When God LITERALLY puts the opportunity on your doorstep...

This past Saturday our neighborhood was visited by a local group of Jehovah's Witnesses.  I was excited because the last couple of times they had been through our community my family and I were not at home and so we only knew they had been there by the pamphlet left on the door.  But this day we were home.  I spent probably the better part of an hour speaking with a young man named Taylor.  We spent a very short amount of time in debate and I quickly tried to move to addressing his conscience.

All the while I'm praying in my mind, 'God please, please save this man.'  He was not at all receptive to the Gospel as one would obviously expect, he would not take a Gospel tract from me nor consent that he would even consider the claims I'd made in our conversation.

My heart was hurting for him, and then, seeing that he was making no progress in converting me, he was preparing to leave when he made a comment that sent my flesh raging but has since turned to sorrow and now conviction. (Hence the writing of this post)

Taylor said to me, "Sir, you seem fully convinced of the faith you hold." To which I replied, "I am, I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I've committed unto Him against that day."  Taylor smiled and somewhat smugly said, "Well I live in Duncanville and if you are truly convinced that what you have told me is true, then start knocking on door sharing your message until you find me."

With that he promised to return some time in the future to speak with me again.  I know not whether I will ever see Taylor again at my door or whether I will ever find him in town to speak to him about the true Gospel again.  I can, at this point, only continue to pray that whether I ever see him again or not that God will save him and I will one day see him in Heaven.

My flesh was sent raging by his comment... my immediate thought was... how dare he suggest such a thing to me... that I have prove something to him...  I was enraged and because God has graciously given me opportunities and strength to witness on the streets I wanted to launch into a barrage of boasting of what I had done and planned on doing and so on... I wanted to shout at him, 'You foolish man!  REPENT!'

As I said, that was my flesh speaking and not the Spirit.  But I said nothing.  I smiled and shook his hand, thanked him for the polite conversation and left him to his way.

Since Saturday I have lost much sleep thinking about his words.  The question I posed to myself has been, do I excuse away a lack of witnessing often simply because I do it on occasion?  Do I feel that what time I do spend in evangelism is a cause for boasting in myself?  I'm afraid it often is, or at the least it is a temptation.  My wise friend, Rick, once told me that the heart of a legalist beats in us all.  How true that is.

His comments quickly moved me to sorrow.  Here he is, this man who is pushing a false gospel that does not save (Galatians 1:6-10) and he is hitting the streets under the conviction that what he believes is true.  Yet here we are with the truth (John 14:6) and we scarcely speak of Christ with friends let along strangers.

Christians, are we failing in our calling to fulfill the Great Commission (Mark 16:15).  Where are we?  I realize that the Mormons and Jehovah's Witnesses have made "door knocking" much more difficult and I realize that many people do not want to be bothered at their home.  Fine, get on the streets in the public parks and plead with sinners to turn from sin and find forgiveness in Christ Jesus who has died for them!

I am not being the best steward of the commission to witness that I ought to be and so I am asking you to pray for me and in turn I would love to pray for you.  That God would increase our boldness and shake us to the core with a passion for sharing His Gospel with every person we come in contact with.

And so the conviction, I'm praying God present me with more opportunities to share the Gospel and that when that time comes that I will not shirk away but be emboldened by His Spirit to plead with sinners to repent and turn to Christ (Mark 1:15).

“If every one of your Christians would every day make known Christ to somebody, what a missionary organization we should be!” -- Charles Spurgeon

-- Find out more on the beliefs of a Jehovah's Witness.

Video: The Gospel by Eric Ludy

How do we call ourselves a "civilized" people and yet allow this?

How can we claim to be so much more advanced than previous generations gone by and yet we allow the slaughter of over 4,000 babies per day in the United States alone.  May God have mercy on those who are committing these atrocities and may He Sovereignly choose to draw them unto repentance that they might repent of their sin, not just this but all their sin, and be forgiven by His matchless grace.  Placing their faith in Jesus Christ and hoping in Him alone for salvation.

Here me closely.  Abortion is murder.  Make no mistake.  However, if you have had an abortion... or you are the "doctor" (and I use that term loosely) who has performed an abortion, or the nurse that has aided one... or whatever your role... God will still forgive you.  You cannot out sin God's saving Hand.  Turn to Him this day and be forgiven.  He will forgive you not only for this, for this sin is not the only weight around your neck, but all your sin (1 John 1:9).  Jesus died to take the wrath of God for all your sin.  He is a sufficient and efficient Savior!

Trust Him today.  And to the Believers... rise up and proclaim the Gospel boldly in your communities.  The answer to the problem of rampant abortions is not going to be found in new legislation or hate campaigns... the only way lives and hearts will change is if God saves these individuals... God has called Christians to preach the unadjusted pure Gospel to the lost and dying world.  Let's get on it Christians, preach the Gospel to all that God might send a revival to our nation through the salvation of many!