Today I had a conversation with a gentleman while I was out at one of my foreclosed properties doing an inspection. As I was starting my inspection a truck pulled into the driveway to inquire about the property. Right away I was thinking Lord I need to witness to this man and looking for a way to spin the conversation to the things of God. The gentlemen never did get out of his vehicle and as we chatted about the house, I happened to notice a bible sitting on the passenger seat along with a (Minister) sticker on the floor board. One thing I have learned here lately is, if you are praying and asking the Lord to provide opportunities to witness, He is good to not only provide the opportunities but to make available an easy transition into spiritual things. I always pray that the Lord will bring the right person into contact with me and today I was blessed to get a Baptist preacher.
I only chatted for about 5 minutes about my foreclosed property, because I really wanted to get down to the real business – (God, Salvation, Heaven, Hell, etc…). Don’t get me wrong here, I am always looking to make a sale on one of my properties. But whether I sale the property personally or someone else sells it for me really does not matter in big scheme of things. Where people spend eternity is the greatest issue we all face.
For the purpose of this blog I will only use the first name of the gentlemen I met today. I quickly found out Clarice was a local Pastor at a small Baptist church in the area. Right away I was thinking to myself, “I wonder if he is going to witness to me” which he never did. My mind told me not to worry about his salvation, I thought if he was a pastor there was a 99% chance he was saved and no need to witness to him, but my conscience and I believe the Holy Spirit said, “Witness to this man” so that’s what I did. I started the spiritual conversation the same way I do with most self professing Christians. I learned this technique through the Living Waters Ministry and especially some helpful tips from Tony the Lawman. Here is short summary of how our conversation went.
ME “Pastor Clarice. What do you think happens to people when they die?”
Now I was expecting something like, if you are covered by the blood of Christ and saved you will go to heaven and if your not you will go to hell. Well I was a little taken back by Pastor Clarice’s answer.
PC “Well do you mean the rapture.”
ME “No if someone dies today what happens to them?”
PC “Well nothing is going to happen until the resurrection.”
ME “Ok I understand the resurrection of all people, but is there going to be a judgment?”
PC “Yes, yes there will be a judgment.”
Ok finally I was thinking we are getting somewhere. Pastor Clarice did say he believed in Heaven and Hell, which only took us about 5 minutes to get there. I could have got this information out of him quicker, but was really hoping that he as a Pastor would have said hell a lot sooner than he did. Because it took so long to get him to say people will either go to Heaven or Hell when they die, I really felt like the Holy Spirit was leading me to witness full force like I would with anyone else.
ME “Pastor Clarice. If you walked up to me and I was dying and only had 3 minutes to live and was not saved. How would you witness to me?”
Pastor Clarice started like everyone else.
PC “Well I would tell you Jesus loves you and died for you. You are a sinner…”
ME “I don’t believe in Jesus. Even if I did belief in him, how does the fact of him loving me help me once I’m dead? Plus I’m not a sinner, I have seen the people that go to church, their all hypocrites.”
PC “Well if you do not believe in Jesus there is nothing I can do for you.”
Now this really hit me hard and saddened my heart. Here is a Pastor that is telling me in our fake analogy that there is nothing he can do for me if I don’t believe. I felt like he was giving up on me. He did mention the bible to which I told him I did not believe in the bible. Pastor Clarice fumbled around for the next 2 minutes, never did he even try to quote any scripture or tell me that God is holy. He said a couple of times I was a sinner to which I would point out to him I was no worse than anyone else. He never said anything about breaking God’s law, etc…After the three minutes expired I somberly said,
ME “I guess based on what you and I believe, I’m going to hell now that I’m dead.”
PC “Yeah I guess you are.”
ME “Pastor Clarice can I share with you how I would witness in three minutes?”
PC “Sure.”
I started by asking four simple questions.
ME “Pastor Clarice, have you ever told a lie?”
PC “Yes.”
ME “What does that make you?”
PC “A liar.”
ME “Have you ever stolen something?”
PC “Yes.”
ME “What does that make you?”
PC “Thief.”
ME “Have you ever used God’s name in vain?”
PC “Yes.”
ME “That’s called blasphemy and God will not hold those guiltless who misuse His name. Have you ever looked at a woman and lusted after her?”
PC “Yes.”
ME “Jesus said you have committed adultery in your heart for doing that.”
