David Jeremiah - When the Holy Spirit Controls Your Life
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Somebody once asked comedian Jerry Seinfeld how to get better at telling jokes. His answer was pretty simple: the way to get better is to create better jokes, and the way to create better jokes is to write one every day. Then he explained how he does it. He buys a big wall calendar that has a whole year on one page. He hangs it on a wall that he sees every day, and then he gets a big red magic marker. For each day he does his task of writing, he writes a great big red X over that day. After a few days, he said, you’ll have a chain. So just keep at it, and the chain will grow longer every day. You’ll like seeing that chain, especially when you get a few weeks under your belt. Your only job next is to not break the chain.
Now, that’s just a story on the power of consistency. Deep down in our hearts, all of us wish we could develop the habit of consistency. And do you know how popular it is? A book on habits is on the New York Times bestsellers list and has been for a while, called Atomic Habits. Every time you look on that list, there’s some kind of book about habits because everybody’s trying to figure out how they can have better habits and live a more consistent life. And you don’t have to be a Christian to feel that way; you just are a person, and you have a few things in your life you’d like to do more consistently.
The same is true in the spiritual arena, in our walk with the Lord. In his letter to the church at Colossae, Paul wrote what I believe is a powerful summary statement about what happens to us when the Holy Spirit takes control of our lives. It is the companion passage to Ephesians 5, which we talked about before. Here’s what it says: «Listen to these words: continue earnestly in prayer, being vigilant in it with thanksgiving. Meanwhile, praying also for us that God would open to us a door for the word, to speak the mystery of Christ, for which I am also in chains, that I may make it manifest as I ought to speak. Walk in wisdom toward those who are outside, redeeming the time. Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer each one.»
You realize when you read this that it’s an all-encompassing passage. For in these few verses, it’s like Paul takes all we’ve been learning about the Holy Spirit and wraps it up into three areas of life where most of us will admit we have the most difficulty living consistently for God. He talks about staying consistent in the way we pray, in the way we walk toward unbelievers, and in the way we speak with grace. Let’s take each one of them and follow what Paul said right from this passage of Scripture. The Holy Spirit’s help for our worship begins with Paul’s instruction for us to pray diligently. Colossians 4:2: «Continue earnestly in prayer.»
«Continue in prayer» is a command. It is not a suggestion. It is not something he says you should do if you feel like it. It says don’t let prayer be an afterthought. Don’t let it be a ho-hum kind of thing you could take or leave. God wants us to pray diligently. He wants us to keep at it even when it’s not easy. Jesus taught his disciples to pray always and never give up. If you read the New Testament carefully, you will see that this was the way they did it in the early church. These are verses from Acts and Ephesians, but listen carefully: «These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication. And they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine, fellowship, breaking of bread, and prayers. But we will give ourselves continually to prayer and to the ministry of the word.»
«Pray always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints.» And 1 Thessalonians 5:17, which we all know: «Pray without ceasing.» What does it mean to pray without ceasing? It doesn’t mean to walk around muttering all day long like you’re in some kind of a trance; it has nothing to do with that. It means to take your prayer life seriously. I remember reading a story by John Stonestreet, who was the president of the Colson Center. He told about a ninth-grade Bible class assignment that he dreaded. He said, «We had to go visit elderly shut-ins,» and he and a friend went to see Mrs. Buchner, who was an 89 -year-old widow on a country road in Virginia. The visit started awkwardly, and singing carols didn’t help at all. As they prepared to leave, she said, «Can we pray together?» John and his friend agreed, and Mrs. Buchner prayed with a warmth and confidence that made John realize she really knew God. Two years later, unable to forget her, John visited again. He said, «You probably don’t remember me.» John, she smiled. «I prayed for you this morning.» And she kept praying for him every day until she died. That’s what Paul meant when he wrote, «Continue earnestly in prayer.»
