REAL LIFE

Marvin, Dan and Chuck. Every time I turned around these friends of mine were talking to some stranger about Jesus. My friends didn't know each other. At times, each one made my life uncomfortable. Sometimes, I was embarrassed as I was conducting business in a restaurant, and one of them was at a booth or table with an arm wrapped around a total stranger, praying the sinner's prayer in a crowded dining room.

Today, I thank God for the legacy of these men. Each was a "soul winner" and they engaged in "personal witnessing" as a natural, normal part of life - like breathing. In real life, most Christians do not engage in assertive personal witnessing. We have a hard time accepting the mantle of "soul winner." Often, we are ashamed of our obvious failure to proclaim our friendship with Jesus Christ to others and our seeming indifference to the plight of eternally lost men and women.

Something is missing, isn't there? Recently, I drove down a main street in my town with a friend. We noticed people at bus stops, lounging on corners, some in wheelchairs, some walking. We began talking about how few Christians are out walking  the main streets of cities like ours for the express purpose of soul winning and personal witnessing. And, then we talked about all of the churches in the area that will be packed on the coming Sunday with tens of thousands of people "worshiping" God, but no one is out on the streets talking to people about Jesus, about eternity, about death, about hell and a lake of fire.

I've talked about this paradox to a lot of veteran Christians. People who taught Sunday School, sang in the choir, been a deacon or elder, been on boards and sessions and committees and on and on it goes. We seem to be "Church" people who never go outside our churches for the express purpose of soul winning and personal witnessing.

Folks, I think we have a problem! Jesus said, "All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, to the end of the age." Matt. 28:18-20. And again, "And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all to myself." John 12:32. And he said, "you shall be witnesses to me in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth." Acts 1:8. 

Today, it appears that we have withdrawn into our castles (our churches and homes). We have filled our moats with water, and we let the drawbridge down only on Sunday. We advertise for people to come to us, and we label it "reaching out."

My dear, friend - we will never be effective soul winners and personal witnesses for Jesus Christ if we stay isolated in our safe, secure castles and we don't get out where real people live and hurt.

Here are a few examples of people impacting people for you to ponder:

“One summer I worked in the kitchen of a bar and restaurant. I was hurting inside, trying to find a reason for my little 2 ½ year old daughter’s recent death after being hit by a car. I often cried while the dishwasher ran so no one would hear me. During the day I sold drugs, during the night I used drugs, worked in the bar, and drank after work so I could sleep.” SHELLY JENKINS says that a neighbor prayed for her, then some Christians began to visit her and witness to her. One day, she prayed a sinners prayer just to get rid of them. The lady came back later but Shelley pretended not to be at home. When she left the house that night to go to work, Shelley found a little brown New Testament lying by the door, put it in her purse and began the long walk to the bar. It was an emotionally rough night at work that night. She pulled out the New Testament and began to read it - she was raised in a Jewish home and had never read the Bible. All summer she continued to read that book. She started attending a church in the neighborhood. Now 5 years later Shelley is happy so report that “I am a child of the King.”

WARREN MARTIN, was handling an insurance problem for Fred Ramirez in Simi Valley, CA.. He says, “We later talked about spiritual issues. When Fred showed interest, I set aside all insurance paperwork, and showed him the plan of salvation from my Personal Worker Testament. He was wondrously saved, and later attended a Bible class I taught. When his home suffered a 70% casualty loss, my company handled the claim. I gave Fred's wife 2 New Testaments for their teenage children, who later became Christians also. Fred's daughter married and lives in Southern California. His son also married, and attended a church in Simi Valley with his wife.

LYN RICKERT’S father was an alcoholic. He was humiliated by what the bottle was doing to his life, but no resolution he made was strong enough to break the bondage that held him. One day he met a stranger who offered him a little New Testament. Lyn’s father had an 8^th grade education, but did not know how to read so he started sounding out the words and he began reading that testament. One day, out in the country where he lived, he dropped to his knees besides some sagebrush and prayed to God. At that moment a miraculous transformation occurred; he said, “It felt like demons were leaving my body. I was free and clean, and the desire for alcohol completely left me.