I often pray to the see the hand of God at work in life when it is already so obvious. Once I take a step back from the worldliness I am so susceptible to it's as if a veil is torn from my eyes. However, when I pray for something so much I sometimes lose hope over the request and it comes back and hits me like a ton of bricks! This is a great thing by the way!
My wife is pregnant and looks as if she is going to deliver any day now. We also have a toddler that I have to watch like a hawk, because as smart as he is, he gets into everything! This has hindered my evangelism efforts and I find myself frustrated at times, but my first obligation is serving God by being a leader and supporter for my family. I have prayed for balance over this since I became born again and the Lord has truly given me a greater peace over this issue.
Since I haven't been able to go out I have been talking to people on the internet and witnessing that way. Although, internet witnessing is very valuable and God can use it, I prefer talking to someone face to face when it concerns the things of God and their eternal salvation. Now I'm going to explain why I named this post "Providence".
The last couple of weeks I have been leading a Bible study at our house. Yesterday it just so happens to be our Bible study day and no one shows up so we don't have it. I hear someone knocking at the door and it is a pest control salesman trying to get me to switch services. I reluctantly picked up a tract off of my "tract table" by the door where I have a sign for people who enter our house to take tracts or different kinds of booklets or Bibles. So we both talked for a little while and I basically told him in a nice way that I'm probably not interested, but I would like his info. on it.
We were parting ways and I handed him a trillion dollar bill gospel tract. Usually people take them and walk off in a situation like that, which is what I expected him to do. But he started asking me about it and what it was. I told him it was a gospel tract and has a good message on the back, as I was making my way to go inside. (I wasn't prepared nor expecting to have a witnessing encounter). He then asked me what church I went to and I said that I currently do not go to a church, but I am a born again Christian. This is the shocking thing right here. He then told me that he is LDS (Mormon) and he used to be a missionary for years over in France. He doesn't really consider himself one anymore because he has been doubting the existence of God lately and hasn't been doing any good works.
He then asked me how do I know that there is truly a God because lately it has been on his mind a lot because he could die any day and he just doesn't know. This is one of those questions that every evangelist wants to hear and I don't hear someone earnestly ask it very often. We discussed how conscience, creation, and the Bible point to a Creator God. I then asked him if there is a God if he would be good enough to go to Heaven. He replied by saying, "a couple months ago I would have told you I was because of everything I was doing for the church, but now I don't think I would".
So we went through the law of God and the reality of hell along with who the person and deity of Christ is(what we were actually supposed to study at our Bible study that night). I explained the differences of LDS teachings and the Bible. He admitted that what I was saying makes sense, regarding faith and works. He asked me if I was 100% grace and I said yes, but here's the thing, because I knew what he was getting at. It is only by the grace of God that He saved me. There was nothing I could do to merit towards or for my salvation. You can't bribe a judge and you certainly can't bribe God. However, any true Christian saved by grace and changed by the power of God will produce works. Genuine faith without works is dead. A true faith will produce evidence of salvation through its works and fruit. If one is truly changed by God he/she will want to tell others and obey God's Word. Unfortunately, we live in a nation of hypocrisy.
We went through the gospel and talked about repentance and trust in Christ. How Christ is the only way and works cannot save us. I was impressed and touched that this individual asked about this because he told me that he really can't talk to his family and friends about his questions.
I am so thankful to God that he was so open to everything and seemed to grasp an understanding. This must have really been on his heart to boldly ask me what I believed the existence of God to be and how to be saved. I believe God put us in each others paths that evening and I let him know as well. He told me again that it is crazy because he had been thinking about these kind of things and really been struggling lately and didn't have anyone to talk to about it.
I emphasized that I care about him which is why I gave him the tract and was glad we got to talk. I also told him that eternity only has two destinations, not celestial, tellestial, terrestrial heavens, and outer darkness. Because God is so good, loving, and just that He will give sinners what they deserve, which is hell. He is also a righteous and holy judge and it is hard for us to comprehend the severity of what we think is "little sin" because His standard of morality is perfect. Ours is greatly flawed. People forget that God is Creator and we are creation.
Praise God for this experience. I know there are many who don't like gospel tracts, but God truly used it as an opener for this awesome encounter because I embarrassingly and sinfully wasn't planning on talking to Him about how he could be saved when he came to my door. I was uncomfortable (selfish) because I hadn't done it in quite a while and really wanted to just go inside. That is testimony of how much of a selfish sinner I am to this day and I thank the good Lord that He provides forgiveness and repentance when I mess up and sin against Him.
I want to emphasize though that if you have a loved one or friend who is of a different religion or has different beliefs than you, it is not always necessary to know everything about that religion. It is definitely helpful, but the true biblical gospel; by discussing where we stand with God and what sin actually is, which explains their need for the Savior, is and should be at the core of every witnessing encounter. The power of the Holy Spirit through the proclamation of the Gospel is what changes hearts, but again, apologetics and study is extremely useful in having some common ground when it comes to these kind of situations.
Please pray for my new friend Ryan and that the Lord would do a further work on His heart, because I believe with all of mine that He already is.
Thank you for reading and may God bless you and yours!
In Christ,
Joey