Now at about this point I noticed something amazing. The Holy Spirit was working on Pastor Clarice’s heart I believe because a tear started to form in his right eye. I went on to tell Pastor Clarice
ME “By your own admission, you are a lying, thief, blasphemer and adulterer at heart. You in our fake analogy are about to face God and this is how He see’s you. Will you be innocent or guilty?”
PC “Guilty.”
ME “That is right and God will have no choice but to send you to hell for eternity. His word says all liars will have their part of the lake of fire and lying lips are an abomination to the Lord. No thieves, blasphemers or adulterers, will inherit the Kingdom of God, but will go to hell.”
This took only about a minute and half to maybe two minutes to allow the law to do its job, bring forth the knowledge of sin and make the sinner guilty before God. I then spent about one minute giving the good news of how he broke God’s law, but Jesus paid the fine in His life’s blood and now God could commute his death sentence. I explained just believing this will do nothing but he needs to confess and repent of his sins and place all his faith and trust in what Christ did on the cross.
Pastor Clarice listened intently as I spoke to him and really seemed to be somewhat awakened. I stressed to him as we were finishing our conversation how important it was for him as a Pastor to make sure he was explaining what sin is by using God’s law. I reminded him of 1 John 3:4 which says, “Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law.” Pastor Clarice seemed very grateful that we had our discussion and I know I was. I never thought this morning that God would have divinely appointed a meeting where I was going to witness to a Pastor. I pray and would ask you to pray that God would work hard and heavy on Pastor Clarice’s heart, so he would lead and guide his people in the whole truth about God.
The main purpose for writing this blog about Pastor Clarice is not to lift me up about witnessing to a Pastor. I am the least worthy to be lifted up. I decided to write this blog to show there are Pastors in front of church’s all around this country, who do not understand what sin is and how to explain it. We who are believers are all called to be preachers and we should remember when witnessing what it says in 1 Corinthians2:14:
“The man without the spirit does not accept the things that come from the spirit of God. For they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned.”
Starting the conversation with someone who is lost who does not think they are lost, with Jesus loves you and you’re a sinner, will not work. They cannot understand because they are blinded by the god of this age (world). Using God’s law will work true repentance and awaken the conscience because the bible says so in Galatians 3:24:
“Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.”
And in Psalm 19:7:
“The law of the Lord is perfect; riving the soul…”
Are you being obedient and sharing your faith…
I only chatted for about 5 minutes about my foreclosed property, because I really wanted to get down to the real business – (God, Salvation, Heaven, Hell, etc…). Don’t get me wrong here, I am always looking to make a sale on one of my properties. But whether I sale the property personally or someone else sells it for me really does not matter in big scheme of things. Where people spend eternity is the greatest issue we all face.
For the purpose of this blog I will only use the first name of the gentlemen I met today. I quickly found out Clarice was a local Pastor at a small Baptist church in the area. Right away I was thinking to myself, “I wonder if he is going to witness to me” which he never did. My mind told me not to worry about his salvation, I thought if he was a pastor there was a 99% chance he was saved and no need to witness to him, but my conscience and I believe the Holy Spirit said, “Witness to this man” so that’s what I did. I started the spiritual conversation the same way I do with most self professing Christians. I learned this technique through the Living Waters Ministry and especially some helpful tips from Tony the Lawman. Here is short summary of how our conversation went.
ME “Pastor Clarice. What do you think happens to people when they die?”
Now I was expecting something like, if you are covered by the blood of Christ and saved you will go to heaven and if your not you will go to hell. Well I was a little taken back by Pastor Clarice’s answer.
PC “Well do you mean the rapture.”
ME “No if someone dies today what happens to them?”
PC “Well nothing is going to happen until the resurrection.”
ME “Ok I understand the resurrection of all people, but is there going to be a judgment?”
PC “Yes, yes there will be a judgment.”
Ok finally I was thinking we are getting somewhere. Pastor Clarice did say he believed in Heaven and Hell, which only took us about 5 minutes to get there. I could have got this information out of him quicker, but was really hoping that he as a Pastor would have said hell a lot sooner than he did. Because it took so long to get him to say people will either go to Heaven or Hell when they die, I really felt like the Holy Spirit was leading me to witness full force like I would with anyone else.
