COMPEL
THEM TO COME IN,
THAT MY HOUSE MAY BE FILLED
Luke 14:23 – And the lord said unto
the servant, Go out in the highways and hedges, and COMPEL THEM TO COME IN,
THAT MY HOUSE MAY BE FILLED.
This Scripture along with the
following notes popped up in my facebook memories from April 13, 2022. As I was
praying a year ago about soul winning, that Scripture came to my mind.
Jesus was giving a parable about a
Great Supper (Luke 14:16-24). He told
how that many were invited, but when the supper was ready they all made excuses
as to why they couldn’t come… too busy, have other obligations to attend to,
something else is taking priority, spending time with family was more
important, and so on. They gave the same
excuses many give nowadays as to why they can’t come to Church.
The first invitation was joyous: “Come
and dine!” But so many refused, not realizing what they were giving up for
earthly things.
The master of the house became angry
at their excuses, so he next sent them to invite those who are poor, and maimed
(crippled), and the halt (limping), and the blind. Because those who have needs and are not rich
in the things of this world are more likely to receive Him gladly.
The servants did as they were
instructed and some must have responded and came, yet they reported back to the
master of the house that there was still room. So, Jesus said the lord
instructed them to go to the highways and hedges and COMPEL them to come in so
that His House may be FILLED.
Compel means: (1) force or oblige
someone to do something (2) bring about something by the use of force or pressure
(3) literally means to force.
This is completely opposite of
how most think and operate when it comes to soul winning. I know we can’t literally force someone to live
for Jesus, but we need to COMPEL them as much as is possible using Godly wisdom
because time is running out. We don’t
want our family, our friends, or anyone to be lost for eternity.
If you have someone who keeps
seeming to badger and hound you about coming to Church, you need to thank God
for them. They care about your soul and
where you spend eternity enough to risk making you upset with them. But they’re doing it because they love
you.
Don’t stop compelling others to
make the choice to live for Jesus. So
what if they think you’re being a little extra or a bit strange. What is that in comparison to eternity?
The harvest is plenteous, but the
laborers are few. (Mt 9:37) There are not very many who will actually go out
and knock doors, invite people to come to Church, and teach Bible studies. We
each need to pray therefore that the Lord of the harvest will teach us how to
be a laborer in His field. Don’t look
and pray for someone else to do it. He gave
each and every one of us the ‘Great Commission’….
Matthew 28:19-20 – GO ye
therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the NAME of the Father, and
of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.
Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you…
Has anyone ever fished? Does anyone like to fish?
I personally do not care for
fishing because when you are fishing, you may sit there for hours casting out
your line then reeling it back in, doing this over and over without catching
anything. You may catch a minnow or a crawdad
that you keep throwing back and they keep coming back. Or you may catch one, possibly two small fish
the entire time you are out. All that
work with very little to show for it. Yet, you may go back out on a different
day at a different time and catch fish after fish after fish.
Jesus wants us to become fishers
of men.
Mark 1:17 – And Jesus said unto
them, Come ye after Me, and I will make you to become fishers of men.
We need to each be praying every
day for Jesus to make us to become Fishers of Men. That is what He has called us to do…reach for
the lost. As we follow Jesus (drawing
closer to Him daily through prayer, Bible reading, and often denying the flesh
through fasting), He said He will make us to become fishers of men.
I believe Jesus was drawing a
correlation between fishing for fish and fishing for souls. Sometimes you’ll fish all night and catch
nothing….you’ll be reaching and witnessing and inviting and yet no one responds,
no one comes. Then, all of a sudden, we
feel Jesus leading us to ‘cast our net on the other side’ and suddenly there
are many responding. We can’t give up
just because we have not seen a harvest.
Keep reaching, keep casting your net because the next cast out may be
the one that brings in a net full.
We all need to be reaching for
the lost while we can. We need to look
at each person we meet or pass with eternity in mind, because this could be the
day when they step foot into eternity. Where will they spend it?
Was there a door of opportunity
to try to witness to someone or invite them to Church that we ignored? Did we
try to tell them about Jesus Christ?
There will be specific people that
only you will be able to reach. The Pastor
does what he can but he’s only one person.
