Community Service Workers. My office is in downtown Tulsa, just a couple of blocks from the Tulsa County Courthouse. At about 7:45 a.m. each morning, a crowd gathers in a public square waiting to go into the courthouse, which opens at 8:00 a.m. Also outside the courthouse are benches where people wait to be picked up to perform acts of community service, which they've been sentenced by a judge to perform as punishment for some minor crime. Walking to the courthouse with a fellow "fisherman," I came to two people setting on one of the benches waiting for the community service van to pick them up and take them to their assignment. I stopped, smiled, said "good morning," and asked them if they'd received one of these yet (million dollar bills), and handed them each a million dollar bill. I told them it was a free gift to start off their day and that it had the million dollar question on the back, "will you go to heaven?" I told them that nothing is more important than their eternal destiny and encouraged them to read the back of the tract and seriously consider what it has to say. I told them to have great day, and they smiled, thanked me, and returned the "have a great day." That's a very simple way to "sow seeds" of the gospel and let the Lord do the rest. It may be that He will stir their hearts to read and consider the truth of God's Word on the back of the tract. Anyone can take this simple step of faithfulness. If you haven't tried it yet, get some tracts and ask God for boldness and love to start doing it! He will help you do it, because He cares about people's eternal fate.
Tiffany. A young lady was sitting on a bench by herself. I asked her how she was doing today. Fine, she said, "I'm waiting to do community service." I handed her a million dollar bill and asked her if she knew what her eternal destiny would be if she were to die today.
Tiffany: Well, I hope I'll get to go to heaven some day.
Me: Did you know that the bible says we can know for sure what our eternal destiny will be? That's why the call it the good news. We can know for sure.
Tiffany: (Shaking her head "no.")
Tiffany had heard me share the gospel with a group of people waiting to go into the courthouse, so she heard me explain how we've all broken God's moral law, the 10 commandments, countless times and deserve eternal punishment for our countless sins against God. She also heard me clearly explain to the group the great act of love and mercy that God personally performed on our behalf through His son, Jesus Christ, that we might be forgiven and granted the free gift of eternal life. She also heard me explain to the group what Jesus said we need to do in order to get the benefit of what He's done our behalf: (1) repent and (2) trust in Him alone as our Personal Lord and Savior (Mk. 1:15; Jn. 3:3-36).
Me: Tiffany, did you hear what I shared with the group just a minute ago about what Jesus said to do in order to know that you will be declared innocent on the Day of Judgment and not guilty?
Tiffany: Yes.
Me: Have you repented of your sins and trusted in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior?
Tiffany: Not yet.
Me: Do you know what it means to repent?
Tiffany: (Looking at me as if to say, "not really.")
Me: "Repent" literally means to turn from going our own, sinful way back to the Lord in order to begin following Him with our lives. It involves humbly acknowledging that we've sinned against God and crying out to God from our hearts for forgiveness and mercy. And then trusting in Jesus as Lord and Savior is a lot like clinging to a parachute to save you from a fall. Just as you cling to the parachute, trusting it to safely lead you to your destination on the ground, we cling to Jesus by faith to save us from the wrath to come on the Day of Judgment and lead us safely to our eternal destiny in Heaven. Does that make sense?
Tiffany: Yes.
Me: When will you do that Tiffany?
Tiffany: Tonight.
Me: That's wonderful, Tiffany. Please don't delay. You don't know how much time you have left. Do you have a bible at home.
Tiffany: Yes.
Me: Start with the Book of John and beginning reading a little bit each day and ask the Lord to help you obey what you read. That will help you follow the Lord each day.
Tiffany: Ok.
Me: God bless you, Tiffany. Have a great day!
Rick. I then saw another young man walking toward the courthouse. After introducing myself, I handed him a "Courthouse Tips" tract, told him that it had tips to help him in the courthouse and also had a gospel message inside. He said that he went to church and that his dad is a minister. I asked him if he had repented of his sins and was trusting in Jesus Christ alone to save him. He said, yes. I asked him if he shared the gospel with others. Not really, he admitted. I gave him some million dollar bill tracts and encouraged him to think about his friends and family members who may not know the Lord or be following Him, and encouraged Rick to pass those tracts along to them, "because you can't take anything to heaven with you, Rick, accept other people!" He said he would. We had a nice talk, shook hands, and parted ways.
The Smokers. There were a couple of people that I tried to speak with who were very hard and cold and didn't want to talk at all. I thought about the verses that I shared in yesterday's blog about how Paul pleaded with people and implored them to be reconciled to God and to be saved. I wondered to myself if I should plead with them to at least consider their eternal destiny. With one man, I didn't do that. He said "my beliefs are private." And I acknowledged that to be true and said "God bless you. Have a great day." And went my way. Maybe next time I will plead with the cold and hard person to "please consider your eternal destiny before it's too late! God loves you so much that He's done something wonderful for you in order that you might be spared from the just punishment to come!"
I pray that the seeds sown today will spring up into a great harvest for the Lord's glory!
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