May God give each one of us the heart and the faithfulness that would care about evangelism so much that we would write a book about it; but may God also prevent our misunderstanding evangelism in such a way that fills our churches with people who don’t know the Lord.
A few years ago, after a Sunday morning service, a visitor came up to me, took me by the hand, pulled me close to himself and said, “Dr. Dever, I just want you to know that was one of the best sales presentations I’ve ever heard in my life. But there was only one problem: You didn’t close the sale!”
I didn’t really know how to respond to him. I didn’t say much of anything. But what I thought was, “Friend, I know what kind of sales I can close, and I know what kind I can’t close, and the redemption of an eternal soul is one sale that I, in my own strength, cannot accomplish.”
I need to know that, not so that I won’t preach the Gospel, but so that I won’t allow my presentation of the Gospel to be molded by what I think will finally get a response and close a sale. Instead of using all my powers to convict and change the sinner, while God stands back as a gentleman quietly waiting for the spiritual corpse, His declared spiritual enemy, to invite Him into his heart, I’m going to preach the Gospel like a gentleman, trying to persuade but knowing that I can’t convert, and then stand back while God uses all of His powers to convict and convert and change the sinner. Then we’ll see clearly just who can really call the dead to life.
God can use anybody for His glory. He likes using “anybodies.” He chose to use Moses the stutterer; and He used Paul the Jewish nationalist to reach the Gentiles. By using such unlikely people, God gets the glory.— Nine Marks of a Healthy Church
A few years ago, after a Sunday morning service, a visitor came up to me, took me by the hand, pulled me close to himself and said, “Dr. Dever, I just want you to know that was one of the best sales presentations I’ve ever heard in my life. But there was only one problem: You didn’t close the sale!”
I didn’t really know how to respond to him. I didn’t say much of anything. But what I thought was, “Friend, I know what kind of sales I can close, and I know what kind I can’t close, and the redemption of an eternal soul is one sale that I, in my own strength, cannot accomplish.”
I need to know that, not so that I won’t preach the Gospel, but so that I won’t allow my presentation of the Gospel to be molded by what I think will finally get a response and close a sale. Instead of using all my powers to convict and change the sinner, while God stands back as a gentleman quietly waiting for the spiritual corpse, His declared spiritual enemy, to invite Him into his heart, I’m going to preach the Gospel like a gentleman, trying to persuade but knowing that I can’t convert, and then stand back while God uses all of His powers to convict and convert and change the sinner. Then we’ll see clearly just who can really call the dead to life.
God can use anybody for His glory. He likes using “anybodies.” He chose to use Moses the stutterer; and He used Paul the Jewish nationalist to reach the Gentiles. By using such unlikely people, God gets the glory.— Nine Marks of a Healthy Church
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