At lunch on Friday, June 3rd, four of us answered Jesus' call to go and proclaim the gospel (Mk. 16:15) in downtown Tulsa. We considered it an eternal search and rescue mission, seeking whom the Lord may lead us to explain The Way to be saved and live in a life-giving, life-transforming, soul-satisfying relationship with the Creator of All and Just Judge--Jesus Christ. Two of us had the joy and privilege of bringing great glory to a Great Savior by sharing the Greatest News of all with two men, Demetrius and Josh.
Josh sat outside his office on a smoke break, enjoying the sun and fresh breeze blowing down the sidewalk. Demetrius sat on a shady bench at the city bus station. We walked up to Josh and said, "How's it going? Have you received one of these (handing him a shiny pressed penny)?" Josh took it and inspected it (as most do). "It's a pressed penny," I said. "Ever seen one?" "No," Josh answered. I explained that the first time they pressed a penny was in the 1800s and they imprinted the 10 Commandments on them. To read it well, I told Josh to hold it up and allow the light to shine on it. He tried it. While he held it up, I explained that the Bible says the law is a lamp and the command of God is a light (Ps. 119), and when the light of God's law shines on our hearts it reveals how far short we've fallen of God's perfect moral standard, which keeps us from entering heaven, and dooms us to judgment and eternity in hell for breaking God's moral law countless times. I told Josh that the 10 Commandments show us how desperately we need a savior, and Josh seemed to understand the implications.
I asked Josh if he knew where he would spend eternity if he died today. He did not know. I asked if he had heard the gospel. He said he hadn't heard it before. We then had the joy of explaining what Jesus did to save us from the wrath to come (2 Cor. 5:21; 1 Thes. 1:10). We also explained what Jesus said we must do to get the benefit of his death and resurrection and be declared innocent on the Day of Judgment, though we deserve to be judged guilty: believe and repent (Mk. 1:15), the message Jesus preached in "all of the towns and villages" (Matt. 9:35).
Josh said he believed Jesus died for his sins and rose again, but he honestly admitted he did not know what it means to repent. We explained that repentance is crying out to God for forgiveness of one's sins (Lk. 18:13)and turning from going your own way in life to following Jesus (Acts 26:20; 1 Thes. 1:10), not to earn salvation, but to obey the Gospel and cling to Jesus for life. You can't cling to Jesus for life if your back is still turned to him and you're still going your own way. We urged Josh to repent before it's too late, gently warning him that he does not know how much time he has left. Since Josh works in the same building, I will follow up with him. Pray he has repented and pray I can help disciple him to be a genuine follower.
As for Demetrius, it went much the same way. When we started our conversation with him, he did not know what his eternal destiny would be. When we finished the conversation, he affirmed with a new smile that he did not have earlier in the conversation that he now knew his destiny would be heaven, because he believes in Jesus as Lord and Savior and has repented. He says he tries to follow Jesus. We talked about what Jesus said to do to follow him, explaining that Jesus told those who "believed" in him that his true disciples, his true followers are those who abide in or continue in his word (Jn. 8:31-32). So we gave a Gospel of John to Demetrius and urged him to spend some time in the word each day and ask God help him obey what he reads. Pray Demetrius will be a fruitful follower who learns to fish for men with the time he has left! Nothing's more important than that, and nothing is more exciting!
What about you? Are you obeying Jesus' call to follow him and learn to fish for men (Matt. 4:19).
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