Several years ago, I was a guest of another church at a Christian Conference Centre and one speaker’s subject was Why Witness? He started with this challenging statement. “The problem today is that too many preachers are trying to do the work of the Holy Spirit by trying to convict their listeners of sin”. This was based on John 16 depending on which translation you read. The apostle Paul established his priorities in 1 Corinthians 2.
I recall my early years, when I was blessed to be born and raised in a Christian home, regularly attending Sunday Services, and becoming familiar with the Bible from an early age. Reading a prayer letter from a Christian Radio broadcaster I was interested to hear of a listener who had asked for a Bible. This made me consider where a person would start who had never read the Bible before. Usually, we read a book from the first pages to the last and I imagine a new reader of the Bible might struggle when reaching the book of Leviticus. Some evangelical organisations have suggested the gospels of Mark or John.
I recall the story told by a Christian young woman who on approaching her 18th birthday asked her non-Christian godfather to come and have tea with her on her birthday Sunday. She had been praying for him for some time and was pleased when he agreed to attend the church that evening but was disappointed when the preacher announced his text as “after this, he died”. Though her godfather thanked her, this did not encourage her, thinking he had only been polite.
About 2 weeks later, she received a phone call from him to say that he had become a Christian. Somewhat amazed that her prayers had been answered, she stuttered, “Why?” to which he replied, “I couldn’t get that phrase out of my head”.
A friend of mine was in the habit of saying, “God doesn’t call us to be successful, only faithful”.
PRAYER: O use me Lord, use even me, just as thou wilt, and when and where,
Frances Ridley Havergal (1836-1879)