WITNESSING ENCOUNTERS – 4/17/09

Hello beloved,

Friday, April seventeenth was a great night for my family and I.  Once again, after I got home from work, we packed up and hit Concord Mills to do some witnessing.  It was one of those nights when I really just wanted to stay home.  I was tired, therefore I was excited.  You know, it’s the times you really don’t want to go out, and can think of a million excuses why you should stay home; it’s those times when God does an amazing work.

Before we walked into the mall, we prayed that the Holy Spirit would prepare some divine appointments.  Well, as always, He answered.  Our first conversation didn’t go too well.  Of course that’s pretty typical.  I might be way wrong here, but it seems that sometimes it’s Satan that sends your first encounters to you to try to get you distracted and discouraged.

This time, it was with two boys who were obviously high.  One of them was a straight-up mocker, but I really pushed in to get the ear of the other.  I was able to keep the attention of the one boy long enough to go through the Ten Commandments, but then their friends walked up.  I greeted them and was met first by a kid named Dallas.  When I asked him what was up, he shot me a cheezy grin and let me know how messed up he was.  I explained to him that I used to have to do the same thing in order to go out and have a good time.

By the time I got back to the first conversation, it seemed he had forgotten what we were talking about.  I had finished by showing him that, if he died, he would go to Hell.  I went back to emphasize that, to make sure he knew what would happen to him if he died.  Then I did my best to move on.  I could tell that God had done all the work He was going to do at the time.  You are probably wondering why I would leave him in Hell without giving him grace.  Well, remember this: you always give the Law to the proud and grace to the humble.  He didn’t seem to really see the severity of his sin and was unwilling to humble himself.  Hopefully, when he sobered up, he thought about eternal things.  I’m sure our conversation stuck with him.

From that conversation, God led us to one of the most beautiful conversations I had had in a while.  It was with a boy named Jay and a girl named Kanesha.  They were obviously a couple.  It was funny how sure Kanesha was, when I first asked here where she would go when she died.  She was pretty sure that she would go to Heaven.  Jay, however, wasn’t too sure.  But, he didn’t really look too concerned about it either.  That would change as the conversation went on.

After going through the Ten Commandments, their countenance was beginning to change drastically; especially Kanesha.  I know I saw her eyes tearing up on a few occasions.  They both looked and seemed so nice on the outside, and it appeared that they believed the same.  After all, Kanesha’s answers as to why she was so confident she would go to Heaven was that she was a good person.  Now, she could plainly see, that that was not true at all.

With this young couple I made sure to stress how much God hates lust.  I hit on “hooking up” over and over.  I could tell it was getting to them.  I explained how Jesus finds lust to be the same as adultery.  And I made sure to stress that God’s Word states that no fornicators would enter the Kingdom of Heaven.  I felt so bad for Kanesha because I could see in her eyes that she regretted giving away something so precious.

After I went through Judgment Day with them, it was revealed to them that they would go to Hell if they were to die.  I asked their age and explained to them how this particular day will change their lives.  For, today, their eternity had been revealed to them.  I was silent for a few seconds to let them think about that.  Silence can sometimes be a great tool when witnessing.  I then asked them if that concerned them.  They were eager to tell me that it did.

I then asked Kanesha, “Kanesha, what if today could not only be the day that you get the worst news of your life, but what if you could hear the best news of your life too?”  She looked up and didn’t have to say anything.  I explained to her what Christ died on the cross so she wouldn’t have to take the punishment for her sins.  They both heard the gospel, in it’s entirety that night.  I used several analogies to really make it stick with them.

When I could see that they understood what they must do to be saved, I asked them, “Aren’t you glad we had this talk?”  Kanesha said, “Thank you for talking to us.  You are very good at this.”  I love hearing that.  Not because I need the pat on the back, but because, what she was really saying was, “I finally found the truth. Thank you.”  I was sure to explain to her that it wasn’t me at all.  I told her how God arranged this meeting long ago.  I was just the guy he chose to use.  I explained to her that the main work of the Holy Spirit was to convict and lead people to Christ.  He was the one doing a good job.

