And they come unto Him, bringing one sick of the palsy, which was borne of four. Mark 2:3
We all know the story of the little boy who was carrying another boy not much smaller than himself. When somebody asked him if the boy he was carrying was too heavy for him, the lad replied, ‘He ain’t heavy; he’s my brother’. But really, when we think of somebody who has to be carried, we know that it takes two, three, or four people to adequately do the job. Certainly the man in our text needed the help of several of his friends. The palsy from which he suffered had left him paralyzed, or at least without the ability to use his limbs. He was just like the lost sinners around us; they need us to be one of the four to get them to Christ.
Just as it took four people to move the palsied man to the house where Jesus was, so God uses several of His people to reach the lost. First, these four needed to care enough about the man to make the effort. Then they must be aware of what his need was, and who was able to meet that need. The same applies to soul winners in our day. Those who have a love for souls, and who make the effort to bring sinners to the Saviour, are those who see fruit in the Gospel.
One of the four will probably be the preacher. A man exercised in the Gospel, with a message prepared and a burden for the lost souls in his audience, can be part of the team that brings a sinner to the Lord. Through the foolishness of preaching, God uses the words of men to enable the Holy Spirit to strive and convict. But the preacher can’t do all the work.
Just as important as the preacher are the prayer warriors, the men and women who fervently and effectually bear lost souls before the Throne of Grace. Without the prayer warrior, little is achieved in the Gospel.
The soul winners team also includes those Christians whose testimony causes lost sinners to realize that there is something more valuable than what the world can give. They see the happy saint rejoicing in the Lord and living to display Christ in their life. Without Christians with good testimonies, we would have trouble getting anybody to listen to the Gospel.
Beside these three are the workers who perform the necessary tasks for Gospel work. These are the Christians who give out tracts and invitations, who make sure the chairs and hymn books are ready for meetings, who offer people a lift to the meetings, even those who attend the meetings and encourage the preachers.
It takes a soul winners team to bring the unsaved to Christ. Are we all members of such a team? -Jim MacIntosh