Customers in the USA and Cananda, please use our twin website
www.mlj-usa.com
An Opportunity for the Gospel
by Geri Brown, California.
This last year my husband, John, and I have had more opportunities open up to us than in our entire 30 years as Christians. We feel that what we’ve learned from our church and Martyn Lloyd-Jones’ writings and CDs, has helped build our confidence to talk boldly about the Lord.
A year or so ago we prayed about how we could use this knowledge to make a difference for Christ. It wasn’t long before we knew we had a ministry using a little known CD titled “Two Ways of Dying.” After we listened to it ourselves, we knew we had to get it into as many hands as we could. It was profound and moving and contained the gospel using a subject all were interested in: “death”. Distributing the CD would be easier than we dreamed and the floodgates seemed to open up. We found that each day at work we had some opportunity to speak of the Lord, be it a remark about the state of the world (the US economy gave ample material), or to talk about a truth we had learned or read in scripture. People have so many needs and are eager to hear if someone appears to have some valid answers.
I remember when I loaned the CD out for the first time. I was sitting at the front counter before the lobby was opened to the public, when I noticed that one of the liquid waste specialists was logging his data into the computer nearby. I asked him if he had a dog, and when he said yes, I told him of my sorrow at losing my Chow-shepherd, Heidi. He opened up and said he knew how I felt, that it was so difficult to lose an animal. I told him about a message I had heard that was so stirring on this subject of death and he was eager to hear it. I knew that God was going to mightily bless this endeavour and decided right then that being natural with a person and offering something I knew would be of interest would present an opening for what everyone has to face someday (dying). This CD was the perfect tool for presenting the gospel.
So far we have given this CD to about 18 co-workers, acquaintances and friends. We even talked about it with our bank manager! A recent experience was when we asked a Catholic couple who lived next door over for lunch. We got to know them a little and found they were open to the Word. Before they left we prayed with them and gave them the CD. They were so excited they wanted to come back for another visit. On their second visit John was able, in the course of the afternoon, to present the gospel and pray with them. They asked for another CD so we gave them “The Blood of Christ” and a Bible, which they didn’t have.
Another exciting experience came recently when a person we had encountered on the local bike trail told us she had lost her beloved mother. She was so distraught, that we were moved with compassion and invited her over for lunch. We initially thought she was Russian because of her accent. ‘Zara’* showed up for lunch with a bouquet of flowers. My husband blessed the food and over lunch we talked of how God had worked in our lives, gave our testimonies on how we were saved and asked her to tell us about herself. She revealed that she and her family had fled Afghanistan when the Russians invaded in 1976 and had subsequently settled in the USA.
Zara said everyone needed God and that we all needed to be better persons and do the best we could. She asked us what we thought of the Mosque at Ground Zero and we said it was a cemetery for the 9/11 dead and was hallowed ground. She believed the Mosque should be built. Sensing her sympathy with the Muslims I said quietly, “Are you a Muslim?” She said she was. We continued to share how Jesus was made sin for us and what he had done on the Cross. She kept on asking questions about God and seemed genuinely interested in our answers. The conversation was comfortable and never strained so we felt the intervention of the Lord. Before she left, we gave her the “Two Ways of Dying” CD and she tucked it into her purse, saying she was eager to hear it. She confessed that many of her friends had converted to Christianity and she wondered why. We saw a heart open for the gospel. We prayed when she left that she would come back and that we would have more opportunity to witness. The very next day John told a co-worker about our experience and learned that she too was a former Muslim. Not only that, she went to a church whose congregation was almost entirely former Muslims. She gave John a Christian CD in Farsi for Zara. With great timing, the next day, Zara showed up at our door and John had the opportunity to give her this new CD. She took it and said again, I know many of my friends are Christians who were once Muslim. Our hopes rose that she would be influenced to attend church. Each day we ask God for another chance to build on the relationship with Zara and disciple her.
When we are asked who has come to the Lord from our witness this way, we can only point to 1 Cor. 3:6 where Paul said “I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase.” Our mission is dedicated to sowing His Word and we try not to measure success by what we see. As our pastor confirms, we are a team and we work together and spread the gospel with the unique abilities God has given us. We may never in this life see the yield, but in heaven, we will see the fruits of our labour.
*name changed for security reasons
You can listen to the sermon on-line here:
NOTE: it requires the Windows Media Player plug-in for your Web browser.
Click on this picture for
details of the audio CD version.