I was so humbled to be a part of this work of God.  I asked Kanesha when she planned on getting right with God.  She told me that she would definitely do it that night.  I explained to her that no one needed to give her the assurance of her salvation except God.  So she needed to go home, get alone with God, and cry out to him until He saved her.  Of course I gave her the scripture in Romans 10:13, which says, “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”

I left with the confidence that she would soon surrender all to Jesus Christ.  And I think Jay probably will too.  I gave both of them a “One Heartbeat Away” book, prayed with them, and moved on.  Praise the Lord!

Our last conversation of the night was with Lewis and Lelia.  Just by their countenance, I could tell something wasn’t right.  So, I asked them if they would be willing to help me with a project.  They, very kindly, responded, “yes”.  So, I asked them what they believed was out there after they died.  To be honest, I was expecting them to say “nothing”.  But, both of them confidently said, “Heaven”.  After a few more questions, they explained to me that they were Christians.  And, not because of their good works, but because of their faith in Jesus Christ.  The one drawback, which led me in a different direction than the one I usually take with Christians, was when Lelia told me she was around 95% sure she would go to Heaven.  Then she said that she had been going through some stuff.  When someone is not 100% sure, you can count on the fact that that person is struggling with something major.  It was my job to find out what that was.

So, I just through out the question, “Do you guys consider yourselves to be good?”  Of course, they both said, “Yes.”  And, of course, after we took the good person test, the both realized that they weren’t.  Throughout the conversation, I kept seeing a strange look from Lewis.  It seemed that he knew where I was going with all of this, so he just went along with it.  He knew something about Lelia that I didn’t know yet.  And I think he was praying that we could minister to her.

Well, after talking about Judgment Day, it came out.  She told us how she knew she would go to Hell because she could not get rid of her anger.  This girl had been hurt and I was pretty sure it was some sort of molestation.  When I get that feeling from someone, I try to be as sensitive as possible and that’s when I have to count on the Holy Spirit really doing a work.

She finally told us how she was angry at God for allowing such horrible things to happen to her.  You know, that is the hardest question to answer.  When someone asks, “If God is so loving, where was he when these things happened to me?”  My heart breaks when I hear that.  Though I have dealt with this question before, it is never easy to answer.  I paused.

I did my best to explain to her that God was, with all His heart, vehemently opposed to what happened to her.  That it is never a good day, for God, when things like this happen.  I told her that God is a just God and he will deal with this person.  He will bring this person to justice.

I tried to explain that her anger needs to be directed at Satan.  I told her how sin entered the world long ago and that it is sin that causes this stuff to happen. It is pure evil.  Though it might not look like it, the day will come when God puts an end to it.

In conversations such as these, I just try to be very sensitive to the Holy Spirit.  Lelia was crying on and off, so I just offered to pray for her.  After we prayed, I took Lelia to Romans 7:15-25.  I reminded her that she had told me earlier that she had tried and tried to stop being angry.  I explained to her that she could try for the rest of her life to stop being angry at God, but it she would never prevail over her anger.  I said, “Lelia, your deliverance will only come when you realize that your deliverance has to come through Jesus Christ.  That you cannot defeat your anger.  Only He can.”

Beloved, I am praying that God would use this conversation to heal the emotional scars of Lelia.  This kind of stuff should make us so mad at the Devil.  And the only way we can get back at him now, is by interceding for this girl; and by reaching out to other girls like Lelia.  She is at a fork in the road that so many, in her shoes have faced.  If she lets her anger win, her life will be one of misery.  Yet, if she lets Jesus fight the battle, she will be used mightily in advancing the Kingdom of God.

So, beloved, you know what you have to do now.  Please pray for Lelia.  Please pray for all of these people.  And please reach out to the Lost.  I’ll end with the words of Mark Cahill, “Every second, two people die.  By the time you lay your head down on your pillow tonight, over 150,000 people will have walked off into eternity.  So ask yourself this question, “Do you care.”  But ask yourself a much, much tougher question, “Do you care enough to do something about it?”

Thanks for reading this, beloved.

In Christian love,
Adam Tennant