Do you have anybody that prays for you every day? I’m blessed to have probably more than I know, but three or four people that I know pray for me by name every single day. They even send me emails to let me know what they prayed for. Can you imagine what that feels like-to know you have that strength? And when we receive that, we want to do that for others. The Bible says, «Pray diligently. Make prayer important.» Sometimes it’s not very important; we put it over here on the side. We go to church, we sing songs, we might even talk about Jesus. But prayer is a very difficult thing. And you know what? I read somewhere that if you want to empty a church, announce to the church that you’re going to speak for ten weeks on prayer. Nobody will come because everybody feels guilty about this particular subject. I don’t want you to feel guilty, men and women; I want you to be encouraged to know prayer is a tremendous part of our life.
And the Bible says, first of all, «pray diligently.» Then it says, «being vigilant in it.» Now, how in the world can you be vigilant in prayer? What does it mean to be watchful in prayer? First of all, it means to stay awake. I don’t know about you, but I have fallen asleep in a few prayers over the years. I had a hard night, got up in the morning, tried to pray, and all of a sudden I realized I was in a different zone. I don’t know where I was. I’m sure God wasn’t getting a lot out of my prayer. It means much more than that. It means to be watchful. It means to have an attitude of being spiritually alert. It means to notice what’s going on around us, to be on the lookout for spiritual danger in our own lives and in the lives of others. Peter used this same word, vigilant, in his writing. He said, «Be sober. Be vigilant, because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.»
I’m not sure about you, but I’ve noticed that the discipline of prayer can easily slip away if you’re not attentive to it. One day without prayer-which can happen to anyone-becomes two days. Two days become three, three days become a week, and then you wake up and realize with a start that a whole month has gone by and you’ve hardly prayed at all. Can I tell you two strategic things the devil does to make this happen? I’ve observed this over the years, watching people, and even in my own life. First of all, when you stop praying, the devil makes you feel really bad that you don’t pray, and you realize you shouldn’t be praying. And then he says, «You’ve not prayed in such a long time; you can’t start again.» And so what happens is the enemy gets in, and he imagines with you a life without prayer. And before you know it, you have a life without prayer. Don’t you let him do that to you. Here’s what I know: wherever you stopped in your prayer life, God will accept you to start right back again right now. It’s never too much time that’s gone by. If you realize and become convicted that you’re not praying as you should, you don’t have to go to class to figure that out. Just start doing it-just start praying again -and you’ll discover that God will honor that. You’ve never slipped so far away from God that he won’t accept you when you pray again. Don’t let the devil tell you that; it’s just not true. God loves you; his hands are reaching out to you. He longs for your fellowship. Don’t deprive him of it anymore-just get back to praying. That’s what the Scripture teaches us to do.
So, we’re to pray diligently and watchfully. And notice this: we’re to pray thankfully. Now, I know this is not Thanksgiving Sunday; that’s next week, and we’ll surely come back to this next week. But Paul says in Colossians 4:2, «Pray with thanksgiving.» Have you ever found yourself rushing into prayer, getting halfway through it, and realizing you haven’t breathed a single word of thanks to the Lord? All you’ve done is back your truck up and dump all your problems on his doorstep. We all get our «gimme list» together, don’t we? Mine starts accumulating throughout the day, stored in some file in the back of my mind: «I want this, I need that, I got to have this and such and such.» And sometimes, if I’m not careful, I can rush right into prayer with the list that is absent the thanking of God. The Bible tells us we’re to begin our prayers with gratitude. Here’s Psalm 100, verse 4: «Enter into his gates with thanksgiving and into his courts with praise. Be thankful to him, and bless his name.» Our very first words in prayer should be the words of gratitude.
When you wake up in the morning, start by saying, «Lord, thank you for another day. Thank you for a night of rest and for the strength to face what’s ahead, for my family, for the church you’ve placed in my life-Lord, so many things. Thank you, thank you, thank you.» I’m sure you remember me telling you about the Hollywood actor who tells everybody, «When you go to bed at night, take off your slippers and push them way under the bed so that when you get out of bed in the morning, you have to get on your knees to get your slippers. While you’re down there, be thankful to the Lord for all that he’s done for you.» I don’t know if you need that kind of reminder, but all of us know that if we’re not careful, we ask God for everything, and we thank him for very little. How many of you could give a witness that God is a wonderful God and he’s worthy of our praise? Can I get a witness today? So, Paul says, «Pray diligently, pray watchfully, pray thankfully.»
