Just Do It!

The late D. James Kennedy was a man with a heart for evangelism.  As the long-time pastor of Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church in Florida, he authored the classic evangelism program, Evangelism Explosion.  Even being the pastor of a large church with many demands, he always scheduled Thursday evenings to share the Gospel with people.

In light of the criticism that he inevitably received as a leader of EE, he had a ready answer.

"I like my way of doing evangelism better than your way of not doing it."

I love this quote!  Pretty sure Jesus does too.

Morris - mid 50s

Last week, I was in Kensington meeting with a new friend who was interested in hearing about our church plant.  After a couple of hours of great conversation, Alan walked several blocks with me to my car.  On the way, we met Morris.

I couldn't tell if Morris was homeless or not, though I suspected so.  He came up to us and asked if we had any money because he was trying to buy a ticket back home to an Indian reservation.  He said he'd been staying with his sister, and he and his wife were in a fight and she had people after him.  I gave him the rest of the change from my pocket.

I asked him his name.  I find that this is simply a human-thing to do.  Especially with the homeless who are used to being overlooked and ignored. 

"Morris" he said, as he extended his hand.

I asked Morris if he had a place to stay.  He told me about his sister's place, but he wasn't welcomed back there.  I told him about the Mustard Seed, which provides shelter for homeless people and those down on their luck.  He said he couldn't go there because his wife had people looking for him.  So I asked him if I could pray for him.

"Are you a man of God?" he asked.

"Well, my friend and I are Christians, and we'd love to pray for you."

He said something to the effect that he believed in the Lord, so I went for it. 

"Can I ask you a question?"

"Sure."

"If you were to die tonight--and I hope you don't--but if you were, what would happen to you?  Would you go to heaven?"

"Yes, I think I would."

"Okay, If God said to you why should I let you into heaven, what would you say?"

He answered, "Because I have always believed in You."

I briefly shared with Morris that lots of people believe in God, but the real issue is are we rightly related to God.  I said that the Bible tells us that we have all sinned, we've all told lies, we've all stolen....

"Sins like drinking alcohol," he added.

I responded by telling him that alcohol is not sinful in and of itself, but it depends on what we do with it.  Certainly getting drunk with it is wrong b/c we are treating it like a savior, asking it to take our troubles away.  All our sins are why the Lord Jesus had to live and die.  He offers to us the forgiveness of sins and eternal life. 

He was nodding his head, so I asked if I could pray for him.  He took a deep breath and said yes.  So I prayed for him, for his marriage, for his safety, and for God to open his heart to understand the Gospel that I had spoken to him.

He was grateful, and we said our goodbyes.  I wish I had a copy of my 2WTL tract to give him, but I didn't have any on me (note to self).  

Looking back on this situation, I wished that I had pressed home with Morris the necessity of personal trust in Jesus, but we had spent about 15 minutes with him & it was cold & windy.  I'm glad that outreach is not dependent upon me, but upon God & his sovereignty.

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John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”

God, since you loved the world so much that you gave your only Son, I ask that you would save Morris  from his sins and enable him to believe in you so that he might not perish, but have everlasting life.