Sunday 16 October 2011

SPONTANEOUS EVANGELISM

Earlier today, just before 5.30, I answered a knock on my front door. It was a couple of local Stornoway boys aged about 10. They were looking for my boys. It being the Lord's day I asked them if they knew the fourth commandment. 'No', was the reply.
'Have you heard of the ten commandments?', I asked.
'Something to do with church and all that,' said one.
I asked them if they believed in God. The muted answer was in the negative.
'Who do you think made you - do you believe that you grew out of a piece of sludge?'
'My mum.'
'And who made your mum?'
'Her mum.'
'And who made the very first mum and dad?'
A shrug was the response.
'It was God.' I said. 'Do you know which is the best-selling book in the world?'
'No.'
'The Bible. That's God's book, he wrote it, and it's all in there.'
'How are you supposed to read that - it would take ages.'
'You don't have to read it from beginning to end. The Bible is full of little bits of important information scattered all the way through it.'
I told them the fourth commandment tells us to '"remember to keep the Sabbath day holy." That means we aren't to ignore God and just go about doing whatever we want on the Lord's day, enjoying ourselves - God didn't create us to enjoy ourselves, he created us to enjoy him.'
'So what are you supposed to do, just sit in the house all day?'
'No, you go to church, to worship God, and other things. God is real, and you can know him. He lives inside you, in your soul. That's what a Christian is, someone who has God living inside them.
'We all have to die one day, and no one knows when that day will be. Do you know what happens when you die?'
'No.'
Well, our body goes into the ground and rots away, and the soul - the invisible part - goes to God, then we have to answer for our lives - did we ignore God or did we believe in him? And if we ignored him, well I'm afraid it will be very bad for us.'
'We go down', said one of them, indicating with his thumb.
'That's right - down, to the fire which burns forever - hell. But if we believe in him, the opposite is true - it's very good for us. And do you know the secret?'
'No.'
'You ask him. When you're alone, you pray to him and ask him to show you.'

That was the basic sum of our conversation which occurred at my front door in the Cearns today. We have only moments in those situations, you're striking while the iron's hot and you certainly don't have time to prepare your sermon - but oh, how wonderfully scriptural it is - spontaneous evangelism.

6 comments:

  1. Really well done.we have seventh day adventists here and a myriad of other faiths,they argue the true sabbath is on saturdays,like the jew belief.As it is year 1390 in afghanistan,I am puzzled at how we can possibly know the true sabbath as a myriad of calenders were used before we settled on our current calender.I see it more as a euphonism to keep every day holy for god,would love opinions on it.regards Iain

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  2. If it was difficult to determine which day was the Christian Sabbath, the 4th commandment would be pointless. And if it meant that we were to treat every day as equally holy to God then it would be absurd: "Remember THE sabbath DAY, to keep it holy." I would argue that God has left us in no doubt which day is the sabbath. God has not included a calendar in the Bible, but he has set many things beyond dispute, and the seven day week is one of them. I would say that it is clear in scripture that the Christian Sabbath is the 1st day of the week. Plenty of people argue against that, but I have yet to hear a what I would call good argument.

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  3. Well jesus made it simpler for us to follow gods will.Sunday being the 1st day makes saturday the seventh which the seven day adventist argue here.In genesis it states god made all in 6 days and on the 7th day rested.Everyday can be a holy experience by prayer with jesus.Friday is muslims sabbath,sat is jewish and seventh day adventist, sunday is presbyterian,etc,here in such a multicultural country there are 3 sabbaths observed by all the above faiths.We doubt all the time,such as doubting thomas,our faith is but a grain of sand,I admire strong faiths in individuals,its admirable,culture and tradition play a major role and after all our bibles were edited and revised through catholicism and power hungry church officials throughout the centuries.I believe the spirit highlights such meddling and it proves that even the word of god becomes corrupted by man.Just somne thoughts,cheers Iain

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  4. According to documented, widely accepted history, the authorised version of the Bible is the most reliable version in the English language - by a long way. I for one can vouch for it. Don't be fooled by the flippant talk which goes under the guise of rational criticism - it's nonsense - spoken by light people who have no clue what they are talking about.
    Here's a link (never mind the pomp):
    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-15761535

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  5. Thanx yes there sure is much flippant talk,You have a gr8 blog,and intresting stories.We are always 20 yrs behind the uk so no doubt we will have these very oppressive laws in the future as well.With petrol pricing I live on an island too and its the same deal here up to 20-30cents a difference per litre compared to mainland oz.The reasoning the govt gave is we dont have to travel as far as on the mainland,so u can never be in front like they taking any savings away.same if you take a caravan on a ferry they have calculated you pay extra what you would save,it makes dick turpin look like an amateur,good luck with the apathetic populace!!

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  6. I would love to see a confederate of islands around the world,we would be a lot stronger and not as easy to push around,also the rich love remote islands to never change as they want their hunting and fishing grounds unchanged,while giving themselves all the economic prosperity..meanwhile huge social problems arise,disenchanted families,etc..

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