And then I love this one: «Pray evangelistically.» Meanwhile, praying also for us, he said, «That God would open to us a door for the word to speak the mystery of Christ, for which I am also in chains, that I may make it manifest as I ought to speak.» Now remember, don’t forget Paul’s writing this letter from prison. Colossians is one of the prison epistles. He’s not asking for an open door so he can get out of jail -that’s probably what I would have been praying for, but not Paul. No, that’s not the principal thing on his heart. That open-door phrase appears in Scripture several times, and Paul is not saying, «Please open the door to my jail.» He’s saying, «Lord, I want you to open the door for opportunity for me.» He’s affirming that God is the one who opens doors, but he opens them when we ask him. How do you know that? The Bible tells us that. Look with me at Revelation 3: «These things says He who is holy, He who is true, He who has the key of David, He who opens and no one shuts and shuts and no one opens. I know your works. See, I have set before you an open door, and no one can shut it.»
When we ask for open doors, we’re really asking for opportunities, and when God provides one, you won’t have to force it open yourself. It will be clear, unmistakable, wide enough to walk through with confidence. I’ve had some experience in that over my life. When we started the radio ministry years ago on one station here in San Diego, I didn’t have anybody out there representing us trying to get us other stations. But one by one, God opened doors, and we would hear from this station and that station. Somebody said, «Would you have liked to have started out with 2,000 radio stations?» No, I wouldn’t have liked to have started out with those because the joy of seeing God make that happen along the way was so great, and the realization that I didn’t have anything to do with it-I wasn’t making it happen; God was doing it — was such a tremendous time in my life.
When we ask him for open doors, we’re really asking for opportunities. And when God provides one, you don’t have to wonder about it. You and I get ourselves in a lot of trouble sometimes when we try to make our own opportunities, don’t we? I’d rather not tell you the stories about when I’ve done that; they won’t be edifying to anybody here, I’m sure. But I am the sort of person who will try to make things happen, and if I’m not careful, I run around rattling this door and rattling that door and saying, «Lord, please open it for me.» I know that we can pray for God to open doors, but then we have to let him open the door. And you notice, too, that sometimes he shuts doors.
I don’t know how long you have to live to be thankful for doors that have been shut, but it’s sometimes less than 84 years, I’ll tell you that right now, because I can look back and see places in my life where I almost went here or almost went there or almost did this or almost did that, and God shut the door so that I couldn’t do it. I wasn’t happy about it when it happened, but looking back, I realize he was protecting me. In other words, when we get to heaven, we will thank God for the prayers that he answered and maybe even for some of the prayers he didn’t answer as we look back over our lives. Paul’s purpose here was to have open doors so that he could teach the grace of God; that’s what the Bible says. He wanted the ability to explain to his people the hidden counsels of God. He wanted to help them understand how the Jews and the Gentiles had been brought together into one church and one body and one kingdom. He wanted to make them understand.
He says, «I want to be clear in my teaching.» We have some teachers here; I see some of you. I know that you pray for opportunities, but do you ever pray for clarity-that God will give you clarity when you speak? If you’ve ever done any teaching, you understand very well what Paul was praying for. Sometimes you see something so clear in your studies, and you’re so excited about it, and you can’t wait to share it when you have your opportunity. Then you present it to a group of people, and you watch a glaze form over their eyes. With a sinking feeling, you realize they don’t have a clue what you’ve been talking about. Paul was saying, «This is too important for me to muddle or obscure. I pray that I will be able to lay it out in a way that people can really and readily pick it up.» I pray that a lot for what I do here. I don’t want to just get up here and talk. Someone once told me a long time ago, «If they haven’t learned, you haven’t taught.» And that’s a really interesting thing, is it not? Teaching has a way to be determined. If you think you’re a teacher and your students aren’t learning, you’re just kidding yourself. If you teach and they haven’t learned, you haven’t taught. The Holy Spirit helps our worship. He helps us in these ways when we pray.
