It seems that we work so hard at figuring out exactly how to present the
gospel, what words to say, what event to use, how to strategically win (i.e.
manipulate) people to Christ. Philip's encounter with the Ethiopian Eunuch
didn't meet any of our criteria for a well planned evangelistic campaign. But
God was in it.
They were in the desert. (Acts 8) Philip hadn't set up a prayer team. In
fact, to our knowledge, no one even knew where he was. He started the
presentation of the gospel with a passage in Isaiah that certainly refers to
Christ, but it's not the typical place to start. He baptized the Eunuch without
any witnesses that we are aware of. And he left the guy without any follow-up.
That's just not how we do it. But as a result, the gospel went to a whole new
continent.
I think sometimes we don't really believe our own sermons. We preach
about the power of God to change lives, but we act like God is powerless without
our methods of manipulation. We pray for the healing of people on their death
bed, but we rarely pray for the salvation of our neighbors. We celebrate
stories of bold evangelists, but we secretly hope that the stranger beside us
won't look our way so we don't have to talk to them.
Sometimes I don't think that we really believe Jesus when he said,
"I will build my church." He will build his church. We are to be
witnesses. Maybe we need to worry less about doing evangelism
"right," and be more concerned with just being sensitive to the Holy
Spirit and open to what God is doing. I pray for more desert encounters with
lost souls whose hearts have been prepared by the Spirit, and less
orchestrated, manipulated efforts on my part. Father, may it be so.
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