The Moral Lifeguard. Took Caleb (14), Cory (6), and Joey (3) to the pool this evening. When we walked in, the kids ran off to dive in while I signed in at the registration table. There were two young men "manning" the registration table. After giving the young man my name and membership number, I said:
Me: This is my first time out here this year. Can you believe it?! What's your name (extending my hand out to shake his)?
Him: Ben.
Me: Do you play baseball for Broken Arrow (last year the guy that managed the pool employees and lifeguards was the Broken Arrow High School baseball coach, and several of his players worked there)?
Ben: No. I swim for Jenks (another area high school).
Me: Wow! How do you like it?
(People like talking about the things they like and that allows you to take the first step in the witnessing process -- "Relate" -- begin relating to someone and developing a relationship. As you "relate," you then look for an opportunity to "Create" -- create an opportunity to swing the conversation from natural, worldly things to the eternal. Once you "create" an opportunity to swing to the spiritual, you then ask questions that allow the Law of God and the Spirit of God "Convict" the person of sin and begin to realize the need for a Savior. Once you see that the law is doing its work and bringing conviction, as it did yesterday with Jeremy at the courthouse, you then "Reveal" -- reveal the Good News that Jesus paid our fine for us in His own life's blood so we don't have to die for our sins but can have the free gift of eternal life through Him if we will repent (turn from going our own and turn to following Jesus) and trust in Jesus as Lord and Savior. This the path I work down in a witnessing encounter, whether it's over a long period of time (days, weeks, months) or a matter of minutes, depending on how the Lord leads.)
Ben: I love it! The coach is great. He not only teaches us how to be great swimmers, he also teaches us important moral lessons. He'll even pray with us even though it's a public school.
Me: That's awesome! Do you consider yourself a pretty moral person?
Ben: I try to be. I'm a Catholic. I don't go to church much, but I believe that if you love God and try to love other people and do good, then that's what matters most.
Me: How good or how moral do you have to be to go to heaven?
Ben: I'm not really sure.
Me: Jesus taught in Matthew 5 that you have to be perfect and that it's impossible for us to attain to God's standard of moral perfection. He elevated the 10 Commandments of the Old Testament from mere superficial compliance with the letter of the law to the impossibly high standard of being perfect from the heart. Paul taught that the purpose of the law is to show us how Holy God is and how sinful we are in order to reveal to us how desperately we need a savior. We're all guilty of breaking God's law and deserving of death, but Jesus died in our place so we don't have to die. Do you know what Jesus said to do in order to inherit eternal life?
Ben: No.
Me: Repent and believe in Him as your personal Lord and Savior. Trust in Jesus alone to save you on the Day of Judgment. Have you ever done that, repented and trusted in Jesus Christ as your Savior?
Ben: Yes. I repent when I go to confession.
Me: That's great. Then Jesus said in Matthew 4:19, follow me and I will teach you to fish for men. You can't take anything with you to heaven, Ben, except yourself and other people. Hey, Ben, it's great to meet and good to talk with you! Keep following Jesus, bud! I'll see you around this summer!
In the future, as I try to relate more to Ben and get to know him better, I'll encourage him in his walk with the Lord and see if he's starting to get plugged back into church and back into the Word of God.
Shannon shared the gospel with a young man working at a car maintenance shop today! She did an outstanding job stepping out when the opportunity "opened up." The mechanic had to get into the trunk of our car. When he opened it, he saw a bunch of packs of million dollar "Obama" bills. That started the conversation going, and Shannon took it from there! Atta girl!
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