well?” There are people who are able to meet these kinds of people, and others who cannot, and this is what God does.
If it doesn’t take place you are in a state where it has no choice but to not take place. Because if you’re centered on this, you cannot see the thirsty souls, your concerns are on something else. But if it takes place that means you’re within this state and that’s why God’s promise is fulfilled.
2) Jesus Christ
That’s why these are the types of people who are able to receive grace, even if they just proclaim about Jesus Christ. For these people, the characteristic of them is whenever they relay God’s Word, they react accordingly and receive the grace of God.
3) Joyful
Even if you just relay the word they will be joyful. If they find joy in something else, they aren’t the thirsty souls. If they react to something else, they aren’t prepared souls. But you might think “how can I relay this word to those kinds of people?” But you don’t have to because they aren’t prepared yet.
4) Obedience
That is why in number 4, these are people who have joy in obeying God.
5) Relay the Gospel
These are the people who can relay the gospel without any awkwardness.
6) Positive
These people are very positive. If you’re pessimistic, you look at everything in a skewed way and that’s why it won’t take place.
7) Simple
These people are very clean and simple. If they already have a complicated strategy and method in order to do things, they are not the person. They need to be simple. Even though they have a lot of knowledge, there are people who are very simple and clean.
8) Good soil
And that’s why these are the people that are the good soil. And that’s why when the seed is planted they will produced crop that’s a hundred fold.
2. Method
What is the way to find these thirsty souls?
1) Whom We Meet
And so we don’t know who these people are and that’s why the only method is to relay this word to whoever we meet. Why? It’s because this isn’t written on their faces. That’s why we relay this to all people.
2) When- Meeting
We don’t know when their hearts will be open to this, so that’s why we relay this word whenever we meet them, because we don’t know when God’s prepared time schedule is. If it’s not today, it could be tomorrow; if it’s not tomorrow, it could be the next day, so we continue to wait and relay the Word. Carlos and Chris’ friend comes to church, but he doesn’t give worship. At times, I would bring him to Remnant Day as well, and so, he came on Holy Wind and apparently, he sees demons and these evil spirits, so he’s in a very frazzled state. And so I’m not sure what happened after but there is a time and state where these people are ready to accept the gospel.
3) As Far as Possible – Wide
And that’s why you proclaim this gospel as far as you can to all people. In Matthew it says don’t shine the light underneath a shed, place it on top of a stool so everyone can use that light. And that’s why you share this gospel widely to whoever because you don’t know who will accept it. Don’t just do it to one narrow area, but share it widely.
4) Invitation – Location
That’s why, to the people you pray for and think about, you invite them. Then, there needs to be a location to which you invite them. You have your regional churches in the field, there are also events like worship and Holy Wind, and evangelism schools on Saturdays, so you can invite people to those different places. For Holy Wind, we use that culture to use that time to share the gospel, and we invite people.
But the important thing is, even though we are running this kind of event, there are individuals who go around sharing this word here and there, and that’s what’s important. And this time around as we are running this event I noticed there are people who just share this gospel accordingly. They do it themselves.
5) Spirit
6) Thoughts X – Prepared
7) Time Schedule
3. When You Find Them
1) Spiritual Me
The prepared disciples will listen to this, and if possible, relay the gospel as it is. What does that mean? You say it’s hard, right? That’s what the devil is doing, and just call on the name of Jesus. This is not the original gospel. That is just the gospel where you use this technique of counseling. You need to surely relay the three states of where this person is in, because if I’m not having a difficult time, I don’t need Jesus Christ; I need a therapist or counselor.
Master – Sin | Satan | Hell – Suffering
I hope you will proclaim the gospel. With the Bible, relay the biblical gospel. Living as my own master is sin. I’m under the control of Satan. I’m in a living hell of suffering. This state can never change unless it is only Christ
Christ
Christ did this work on the cross. Do you want to accept Christ as your Master? This Christ must be accurately relayed to this person and they must fully accept it in an accurate manner. If this gospel is not rleayed, then you have not relayed this gospel correctly at all, and they’re continuously in this state. You need to tell them that they are within this state with the Bible.
Let’s say the other person has depression. “You’re in a lot of suffering, right? That’s what Satan is doing but you can solve it in the name of Jesus.” How do you think they perceive this? “Satan is causing my suffering, so if I call on the name of Jesus, will they be driven out?” This is not the complete gospel. You need to explain why this person is seized by Satan. If not, this person will not know that they are a sinner. They just think they are in suffering because of Satan. But you need to tell them of their state where they have no choice but to be controlled by Satan.
Isn’t that a sinner? It is living as if you’re your own God, Genesis 3, that is what it means to be a sinner. Instead, you say, “Because of Satan, you’re in the state you’re in,” and that’s an incomplete gospel. Then, that is when they realize they have to change the Master of their lives to come out of the suffering Satan is causing them. Do this and those people will accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Master. You need to relay the gospel.
2) Word Bible Study
When they accept Christ, you must invite them to Word Bible Study, what is that? It is so that they can continue to be nurtured in the Word.
3) Humanistic Conditions
That’s why you must not fall into or accept humanistic conditions. You must help them innocently listen to the Word. If they say, “Let me borrow some money,” you must cut them off. “Can you help me with this hospital thing?” Cut them off because those who have accepted will go within this Word. Of course, if they don’t have a car and they cannot come to worship, we can help them out in that manner, but if they say, “Can you just help me go to the market because I can’t go right now?” Cut them off.
If a female and man say, “Can we meet for dinner?” Cut them off. But there are some people who aren’t able to discern this, and a man accepted, and he asked the female to have dinner with him and she wondered if she should go or not. That man probably just accepted to flirt with the woman, so you must look at this carefully.
4) Thirsty Soul
Around this person, there are more thirsty souls. If you hit the jackpot, there are surrounding people around them, so you must have these kinds of eyes. It is not just that one person, but the family and friends around them; these people have been prepared.
Conclusion
Me – Everyday State
This is very important. When my state is aligned with what God is interested in, that is when I can find these thirsty souls. No matter how often I go to church, if my interest is not in God’s, I have no choice but to be interested in something else, so that’s why, every single day, the three todays.
Word, Prayer, Evangelism ) 3 Todays
God gives the Word as guidance, and today’s prayer, and the direction of evangelism. My spiritual state must be within these 3 Todays. Whether you go to your work or school, you’ll be guided. That’s why whatever you do in your workplace, you’ll be able to realize just a little bit. There’s a lot of things we must do right now because of the holidays and Halloween, so you can talk about various things and you’ll realize their interests. Or they end up talking to you about their problems, that means the time schedule has come, or if they don’t, then it’s not the time, but the important thing is, where is your interest?
This person is ready to hear the gospel but because your interest doesn’t lie there, you talk about something else to relieve your stress. So even though you see them, you don’t see them correctly, so being within this state is a blessing. What about your physical things?
Physical Things
These things follow according to God because God moves earthly things for heavenly things. That is why, seek first His Kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. If you need success, then God will give it to you because God has prepared all this to do this work. That’s why when these kinds of remnants arise, the field will change. I hope you will enjoy this kind of blessing every day.
Prayer
God, we thank You. May we be the people who find the thirsty souls. May we confirm this every day through our meetings. In the name of Jesus Christ we pray, amen.