Notice secondly that the Holy Spirit will help us in our walk. Verse 5: «Walk in wisdom toward those who are outside, redeeming the time.» When you walk, you just put one step in front of the other-you just take one step at a time. How many of you know the Christian life is just one step at a time? When you get ahead of that, you get in trouble, don’t you? I was thinking about the verse this week that says, «According to your days, so shall your strength be.» How many of you are along with me when you say, «Lord, this is Monday; I’d like strength for the whole week»? No, you don’t get strength for the whole week; you get strength for Monday. And when will you get Tuesday strength? On Tuesday. The Bible says we walk by faith.
Then he says in this passage something very interesting: «We walk toward those who are without.» What a wonderful picture that is! There are many Christians who think that once you become a Christian, you shut off all relationships with the people in the world, and you stay a little bit each day in your holy huddle and live there for the rest of your time. I don’t see that in the Bible. The Lord Jesus associated with sinners, with prostitutes, societal rejects. How are we supposed to win a world if we don’t know anybody in that world? How are we going to touch people who don’t know Christ if we’re never with them? As someone has said, there’s no impact without contact.
So, the Bible doesn’t teach that you, as a Christian, should get over in your little group of other Christians and never talk to anybody who doesn’t believe what you believe or live like you live. The Bible says, however, we’re to live our lives toward them. In other words, live our lives in such a way that they will see the difference we make. If you’re a Christian and you’re working in a company where you’re the only Christian, I promise you they know it. If you’re living at all the Christian life, they watch you. You’re to live your life with a difference. And the Bible goes on to tell us a little bit more about how to do that. As we move forward, Paul says in this passage that when you walk with wisdom, you do it openly toward those who are outside of the faith. You do your best to be an example of what Christ means to you as you live your life.
I can promise you this: the people you work with are watching your every move. Once it becomes apparent you are a Christian, you are on display-an object of curiosity-and they will monitor everything you say and everything you do. You say, «Pastor, I don’t like that. Doesn’t seem fair. That sounds like living in a fishbowl. I don’t want that.» Well, that’s your problem; that’s tough. That’s the way it is. When you’re a Christian, that’s just the way it is. And if you try to live consistently in your own strength, you will fall flat on your face. But the Holy Spirit is here to empower you to live in such a way that the environment around you, which is not Christian, causes a contrast to be seen in your life that is amazing.
I remember one time when I was a student at Dallas Seminary; I was working for California Illinois California Express -that’s a freight company. I don’t know if it’s still in existence or not, but it was back then. I did a lot of things during the time I was working there. I was a billing clerk for a while -that’s where you could make the most money, so I tried to learn how to do that. But I worked a lot on the docks. And you know the docks of a freight company? That’s a good place to find out what the world is all about. I want you to know I didn’t know any Christians there; I knew a lot of union members who were upset with me. If they thought I was working too hard, they’d let me know. If I wasn’t taking enough time off for my lunch break, they’d let me know.
I’ll never forget one day I was in the truck, and a guy came up to me. He walked in the truck and looked at me, and he said, «Jeremiah, why are you the way you are?» Oh, what a question that is-"Why are you the way you are?» What an opportunity to say, «Well, because I live for somebody else beside myself. I live for Jesus.» The Bible says, «Be ready with an answer for everyone who asks you concerning your faith.» You don’t have to open that door to do that; God will open it. And then Paul says, «Redeem the time.» Seize every opportunity, like merchants who were buying up a commodity in the market. This whole business of our walk before the world is so critical, and you say it isn’t fair that my faith should be a determinant in the life of somebody else. It isn’t fair -it’s just the way it is. That’s why our responsibility is so great.
