We went to the City Mission today for a lunch chapel service (we help with the service the second Saturday of each month – when we aren’t traveling). We brought all of our instruments to do a special music (something the men seem to enjoy each time). I played the piano during the worship time, and then my brother preached during the message.
After the chapel service, the men go through the food line. Since the chapel is basically the dining room, they return to their seats/tables to eat. We always bake homemade cookies to give out to the men, and will give each a gospel tract with the cookie.
About 75 men were present. One or two turned down a cookie, and between 5 and 10 rejected the tract.
One gentleman, as he came through the line, said “You don’t want to hear me respond to that thing” (referring to the gospel tract). I said it would be hard to respond to something he hadn’t read, and he went on with some of the most bitter, angry words I have ever heard. His heart was as hard and cold to the gospel as any I’ve ever met before (except perhaps one other person at the Mission earlier this year). I’m always surprised such men come to a Christian Mission and sit through an hour worship service, considering there are other Missions in the area that are not Christian Missions!
After everyone had gone through the meal line and the tracts were passed out, I tried to move around the room talking with the men. It is often very hard to start a conversation, and I tried to get several conversations going – but didn’t get far.
I started chatting with one gentleman about the oranges he had chosen for lunch. We (or I) talked a bit about food, when all of a sudden he asked, “Why are you talking to me?” I said the goal was to have an opportunity to talk with people and, if they were interested, to share the gospel. I asked if he was a believer, and he said he believed in himself. I asked if he believed in God, and he said he absolutely didn’t want to talk about that. I said the burden of our heart was to share the gospel with men, and that was why we were there, but if he wasn’t interested in talking, he didn’t have to. He said he definitely didn’t want to talk.
I was a bit discouraged following two very strong rejections in such a short time. I, once again, tried to start a few other conversations but they went nowhere.
As I was walking back across the room a fellow waved me over to where he was and said he needed to talk. I thought, “Oh, no – I wonder what this is all about.” Generally, at the Mission, every time in the past that someone has waved me over and wanted to talk, they have always wanted to argue and debate, or had special needs and wanted to personally ask for money.
We sat down at an empty table and he started sharing with me. He’s struggled with drugs and alcohol. He has two children with his girlfriend. He recently lost his job. The gas was turned off at their house that week, and his girlfriend kicked him out. He stopped by the house earlier that day to get his church clothes (he attends a local church and even plays bass guitar during worship), and his six year-old daughter told him that she needed to say goodbye because her mother had said that would be the last time she would ever see her daddy. He says he was completely shocked (it was like a knife to his heart), but all he could do was hug and kiss his children and say goodbye.
I asked if he thought perhaps God was removing everything from his life in order to get his attention, and he said he felt that was what was happening. He felt, right when he heard those words, that he had truly come to the absolute end of it all. Despite being in church all his life (and being a part of the worship team), he said he doesn’t truly know Jesus.
We went through the commandments, and he genuinely understood and admitted guilt to each one we discussed (as I admitted guilt to as well). When I asked if he would be innocent or guilty before God, he said he would be guilty. When I asked if he would go to heaven or hell, he said that he would definitely be going to hell. I asked if that concerned him, and he said it absolutely did.
What a blessing, following two very cold rejections and many failed attempts at conversation, to have a person hungry for the good news of the gospel! It was a joy to share with him about Jesus – and yet this man has been in church all his life and knew much in his head. But he, as I had done for many years, had lived a hypocritical life. Claiming on the outside to be a Christian (and appearing that way to some degree to others), but not having freedom in his heart.
We read through some of the Scripture relating to salvation, as well as Matthew 7:21-23 about those that will think they are headed for heaven but will find out they aren’t. I encouraged him to seek Jesus with his whole heart, to repent of his life of sin, to surrender all the idols in his life, to reconcile with the people in his life that he has wronged, and to be in Scripture all day, every day, as he seeks the Lord. I was able to give him a New Testament, and show him a chain of Scriptures that deals with salvation. I encouraged him to read the book of John over and over again, and to seek to know Jesus.
It was special to pray with him – and to commit to continuing to lift him up in prayer. I’m praying that the Lord will continue to work mightily in his life. And not only was I praising the Lord for working in his life, but I was praising the Lord for encouraging my heart by, after two rejections, sending me something that has never happened before at the Mission: an honest seeker calling me over and asking about the Lord (whereas I have started conversations and then been able to share with someone).
Praise the Lord!
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