HOW TO CLASSIFY PEOPLE
FOR GOSPEL PREACHING

1. Those who live in sins.
2. Those who are empty.
3. Those who are knowledgeable and rational.
4. The moral ones.
5. The self-righteous ones.
6. The atheists.
7. The polytheists.
8. Those who are disgusted with the world.
9. Lovers of pleasures and vainglory.
10. The realists.
11. Those who are ambitious and capable of great achievements.
12. Lovers of money.
13. Lovers of knowledge.
14. Lovers of fame, wealth, and position.
15. The antagonists.
16. The skeptics.
17. Those who are sad, pessimistic, and miserable.
18. The stubborn ones.
19. The churchgoers.
20. Those who are indifferent.

HOW TO DEAL WITH PEOPLE

1. With one who lives in sins:
   1. With one who does not yet sense his sinfulness:
      1. (1) Touch the misery of sinning and his conscience to make him conscious of his sins; however, avoid overdoing it lest he become disgusted.
      2. (2) Exercise your wisdom not to make him feel that you are condemning him.
   2. With one who senses his sinfulness but cannot save himself:
      1. (1) In principle, try to increase his feeling concerning sins.
      2. (2) Help him to sense the misery of sin.
      3. (3) Make him aware of the charge of sin against him before God and make him sense the weight of it.
      4. (4) Make him know that the issue of committing sins is death and that the more sins one commits, the sooner one dies; moreover, there is judgment after death.
      5. (5) Lead him to know the Lord’s redemption and deliverance.
      6. (6) Do not point out too many ways of getting saved; rather, simply lead him to touch the Lord and receive Him by opening his mouth to pray.
2. With one who is empty:
   1. Do not try to touch his feelings in the same way as you would with one in the first category.
   2. Do not refer to his background. For example, with one who has a certain addiction, do not say anything about that particular addiction; with one who lost her husband, do not mention anything concerning “husband.”
   3. Let him know that God is the contents of man and the meaning of human life and that man feels empty because man is without God.
   4. Lead him to see that the way for man to have satisfaction is for him to gain God.
3. With one who is knowledgeable and rational:
   1. Absolutely refrain from talking about knowledge (since this category of people enjoys talking about knowledge). Make him feel as if you are not knowledgeable.
   2. Do not directly point out his lack.
   3. Deal with his knowledge by giving real testimonies, such as the joy of salvation, peace, and freedom, to make him sense that his knowledge is almost like a theory, without practical usefulness, thus causing him to sense his real need.
4. With one who is moral:
   1. Praise morality first.
   2. Make him feel that his morality is inadequate.
   3. Make him know that only the highest life can produce the highest morality. Use Romans 7 to show him that without the highest life, one has only the will but not the power to do good.
   4. Tell him that Christ is able to be man’s highest life and thus create in him a heart that desires Christ.
5. With one who is self-righteous:
   1. Begin your talk with God, just as God dealt with Job.
   2. Make him see God’s greatness, excellence, extensiveness.
   3. Present to him God’s required standard and the Lord’s human living so that he can measure himself by them.
6. With an atheist:
   1. Do not debate concerning the existence of God; rather, touch his feeling because that which is known of God is manifest within man (Rom. 1:19). Even the strongest atheist has questions deep down in his heart concerning atheism.
   2. Also touch his conscience. The feeling of the conscience is the sense of morality, and the source of morality is God.
7. With a polytheist:
   1. Do not refute him in theory; rather, give him facts to show him the result of worshipping many gods.
   2. Make him see that “oneness” is the most orthodox thing in the universe, such as one father and one mother, one husband and one wife, one chief of state, one sun; hence, there can be only one God.
8. With one who is disgusted with the world:
   1. Do not scare him with hell, but make him see how God dearly loves him. He is the one lost sheep out of the hundred. Tell him the three parables in Luke 15.
   2. Make him know that God cannot do without him and that God has predestinated him to have the best blessings.
9. With one who loves pleasures and vainglory:
   1. Make him know that he has the need of God within him and that he falls into seeking pleasures and the things of vainglory because he fails to find God.
   2. Show him God’s loveliness and the real joy and real glory in God. When he sees what is the best, he will give up what is next to the best.
10. With a realist:
    1. Make him see that only a man who possesses the Lord is a true realist because only the Lord is the true reality.
    2. Then by sharing with him the testimonies and life of the saved ones, make him see that only by being saved can he have the reality.
11. With one who is ambitious and capable of great achievements:
    1. First praise him a little.
    2. Lead him to see that human strength is limited, and use Philippians 2:13 to show him that only the Lord is truly the power that causes man to have the will and the capability for great achievements.
    3. God created man that man may have achievements. However, it is only by having the life of God that man can truly have achievements and a worthy human life.
12. With one who loves money:
    1. To a rich man who is critically ill you may use Matthew 16:26 to increase his sense concerning the inadequacy of money.
    2. To a rich man enjoying peace and ease you may speak something by way of hinting in order to give him the sense that there are things that money cannot do, though it is considered to be all-powerful. Show him by intimation that money cannot buy peace, life, or God’s salvation.
13. With one who loves knowledge:
    1. Find out first his motive for learning.
    2. To one who considers learning as a preference, make him see that God is more preferable than learning and most suitable to man’s taste.
    3. To one who acquires learning in order to solve the problems of human life and to seek out the prospects of human life, make him see that the prospects of human life are hinged on God and that God is the highest prospect of the human life.
14. With one who loves fame, wealth, and position:
    1. Deal with him as you would with one who is a lover of pleasures and vainglory.
    2. Make him see that although the world is lovable, there is One who is more lovable. Set before him God and all that God desires to give to man, and let him make a comparison between God and all that is of the world.
15. With one who is antagonistic:
    1. Ignore his antagonism; rather, deal with him by presenting facts.
    2. If his antagonism is due to his misunderstanding about the church, you may give a little explanation.
16. With one who is a skeptic:
    1. Make him know that his problem is with his mind. Although in his mind he doubts about the Lord Jesus, in his heart he senses the need of the Lord.
    2. Help him to get out of the doubting in his mind and to take care of the feeling in his heart.
17. With one who is sad, pessimistic, and miserable:
    1. Introduce the Lord to him that he may know that all the miseries of human life are due to the absence of God.
    2. Let him know that only God can solve his problems.
18. With one who is stubborn:
    1. You may deal with him only in a gentle way.
    2. Do not argue by reasoning with him, because it will only cause him to be more stubborn. Rather, show him the love of God because God’s love is gentle yet powerful.
19. With a churchgoer:
    1. Let him know that the salvation of the Lord is not merely an empty doctrine, but that it is practical and can enable him to receive the Lord’s life. Therefore, he must seek to obtain the Lord’s life and not merely listen to sermons. (Do not be too explicit about this.)
    2. Lead him to contact and receive the Lord by exercising his spirit.
20. With one who is indifferent:
    1. Create in him a need and make him conscious of it.
    2. Lead him to contact the Lord.