I remember reading a story about the Russian writer Maxim Gorky. Gorky was a child when his father died, and he and his mother went to live with his grandparents. His granddad, Gorky recalled, was a religious man, but stern, irritable, and sometimes very cruel. His mother was very religious but kind and gentle and understanding. Gorky wrote that when he saw his mother and grandfather kneeling side by side in church, he could not believe that they were praying to the same God. He said there had to be two gods: one cruel and vindictive, and the other loving and forgiving. I think sometimes when people see us, they must wonder about our God. Because you see, the way we interact with those outside the faith paints a picture of the God we worship. The Christ they see in you and in me is the only Christ they have, and they will evaluate. Robert Ingersoll, the famous infidel, had a godly aunt to whom he sent a copy of one of his books that were filled with attacks on the Bible. He was a terrible man who wrote terrible things about the faith. On the flyleaf of this book, he wrote these words: «If all Christians lived like you, this book would never have been written.»
Ladies and gentlemen, whether we like it or not, we walk our faith toward the world. We’re not going to be perfect; we’re going to fall down sometimes. We’re going to have to back up and retool, start over in some areas. But what Paul wants us to understand is that we’re the Christians in this world. Christ has given us eternal life and hope, and we’re to be the ambassadors of that to the whole world. Never has that been more important than it is now because the world seems to be getting darker and darker. And as the world gets darker, the light gets brighter. We have the opportunity to represent our dear Savior in a world that rejects him. Oh, what a privilege that is, and how bold and strategic we should be in doing it.
So then Paul writes about the Spirit’s help in our worship and in our walk. In verse 6 of Colossians 4, he helps us with our witness. He says, «Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer each one.» Now the Bible says that one of the hardest things you and I will ever have to deal with is the control of our tongue. Do you know the book of James tells us that it’s more difficult to bridle your tongue than it is to bridle a wild horse? You can let those words out, but you can’t stuff them back in. You can send them forth, but you can’t call them back. You can say them, but you can’t unsay them. And we all know that the tongue gets a lot of people in trouble: what we say, how we say it, and when we say it.
So it’s not surprising that Paul would, in his final verse of this paragraph, talk about our Christian witness. Three ways the Spirit should influence our speech as we seek to live as witnesses in the world-very practical stuff here, you guys. Number one: our witness should be courteous. He said, «Let your speech always be with grace.» I don’t know about you, but I like gracious people. I pray to God that I will not be a grumpy old man but a gracious old man -that’s the way we should be; we should be gracious people. Many Christians turn away from Christ by the very way they present the truth of the gospel. I mean, you don’t usually persuade people to know and love the Lord when you begin your conversation by telling them they’re going to hell. That usually doesn’t win you an open door. We read of our Lord Jesus that he was full of grace and truth-truth packaged in grace. That’s the way Christ related to men and women in his earthly walk, and so should we.
This week I read about four rights that I hope will help you remember what it means to speak with grace: the right words. Say what is true, but choose your words that are helpful and not hurtful. There are a number of ways to say the same thing-you can say it in a hurtful way, or you can say it in a helpful way. Always be edifying, which means build up -don’t tear down. Number two: not just the right words but the right way. The same words can sound gentle or harsh depending on how you say them. Grace has a special tone; it’s not just what you say, but it’s how you say it. Number three: not just the right words in the right way, but the right time. Timing is everything! Good words spoken at the wrong time can get you nowhere. And sometimes silence speaks louder than words. Ecclesiastes says there is a time to keep silent and a time to speak, so make sure you’re doing this at the right time.
And then there are the right reasons. Don’t just talk to hear yourself talk; speak because you want to help and bless the person with whom you are talking. Ephesians 4:29 says, «Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers.» What a great verse that is! J.C. Ryle said, «Speak the truth in love, because truth without love is barbarity, and love without truth is cruelty.» To speak the right words in the right way, at the right time, for the right reasons is a challenge, and it can only happen when you let the Holy Spirit direct your life.
When you speak to those without the faith, our witness must be courteous, and it must be compelling. Notice Paul says next, «Let your speech always be seasoned with salt.» What does that mean? It means don’t let your words become flat and tasteless. Salt had two particularly important purposes in the New Testament: it was a preservative to keep things from spoiling, and it was used to create thirst in animals. I used to spend my summers with my uncle who had a farm in Pennsylvania, and I remember while being there, we used to put salt licks in the field. Those are big blocks of salt for the animals, and when they would lick those blocks of salt, they would be thirsty, and then drink enough water. By the way, that’s the reason why they sell popcorn, potato chips, and nuts at your ball games-you eat a bag of potato chips at a ball game, and then you want to get a soft drink, and you get the biggest one they sell, and you make them happy as you quench your thirst.
