His way is better

Last week I didn't get to go out and witness around the time or day I wanted. I was a little discouraged because the usual large crowd wouldn't be around and things weren't going exactly my way. Often, I forget that God's way is ALWAYS better than mine though. : )

So I arrived at my location pretty late and didn't expect to see very many people around, which I didn't, but prayed that my efforts wouldn't be fruitless. When talking to people, handing out tracts, preaching, we have to always keep in mind that it's not the size of the crowd, how many tracts we hand out, but rather who is in the crowd that God is going to use. What I mean is I could hand out thousands of tract in my life, which I have, and not ever see one person come to repentance and trust in Christ. I could preach to hundreds of people and not see one convert. Does that mean my efforts were in vain? No, because as Christians we are to share our faith regardless of the outcome. Evangelism is all about planting seeds.

I have met individuals that boast over how many people they have "lead to Christ" and list all the things they done, but in essence what matters is that we are wholeheartedly serving God and His command of the Great Commission. If you pass out one tract in your life time or share your faith with one person then God may use that and you are being obedient. Now is that an excuse not to do it again, no. I am emphasizing that we must not be discouraged when we compare our zeal to others unless we feel a godly conviction that we should be doing more for Christ.

This isn't very popular in the evangelical world, but I never pray a prayer with someone after I witness to them unless they ask because I do not want to give them false assurance that they are now saved. There is no one on this earth who can pronounce someone saved and there is no certain prayer or person who can save you except Jesus Christ. There are so many people who have been deceived because they felt that they were "saved" because they prayed a prayer or got dunked in some water. We honestly do not and will not know how many people we lead to Christ because that is a work of the Holy Spirit. Our job is to lead people to the biblical gospel by showing them their need for the Savior and the good news of what Christ did for them.

Now as I walked around I did have the pleasure of having two encounters. I talked with two girls and it was a very good conversation. I believe they understood and they were glad that we talked. The next conversation lasted over an hour with 2 guys and what appeared to be their 2 dates. We went through the good person test and they claimed they were Christians the whole time blaspheming the name of God. However, when we got done they started asking questions about Nostradamus, 2012, why God lets bad things happen, how do we really know that God exists? By the way, I LOVE answering questions because I love discussing these kind of things and if I don't know the answer I will find it for you if at all possible!

One of the individuals was a pastor's daughter, but unfortunately did not have a grasp on what salvation is. Now when I say they don't have a grasp on salvation I mean that someone who is truly a born again Christian will know the gospel and be able to tell someone how to be saved, because how then could that person be? If your salvation didn't involve repentance of sin...then there is something very wrong my friend. Repentance and trust in Christ = Belief. They are two sides of the same coin, not a work that you can do to earn it. Many have tried to say that you can have your cake and eat it too, which is EXTREMELY popular in religion. However, there is no such thing as a carnal Christian, but all who are born again continue to battle sin and grow in sanctification because of what Christ did and our love and reverence for Him. If you claim the title of Christian, but love your sin then please examine yourself to see if you are in the faith. - 2 Corinthians 13:5

Now back to the encounter! I unfortunately see this often and usually the first thing they tell me when we discuss their standing with God is that they are a pastor's daughter/son. One claimed to be "Cathelcism" (Catholic) and this one guy who kept trying to discuss politics and history with me said he was as well, but he corrected her pronunciation. I truly believe that the Lord guided the long conversation that we had because their questions were very sincere and the one girl who was Catholic told me that being in church no one ever answered these questions for her or really explained how to be saved. At first she said she went through confirmation so she thought she was saved, but didn't really understand it. The others agreed as well.

This breaks my heart, and I'm not just saying that because she was raised Catholic. I don't care if you call yourself Catholic, Baptist, or whatever. If you don't have repentance and trust in Christ alone for your salvation then you are just as lost as the rest no matter what title you go by. She genuinely wanted to know how we really stand with God, and if He even exists, and how we can be saved if He is real. I was so blessed by this encounter because they wanted some booklets on Christianity, Science in the Bible, and Salvation that I usually don't carry around with me, but I did that night.

I told them that we were talking for a reason and that I enjoyed talking with them and explained that I really did care about them. I also always try to end by reminding people that 150,000 people die everyday and we don't know when we will and to seriously consider where you will spend eternity. At the end of the conversation they all thanked me and the girl told that me that she truly believes that this would change her life. I pray with all my heart that it does. I've never talked with someone who I believed to be so sincere, but again, we just never know. I would greatly appreciate prayers for those people and that more laborers will rise to serve in the Great Commission and win souls for Christ. Maybe it's you reading this right now. If so, there are great resources at www.livingwaters.com!


Thank you and may God bless you and yours!

In Christ,

Joey Acker

www.needGod.com