Witnessing without the Gimmicks-Part 2

Earlier in Part 1, I spoke about a man who had visited me and my story of witnessing to him or "lack of witnessing as most Christians know it". You can read first part of the story in the previous post by clicking on the link, Witnessing without the Gimmicks-Part 1.

....This went on for five or six visits. After a while I began looking forward to seeing my new friend. He would stop by for forty five minutes each week and we would drink coffee and talk about his life and the broken parts of it. On the fifth or sixth visit, the Holy Spirit whispered in my heart that I could mention "the Lord" TWICE during the conversation. I got excited and waited and waited until finally the green light came and said, "Well, the Lord was taking good care of you on that…" or something like that! (The Pharisee immediately condemned me saying, "Big witness!")

By the seventh visit, the Holy Spirit said that I could now share with him the full enchilada! I was not to share "The Four Spiritual Laws" , however, I was to share how Jesus had saved me during broken times in my past when everything was falling apart in my life. I shared this with him and told him that the solution to his disaster was to surrender to Jesus as Lord. I told him that he could do this by simply crying out to the Lord. He would hear.

Evangelism Lesson #4: A successful witness is one who has followed the Holy Spirit and shared the Faith with another.

Whether that person receives Christ or not, does not determine if you have succeeded or failed in your evangelism of that person. Jesus calls us to present the gospel when He gives us His green light. A person’s response has nothing to do with our obedience. Our obedience and our sharing is evangelism. Their choice is between them and the Lord–that’s salvation.

I tell you this because this story does not have a fairy tale ending. It has a real life ending. I shared the Lord with this guy over the following weeks. I watched him wrestle with the concept of Jesus running his ruined life rather than himself. He had made such a mess of it yet still wanted to maintain control of it. We met several times more and as he wrestled with the Master. My job was to love him, empathize with him, and continue to impress on him the wonder of a life that only Christ could offer.

This is still not the end of the story, I'll finish it in the next blog. But, it is important to remember as you witness Lesson #4-A successful witness is one who has followed the Holy Spirit and shared the Faith with another whether they receive Christ or not.

Blessings,
Fr. Scott+