Paul is saying let there be something in what you say in your witness that compels people to know God. Get creative in how you communicate Christ. Talk in such a way that when people are around you, they sense this is not something you’ve put on-it is something in you that comes out effervescently with the power of the Holy Spirit. Let it be really you. Yes, let your speech always be gracious, but don’t let it be flat. Don’t load it up with canned phrases and Christian clichés-we all know what that sounds like. Have you ever asked somebody a question about the faith, and they say something that you’ve already heard a million times in your life, and it doesn’t mean a thing to you because you know they’re just telling you what they heard, and it doesn’t mean anything to them at all? We’re to be filled with the wonderful truth of who Christ is.
Let me just pause here to say this: when it comes to witnessing, don’t make it harder than it is. You don’t have to go to class to learn how to witness; you don’t have to have a ten -week course at your church or at some Bible college. I’m not saying those things will help you to be better at it, but witnessing is just telling people what Jesus Christ has done for you -that’s all it is. And everyone in this room who’s a Christian can do that. If Christ hasn’t done anything for you, then I would suggest you not talk too much to people outside the faith. But you all know he’s done so much. When he does something for you, make a note of it, and just put it in your little file up here. Someday what he did for me is going to help me tell somebody else about my Jesus. I like to brag on Jesus-do you? I think we should be bold about that so that people know this is not about us; this is about the one who loved us and gave himself for us.
Yet let your speech always be gracious, but don’t let it be flat. Finally, Paul says our witness must be courteous and compelling and compassionate. He says in verse 6 that you may know how you ought to answer each one. You talk to people differently-not because your message is different, but because people are different. You suit your witness to the one with whom you are speaking. I talk to someone who has just lost a family member about Jesus in a much different way than I might talk to them if I were sitting with them at a ball game or something. You have to figure out the situation. You have to be compassionate about where those people are in their life and then talk to them in that mode.
You don’t just use the same four spiritual laws no matter where you go and what you do. If you do that, you’re going to have a lot of awkward, discouraging experiences. Where are they? How can you relate to them? How can you love them in their situation, and how can you share the Lord Jesus with them? I think one of the most difficult things as a Christian is to witness to people who are in your own family. I’ve heard that from so many people over the years. Someone once told me something like this: when a wife talks to her husband about the Lord, she might be conveying to him-whether she wants to or not-that he hasn’t been a good husband or one that he should have been. And so this spiritual thing is a way that she’s just telling him he’s not measuring up.
What a difference! When a woman comes to her husband and says, «Honey, you’ve been everything I could ever have asked for in a husband. I love you so much. You are a great provider, and I know you love me, and I’m so grateful for that. I just wish there was one thing we could share together that is so very special to me.» How different that is from an accusatory comment, or «You need to get saved,» or whatever you say when you have those conversations. The same thing is true with our parents. Over the years I’ve had many people say, «My parents don’t know the Lord, and whenever I try to talk to them, they get mad.» Or they say, «I don’t want any of that stuff talked about in my house-you may not talk about that when you come here.» And, of course, they have the right to say that, and you should obey that.
But a lot of times that happens because of the crazy way we go about trying to win our parents. Because the same rule is true: if you go back and try to witness to your father who’s not a Christian, do you know what you might convey to him? You might convey that you think he was a bad father. After all, what kind of father would let his kids grow up without religion? So you need to season your witness and say to him, «You’ve been a great dad; I couldn’t have asked for a better one. But you know what, Dad? God has given me something so great, and I love you so much, I can’t help but share with you what he’s done for me.»