ME “Pastor Clarice. If you walked up to me and I was dying and only had 3 minutes to live and was not saved. How would you witness to me?”
Pastor Clarice started like everyone else.
PC “Well I would tell you Jesus loves you and died for you. You are a sinner…”
ME “I don’t believe in Jesus. Even if I did belief in him, how does the fact of him loving me help me once I’m dead? Plus I’m not a sinner, I have seen the people that go to church, their all hypocrites.”
PC “Well if you do not believe in Jesus there is nothing I can do for you.”
Now this really hit me hard and saddened my heart. Here is a Pastor that is telling me in our fake analogy that there is nothing he can do for me if I don’t believe. I felt like he was giving up on me. He did mention the bible to which I told him I did not believe in the bible. Pastor Clarice fumbled around for the next 2 minutes, never did he even try to quote any scripture or tell me that God is holy. He said a couple of times I was a sinner to which I would point out to him I was no worse than anyone else. He never said anything about breaking God’s law, etc…After the three minutes expired I somberly said,
ME “I guess based on what you and I believe, I’m going to hell now that I’m dead.”
PC “Yeah I guess you are.”
ME “Pastor Clarice can I share with you how I would witness in three minutes?”
PC “Sure.”
I started by asking four simple questions.
ME “Pastor Clarice, have you ever told a lie?”
PC “Yes.”
ME “What does that make you?”
PC “A liar.”
ME “Have you ever stolen something?”
PC “Yes.”
ME “What does that make you?”
PC “Thief.”
ME “Have you ever used God’s name in vain?”
PC “Yes.”
ME “That’s called blasphemy and God will not hold those guiltless who misuse His name. Have you ever looked at a woman and lusted after her?”
PC “Yes.”
ME “Jesus said you have committed adultery in your heart for doing that.”
Now at about this point I noticed something amazing. The Holy Spirit was working on Pastor Clarice’s heart I believe because a tear started to form in his right eye. I went on to tell Pastor Clarice
ME “By your own admission, you are a lying, thief, blasphemer and adulterer at heart. You in our fake analogy are about to face God and this is how He see’s you. Will you be innocent or guilty?”
PC “Guilty.”
ME “That is right and God will have no choice but to send you to hell for eternity. His word says all liars will have their part of the lake of fire and lying lips are an abomination to the Lord. No thieves, blasphemers or adulterers, will inherit the Kingdom of God, but will go to hell.”
This took only about a minute and half to maybe two minutes to allow the law to do its job, bring forth the knowledge of sin and make the sinner guilty before God. I then spent about one minute giving the good news of how he broke God’s law, but Jesus paid the fine in His life’s blood and now God could commute his death sentence. I explained just believing this will do nothing but he needs to confess and repent of his sins and place all his faith and trust in what Christ did on the cross.
Pastor Clarice listened intently as I spoke to him and really seemed to be somewhat awakened. I stressed to him as we were finishing our conversation how important it was for him as a Pastor to make sure he was explaining what sin is by using God’s law. I reminded him of 1 John 3:4 which says, “Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law.” Pastor Clarice seemed very grateful that we had our discussion and I know I was. I never thought this morning that God would have divinely appointed a meeting where I was going to witness to a Pastor. I pray and would ask you to pray that God would work hard and heavy on Pastor Clarice’s heart, so he would lead and guide his people in the whole truth about God.
The main purpose for writing this blog about Pastor Clarice is not to lift me up about witnessing to a Pastor. I am the least worthy to be lifted up. I decided to write this blog to show there are Pastors in front of church’s all around this country, who do not understand what sin is and how to explain it. We who are believers are all called to be preachers and we should remember when witnessing what it says in 1 Corinthians2:14:
“The man without the spirit does not accept the things that come from the spirit of God. For they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned.”
Starting the conversation with someone who is lost who does not think they are lost, with Jesus loves you and you’re a sinner, will not work. They cannot understand because they are blinded by the god of this age (world). Using God’s law will work true repentance and awaken the conscience because the bible says so in Galatians 3:24:
“Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.”
And in Psalm 19:7:
“The law of the Lord is perfect; riving the soul…”
Are you being obedient and sharing your faith…
1 comment:
Just to let you know, we covered this blog post over at SpartanburgSpark.com and SparkleCityBlogs.com
http://www.spartanburgspark.com
http://www.sparklecityblogs.com
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