I had the opportunity to share the gospel today at the park. I struck up a conversation with a nice lady. She had her grandson with her so I asked her about him. I told her I am usually interested in older people with little kids because my husband is a bit older and people always ask him if our children are his grandkids. She laughed and asked just how old is he? I told her and she then looked shocked! We visited for a while and then I got to the spiritual. I asked her if she lived nearby and what church she went to. She said she had not gone in two years but when she did go it was 1st Christian. I asked her what she thought about Jesus Christ. She said that she believed you have to know God for a better life and she didn't buy into once saved always saved. She said you have to believe in God to go to heaven. I narrowed it down to Christ alone and she agreed. We then had an interesting talk about faith without works being dead and she really listened to me as I explained what I understood James to be saying in ch. 2 of his book. We actually got to visit for about 45 minutes as our kids played together. She was so nice and the conversation turned to kids and school. Then I turned it back around to spiritual when I asked her if her husband believed that Christ was the only way for eteranal life, if he was trusting in the perfect work of Christ, HIs life, death and resurrection. She told me that was a good question for him and then our conversation was about over. At the end she did say she missed going to church and I told her that I really enjoyed our talk and I would pray for her to get involved in a church where the gospel is the priority. Neat encounter.
I had two great evangelistic encounters the past two days. Yesterday I spoke with a young man that works at Home Depot. I was in my flight suit (it was right after work) and he came up and asked me about flying jets in the military. He helped me carry my things out to my truck as I explained to him the different avenues of approach to becoming a fighter pilot. He seemed very passionate about flying and I asked what he would do if flying did not work out for him – needless to say I think he would be devastated. I explained that God has been good to me and I’ve been able to fly in the military for over 20 years now but I went on to explain that I would give all of it up for the sake of knowing Christ. I explained that being a fighter pilot is dung compared to the richness of knowing Christ and that at the end of our lives it won’t have mattered who we are as much as who we know (Jesus). I went on to explain what I meant by that – shared the Gospel with him and invited him to church.
Today my lovely wife and I were at Mathis Brother (yeah me). I won’t tell you what we bought or how much we spent but in any case it provided a great opportunity to share the Gospel with the salesmen. He lives in South Tulsa so I invited him to MercyHill and explained what we were all about (i.e. the Gospel). He seemed very interested; prayerfully we’ll see him in church Sunday night.
Last night I had a very interesting encounter. It was Homecoming for our team so I took the kids to the parade, then this massive block/street party before the game. It was great, HS kids everywhere and adults. I thought to myself, "there are 100's of people here, find someone to share Christ with girl!". We got our food and sat down. All of a sudden, about 10 kids invaded our table, then they started speaking a foreign language. I asked one of the girls next to me, "are you all HS students here?" She said we are from China and here for a three week exchange program. Her English was perfect and I complimented her on it. We chatted about schools and the differences in them and culture, etc. She said they are having a marvelous time and she thought we were so crazy about this game called football. I told her that I wasn't, that I don't even understand it, then one of my kids said "she loves golf though!" I then asked her what most of the people in her country believe about an after life. She said they don't think much about it, religion is not the main thing over there. I then asked her what SHE thought happened after death. She paused a long while, then she said "I think you just go into the ground and it is all over" I then went thru what the bible teaches about death and judgement and sin and gave her the gospel. I told her that we all have a soul that will never die. I told her that Christ earned our merit for us, He lived a perfect life, died on the cross (taking our de-merit) and rose again. If you believe that you will have eternal life and your soul will never die. It was interesting because as I went through the gospel she would repeat some of my words back to me, not in agreement, but in a way that revealed "yeah yeah I have heard all of this before". So, then she said, "this Christianity you speak of, I think it is a good way to go. You will probably have a good life believing this way." I pushed it further and told her if it is true, we all need to trust this Christ and it will be a very BAD way to go if you don't. She listened and then she kept saying she doesn't see any need to believe it. Then I brought up the resurrection with her and right then her American friend interrupted us with a phone call on her cell that she said was from China. She asked to be excused and I said of course. I waited for her to return but she never did. I will be praying for this young lady.