When you affirm a person’s worth without blasting him or her with the gospel right up front, you win an opportunity. The Holy Spirit gives us the wisdom and the grace to do that. He empowers you and me to look at every situation and discern how God wants us to tailor-make our witness to each individual. When Jesus met the woman at the well in the hot noonday sun, he didn’t say to her, «You must be born again.» No, that’s what he said to Nicodemus. He spoke to her about thirst and the deeper thirst for God that we all feel within us. He spoke about water and the water of life that can become an unfailing source of refreshment throughout the years of our lives.
Jesus was a master at taking the situation and speaking the truth to a person in the situation in which he found them. In the book of Acts, there was this man named Philip who met a government official from Africa who was traveling through the desert in his chariot. The man was reading from this old scroll, but he didn’t understand what it meant. So Philip didn’t give him a lecture; Philip jumped up in the chariot and he said, «What are you reading? Does it make sense to you?» And that African official said, «No, it doesn’t make sense.» And after Philip explained the message about Jesus, we’re told the African official got saved and he was baptized. But you see, that was a chariot; that was a different place; that was a different moment. The chariot experience wasn’t the same as the well experience. They were two different experiences, in two different places.
Sheldon Vanauken was an American writer best known for his memoir. He wrote a book called A Severe Mercy, which is worthy of reading. It was published back in 1977. In his college, he was a convinced atheist; he thought religion was simply unnecessary. But he had some wonderful Christian friends who really cared about him and often talked to him about Jesus. They didn’t argue with him; they just genuinely shared with him about what Jesus had done to change their lives. And it eventually started to bother him in a good way; he couldn’t stop thinking about it. So he wrote a letter to C.S. Lewis and he said, «Something’s happening to me, and I don’t even know what to do.» Lewis wrote back and he said, «I think the Holy Spirit is after you, and I don’t think you’re going to get away.» And he didn’t-he didn’t get away.
After lots of questions and honest conversations, Sheldon Van put his trust in Jesus and later said he felt like he just jumped toward Christ and found that Christ was just holding him and waiting for him. We don’t have to get everything done today. Your witness today might not get you to the place where you wanted to go. Here’s what I suggest: don’t witness to someone in such a way that if they reject the witness, they reject you. Don’t witness to someone in such a way that if it doesn’t materialize the first time, the door is still open to continue to talk about it. How many of you that I know didn’t come to Christ the first time you heard about him? You came to Christ four, five, or six times later after someone had loved you and told you how much they loved you and told you about how much Jesus had changed their life.
We can be more effective if we just follow the Scripture. We can be better in worshiping, better in walking, better in witnessing if we let the Holy Spirit control us from the inside, which is what we’ve been learning about. I hope you will do it. And let me just say this: if you don’t know Jesus Christ in a personal way, you’re going to have a hard time putting much of what I’ve said today into operation. You need to start where you begin, by letting Jesus Christ be your Savior- invite him into your life. It’s not something that takes a long time, just a moment, just to say, «Lord Jesus, I want you to come and be my Savior.»
I want to lead you in a prayer that you can do that right now. Whether you’re watching on television, on the internet, or here in this service, let’s pray together, shall we? Father, thank you for this wonderful book which is filled with such instruction to help us. May we grow in our ability in these areas that we’ve talked about today. I pray for those who’ve listened to my voice who have yet to commit their life to Christ. That’s the beginning place; that’s where we start. And Lord, I want to make a witness to those who are here today -you’ve come to church, you’re in a place filled with people who love you and want you to know Jesus, and I want you to know him too. So glad that you’re here; I want you to leave with Jesus Christ in your heart. Would you pray this prayer with me? Dear God, I know I’m a sinner. I know I need to be saved from my sin. I ask you to forgive me for what I’ve done. I want you to come and live within my heart. I believe you are the Son of the living God. I believe you came to this earth and died for my sin. And today I accept your gift of eternal life by accepting Jesus Christ. Lord Jesus, I will try to live for you from this moment on. And thank you for hearing my prayer. And Lord, I know that prayer has been heard hundreds of times in heaven, but every time it is heard from a genuine heart, rejoicing takes place, transformation happens, and we believe that is true today. And we thank you in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen.