Sharing Jesus With Others
The Elderly Man
I was painting the den in his house; he was sitting in a chair just watching me. He was in his mid 80’s. I was somewhat familiar with him and his family as I had painted for him many times before as well as his daughter and sons. I knew he attended church faithfully but I was not sure if he actually was a Christian. I had my back toward him as I painted and said, “You go to church with your family don’t you?” He said he did. I turned to face him and asked, “In all the years that you have been going to church have you ever personally received Jesus into your heart and surrendered yourself to him as Lord?” He thought for a minute and said, “I don’t think I have.”
I thought about what I was going to say next and the Holy Spirit said, “Be quiet”. I turned to the wall and continued painting. One, two, three minutes went by as we both were silent. I said to the Lord, “Shouldn’t I say something, shouldn’t I share the gospel?” He said, “Be quiet, I am working.” Then after about ten minutes or so the gentleman said, “I just can’t stop thinking about what you said.” So while I painted and while he sat I told him the gospel:
That just because he goes to church or is a good person that does not mean he will go to heaven.
That we have all sinned against God and that prevents us from going to heaven.
That Jesus died to pay for our sin – his death for us opens the door making it possible for us to enter into heaven.
That we each must believe in Jesus personally and surrender ourselves to him and let him come into our hearts and lives and take over as our Lord.
I could see he was taking all this in and thinking about it. So I said, “Do you know how to do that?” He said, “No I don’t”. So I talked with him about God. How God loves him and knows everything about him. I told him that talking to God was the same as talking to a person. I told him that he can speak to God in his own words, but that he must believe in his heart and mean it and he must turn himself over to Jesus. Then I did something unusual for most Christians. I told him, “Tonight when you go to bed why don’t you talk to God about this.” He said he would. When I left for the day I told him I would ask him about it tomorrow.
The next day while painting I asked him if he talked with God last night. He said he did and then he said, “Thank you for telling me about that.”
The Elderly Woman
I was painting her back porch when she came out to sweep and pass the time. She looked to me like a woman who has gone to church and reads the Bible so when I asked the question I was expecting a positive answer. I said bluntly, “Do you know Jesus personally?” She said, “I don’t guess I do.” Again the Holy Spirit said, “Wait.” So in a little while she asked me, “Why did you say that?” So I began to tell her the gospel and as I did the Holy Spirit kept telling me to keep it simple and stay on track.” So I did and returned to painting being silent. Again I kept asking the Lord, “Shouldn’t I be saying something, explaining it further?” And again the Holy Spirit said, “Wait.” I just kept on painting and she was just standing there the entire time without moving. Suddenly she said, “When you started telling me all that I just wanted to run away, but I can’t!” The Lord told me that this was the time to confront her about her need to believe and surrender herself to Jesus. So I did and told her also how to simply talk to God in her own words. Then I gave her an example about how to talk to God about believing in Jesus. I asked her if she would like me to help her do that or if she would rather do that on her own. She said she would do it on her own. I believe she did.
Comment
Many times Christians are anxious for someone to “receive Jesus” and rightly so because the consequences are so great. But in our anxiousness we rush people into saying a prayer often telling them to “repeat these words after me.” Doing that might make us feel successful and it might even make the other person feel at peace or religious, but that does not mean that they have truly believed in their heart and truly surrendered their life to HIM. Unless a person understands and believes that the consequences of their decision to accept Christ or reject him truly will result in where they spend eternity then they are not ready to pray. They must in some way come to grips with the facts that heaven and hell are real, that God and Jesus are real, and that God really does require a genuine faith and commitment to Jesus on their part. God has done his part and they in turn must do theirs or all is lost. Anything less is not true faith. God says, ‘He that has the Son has life (not he that prays a prayer), he that does not have the Son does not have life, but the wrath of God abides on him.”
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I was painting the den in his house; he was sitting in a chair just watching me. He was in his mid 80’s. I was somewhat familiar with him and his family as I had painted for him many times before as well as his daughter and sons. I knew he attended church faithfully but I was not sure if he actually was a Christian. I had my back toward him as I painted and said, “You go to church with your family don’t you?” He said he did. I turned to face him and asked, “In all the years that you have been going to church have you ever personally received Jesus into your heart and surrendered yourself to him as Lord?” He thought for a minute and said, “I don’t think I have.”
I thought about what I was going to say next and the Holy Spirit said, “Be quiet”. I turned to the wall and continued painting. One, two, three minutes went by as we both were silent. I said to the Lord, “Shouldn’t I say something, shouldn’t I share the gospel?” He said, “Be quiet, I am working.” Then after about ten minutes or so the gentleman said, “I just can’t stop thinking about what you said.” So while I painted and while he sat I told him the gospel:
That just because he goes to church or is a good person that does not mean he will go to heaven.
That we have all sinned against God and that prevents us from going to heaven.
That Jesus died to pay for our sin – his death for us opens the door making it possible for us to enter into heaven.
That we each must believe in Jesus personally and surrender ourselves to him and let him come into our hearts and lives and take over as our Lord.
I could see he was taking all this in and thinking about it. So I said, “Do you know how to do that?” He said, “No I don’t”. So I talked with him about God. How God loves him and knows everything about him. I told him that talking to God was the same as talking to a person. I told him that he can speak to God in his own words, but that he must believe in his heart and mean it and he must turn himself over to Jesus. Then I did something unusual for most Christians. I told him, “Tonight when you go to bed why don’t you talk to God about this.” He said he would. When I left for the day I told him I would ask him about it tomorrow.
The next day while painting I asked him if he talked with God last night. He said he did and then he said, “Thank you for telling me about that.”
The Elderly Woman
I was painting her back porch when she came out to sweep and pass the time. She looked to me like a woman who has gone to church and reads the Bible so when I asked the question I was expecting a positive answer. I said bluntly, “Do you know Jesus personally?” She said, “I don’t guess I do.” Again the Holy Spirit said, “Wait.” So in a little while she asked me, “Why did you say that?” So I began to tell her the gospel and as I did the Holy Spirit kept telling me to keep it simple and stay on track.” So I did and returned to painting being silent. Again I kept asking the Lord, “Shouldn’t I be saying something, explaining it further?” And again the Holy Spirit said, “Wait.” I just kept on painting and she was just standing there the entire time without moving. Suddenly she said, “When you started telling me all that I just wanted to run away, but I can’t!” The Lord told me that this was the time to confront her about her need to believe and surrender herself to Jesus. So I did and told her also how to simply talk to God in her own words. Then I gave her an example about how to talk to God about believing in Jesus. I asked her if she would like me to help her do that or if she would rather do that on her own. She said she would do it on her own. I believe she did.
Comment
Many times Christians are anxious for someone to “receive Jesus” and rightly so because the consequences are so great. But in our anxiousness we rush people into saying a prayer often telling them to “repeat these words after me.” Doing that might make us feel successful and it might even make the other person feel at peace or religious, but that does not mean that they have truly believed in their heart and truly surrendered their life to HIM. Unless a person understands and believes that the consequences of their decision to accept Christ or reject him truly will result in where they spend eternity then they are not ready to pray. They must in some way come to grips with the facts that heaven and hell are real, that God and Jesus are real, and that God really does require a genuine faith and commitment to Jesus on their part. God has done his part and they in turn must do theirs or all is lost. Anything less is not true faith. God says, ‘He that has the Son has life (not he that prays a prayer), he that does not have the Son does not have life, but the wrath of God abides on him.”
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