I had the opportunity to share the gospel today at the park. I struck up a conversation with a nice lady. She had her grandson with her so I asked her about him. I told her I am usually interested in older people with little kids because my husband is a bit older and people always ask him if our children are his grandkids. She laughed and asked just how old is he? I told her and she then looked shocked! We visited for a while and then I got to the spiritual. I asked her if she lived nearby and what church she went to. She said she had not gone in two years but when she did go it was 1st Christian. I asked her what she thought about Jesus Christ. She said that she believed you have to know God for a better life and she didn't buy into once saved always saved. She said you have to believe in God to go to heaven. I narrowed it down to Christ alone and she agreed. We then had an interesting talk about faith without works being dead and she really listened to me as I explained what I understood James to be saying in ch. 2 of his book. We actually got to visit for about 45 minutes as our kids played together. She was so nice and the conversation turned to kids and school. Then I turned it back around to spiritual when I asked her if her husband believed that Christ was the only way for eteranal life, if he was trusting in the perfect work of Christ, HIs life, death and resurrection. She told me that was a good question for him and then our conversation was about over. At the end she did say she missed going to church and I told her that I really enjoyed our talk and I would pray for her to get involved in a church where the gospel is the priority.
ReplyDeleteNeat encounter.
Greetings All –
ReplyDeleteI had two great evangelistic encounters the past two days. Yesterday I spoke with a young man that works at Home Depot. I was in my flight suit (it was right after work) and he came up and asked me about flying jets in the military. He helped me carry my things out to my truck as I explained to him the different avenues of approach to becoming a fighter pilot. He seemed very passionate about flying and I asked what he would do if flying did not work out for him – needless to say I think he would be devastated. I explained that God has been good to me and I’ve been able to fly in the military for over 20 years now but I went on to explain that I would give all of it up for the sake of knowing Christ. I explained that being a fighter pilot is dung compared to the richness of knowing Christ and that at the end of our lives it won’t have mattered who we are as much as who we know (Jesus). I went on to explain what I meant by that – shared the Gospel with him and invited him to church.
Today my lovely wife and I were at Mathis Brother (yeah me). I won’t tell you what we bought or how much we spent but in any case it provided a great opportunity to share the Gospel with the salesmen. He lives in South Tulsa so I invited him to MercyHill and explained what we were all about (i.e. the Gospel). He seemed very interested; prayerfully we’ll see him in church Sunday night.
Looking forward to Monday night –blessings,
Jimmy
Last night I had a very interesting encounter. It was Homecoming for our team so I took the kids to the parade, then this massive block/street party before the game. It was great, HS kids everywhere and adults. I thought to myself, "there are 100's of people here, find someone to share Christ with girl!". We got our food and sat down. All of a sudden, about 10 kids invaded our table, then they started speaking a foreign language. I asked one of the girls next to me, "are you all HS students here?" She said we are from China and here for a three week exchange program. Her English was perfect and I complimented her on it. We chatted about schools and the differences in them and culture, etc. She said they are having a marvelous time and she thought we were so crazy about this game called football. I told her that I wasn't, that I don't even understand it, then one of my kids said "she loves golf though!" I then asked her what most of the people in her country believe about an after life. She said they don't think much about it, religion is not the main thing over there. I then asked her what SHE thought happened after death. She paused a long while, then she said "I think you just go into the ground and it is all over" I then went thru what the bible teaches about death and judgement and sin and gave her the gospel. I told her that we all have a soul that will never die. I told her that Christ earned our merit for us, He lived a perfect life, died on the cross (taking our de-merit) and rose again. If you believe that you will have eternal life and your soul will never die. It was interesting because as I went through the gospel she would repeat some of my words back to me, not in agreement, but in a way that revealed "yeah yeah I have heard all of this before". So, then she said, "this Christianity you speak of, I think it is a good way to go. You will probably have a good life believing this way." I pushed it further and told her if it is true, we all need to trust this Christ and it will be a very BAD way to go if you don't. She listened and then she kept saying she doesn't see any need to believe it. Then I brought up the resurrection with her and right then her American friend interrupted us with a phone call on her cell that she said was from China. She asked to be excused and I said of course. I waited for her to return but she never did. I will be praying for this young lady.
ReplyDelete