If you reach and reach and reach and only one comes, that is one more
soul on their way to heaven. You never know
how God will use that one that you reached.
What are you doing to reach your
family, friends, co-workers, acquaintances for Jesus?
Sometimes our hindrances in
reaching out to the lost could be….
Fear of what they’ll think – it really
is sad that many will ‘claim’ to be a Christian yet will make fun or laugh at
someone for reading their Bible or praying over their meal or talking/posting
mainly about Jesus. It is backwards. A real
Christian wants to talk about Jesus and read His Word.
Jesus said if you’re ashamed of
Him, He’ll be ashamed of you. (Mark 8:38,
Luke 9:26, Romans 1:16) We’re living in an adulterous and sinful generation as
Jesus said. Keep shining your light because
it matters mainly what Jesus thinks and gaining His approval. Those who mock and make fun may not show any
signs of moving toward God now, but you never know if that seed planted will
one day take root and begin to grow years from now.
Fear of not knowing what to say – this is
especially difficult for those who are not outgoing. Pray and ask Jesus to put the right words in
your mouth. One lady was having trouble knowing what to
say but finally realized she could read a quick Bible study to someone once the
door was opened. God helped her with the
rest of what to say. When you open your
mouth in obedience, God will fill it and
use you.
Fear that they’ll get angry with
us
– “I don’t want to make them mad.” A few
may get angry, but many will not. Those
who get angry will one day regret it and wish they had listened instead. If they get angry, don’t return venom for
venom. Just walk away silently, try to
maintain a good countenance, and pray for them.
They don’t realize how bound they are, and we may not see what Jesus is
doing inside of them to change their heart.
If we respond inappropriately, it could fuel their anger toward the
Church and cause them to never come. But
a peaceful response may stick in their mind and work on their heart.
2 Timothy 1:7 - God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but
of POWER (that power comes when we receive the Holy Ghost – Acts 1:4), and of LOVE
(loving others can reach them more than words can at times so let the love of
Christ flow out of you to others), and of a SOUND MIND (this word means
disciplined, having self-control. When
others react harshly toward us, we need to exhibit self-control and not open
our mouth to return evil for evil just as Jesus did not open His mouth to
retort when He was being reviled and spit upon.).
The Bible says, ‘he that winneth
souls is wise.’ (Prov 11:30) Pray for God to give you wisdom on how to
reach them and what to say.
The enemy of our souls wants us
to think and believe that we’re not capable of winning the lost. He’ll give us excuses such as, ‘that’s not my
calling.’ Yes, it is! It is the calling of each and every person
that Jesus redeems from the mire of sin.
When we receive the Holy Ghost, He gives us the power to be His
witnesses….
Acts 1:8 – But ye shall receive
POWER, AFTER that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be WITNESSES
unto Me…
We DO have the ability and God
wants to use each of us to reach those in our circle of influence.
One soul winner wrote that he follows
this rule: he shakes off the feeling of
rejection immediately and tries to reach for someone else almost right away because
he realizes some will, some won’t, so what? Someone’s waiting, somewhere. That’s a good rule to follow.
With some, you can reach them
with the Gospel Truth and they’re open to receive a Bible study right away. Others, may have a wall of resistance up so
you have to be wise. You may need to
build on friendship with them first by inviting them over for coffee and
cookies, calling to check on them, having small chats. Eventually, the door may open for you to
witness to them.
With some, it will take persistence. These are the ones that you will need to
COMPEL to come in that God’s House may be filled.
Some will be time wasters – They want
your time and your attention and to see what all you will do for them. It doesn’t matter what you show them in the
Scriptures, they do not want to change or be converted. Pray for wisdom and discernment to know when
it is time to move on to find a truly hungry soul.
Ways we can help visitors and new
converts:
As we see more and more people
enter the Church doors, we all know to be friendly and welcoming. Everyone does a great job making them feel
welcome.
Smiles can help a person feel
more comfortable. 😊
Visitors – our goal and
commission from Jesus is to reach the lost and help convert a sinner from the error
of their ways. I know this sounds
redundant but it needs to be taught in all of our churches: if a person visits from a neighboring Truth
teaching Church, make them feel welcome but don’t try to pull them out of their
Church to start coming to ours. Our mission
is to reach the lost, not sow discord among the brethren. Trying to knowingly convince someone to leave
their Church that already teaches Truth to switch to another Church is sowing
of discord and God calls it an abomination (Prov 6:16-19). It is something God hates so we want to be careful
not to do that.
Pray during prayer time – this examples
to the visitor that we are here to worship Jesus. Pre-service prayer also helps to get the
focus on Jesus and can affect whether the Spirit of God can freely flow and move
during service.
If someone or even children come and
start to chat with you during prayer time (unless it’s a first time visitor), you
can quietly and politely try to bring the conversation to an end. If need be, you can ask them if they can help
you pray for your needs and offer to help pray with them for theirs. We need to
example the importance of prayer. We reserve the 10 minutes before service
starts to greet each other and any visitors.
If you can get their contact
information, call or visit them and try to build a friendship with them. Some of you will be able to establish and build
a friendship with them quicker than the pastor/pastor’s wife.
Guard your words. Don’t let the visitors/new converts hear you gossiping
or talking negative about others. One: it’s not pleasing to God. Two: it could turn them away from coming
back. I’ve seen some chew on and tear
up this one, and that one, and also the pastor yet they can’t understand WHY
their family member will not come to Church.
☹ Our words can help or they can hurt.
Matthew 9:37-38 - Then saith He
unto His disciples, the harvest truly is plenteous, but the labourers are
few; pray therefore the Lord of the
harvest, that He will send forth labourers into His harvest.
Too many look at it as ‘someone
else’s job’ or the pastor’s responsibility to grow the Church and get upset
with him when it doesn’t. The pastor preaches
and teaches and he oft times reaches, but it is the responsibility of every
Born Again Christian to reach the lost.
If every born again Christian would
grasp that concept, the harvest would be easier to reach and reap. Jesus said the harvest is PLENTEOUS. We look at it as being small and hard to
reach.
John 4:35 – Say ye not, there are
yet four months, and then cometh harvest? Behold, I say unto you, LIFT UP YOUR
EYES, AND LOOK ON THE FIELDS; for they are white already to harvest.
It’s not that the harvest is
small and hard to reach. It’s not that
they’re not ready. The problem is that
the laborers are few therefore the harvest is not being reaped, because we’re not
doing what Jesus commissioned us to do.
Jesus, help us to get a burden,
get out into the field, and COMPEL THEM to come in that Your House may be
filled.
Scriptural
Prayers for the Prodigals and the Lost
Lord Jesus, we pray that you
would deliver them from the power of darkness and translate (transfer) them
into Your Kingdom. (Colossians 1:13)
Redeem them through Your Blood
and forgive their sins. (Colossians 1:14)
Open their eyes and turn them from
darkness to Light. Turn them from the
power of satan unto God so they may receive forgiveness of sins. (Acts 26:18)
Move on them to repent, turn to
God, and do works meet (suitable) for repentance. (Acts 26:20)
Help them to seek the things which
are above (spiritual, holy, to seek Jesus Christ). (Colossians 3:1)
Help them to set their affections
on things above, not on the things on this earth. (Colossians 3:2)
Help them to get a hunger and thirst
for Righteousness. Help them to crave
for You and Your Word. Let nothing else
satisfy. (Matthew 5:6)
Jesus, Your Word says that the Gospel
is hid to them that are lost because the god of this world hath blinded the
minds of them that believe not, lest the Light of the Glorious Gospel of Christ
should shine on them. Jesus, we are
praying that you would remove the blinders from their eyes. Help them to see and believe the Gospel. Let Your Light shine on them and dispel the
spiritual darkness that has blinded and bound them for far too long. Command the Light to shine out of the
darkness and into their hearts bringing understanding. (2 Corinthians 4:3-6)
Thank You, Jesus, for Your longsuffering
to them and to all of us. We know
according to Your Word that You are not willing that any should perish. Your desire is for all to come to
repentance. Lead them to repent, turn
from all sins, and turn to serve You with all of their heart. (2 Peter 3:9)
Help them to purge themselves of
all iniquity and sin. Make them into a
vessel of honour (valuable to You), sanctified (purified), and meet (prepared)
for the Master’s use unto every good work. (2 Timothy 2:21)
