Sometimes I wish God had chosen a different way of speaking to people other than just the Bible.
Dare 2 Share -
Jesus said, "There was a certain rich man who was splendidly clothed and who lived each day in luxury. At his door lay a diseased beggar named Lazarus. As Lazarus lay there longing for scraps from the rich man's table, the dogs would come and lick his open sores. Finally, the beggar died and was carried by the angels to be with Abraham. The rich man also died and was buried, and his soul went to the place of the dead. There, in torment, he saw Lazarus in the far distance with Abraham.
"The rich man shouted, `Father Abraham, have some pity! Send Lazarus over here to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in anguish in these flames.' "But Abraham said to him, `Son, remember that during your lifetime you had everything you wanted, and Lazarus had nothing. So now he is here being comforted, and you are in anguish. And besides, there is a great chasm separating us. Anyone who wanted to cross over to you from here is stopped at its edge, and no one there can cross over to us.' "Then the rich man said, `Please, Father Abraham, send him to my father's home. For I have five brothers, and I want him to warn them about this place of torment so they won't have to come here when they die.' "But Abraham said, `Moses and the prophets have warned them. Your brothers can read their writings anytime they want to.'
"The rich man replied, `No, Father Abraham! But if someone is sent to them from the dead, then they will turn from their sins.'
"But Abraham said, `If they won't listen to Moses and the prophets, they won't listen even if someone rises from the dead.' " (Luke 16:19-31)
Sometimes I wish God had chosen a different way of speaking to people other than just the Bible.
For example, wouldn’t it be great to get Jesus to appear personally at all the major auditoriums in the world and tell everyone who He is? Or perhaps we could get broadcast rights for a couple hours on all the major television stations, and God could do some miracles.
It just seems like explaining the gospel from Scripture these days is too commonplace. Besides, hardly anyone believes in absolute truth anymore, so surely there must be a more powerful way of getting the message across.
In Luke 16:19-31, we read about a rich man who died and went to hell. While there, he suddenly gets concerned about his family having to join him there (isn’t it amazing how the heat of Hades turns evildoers into evangelists?)
Turns out his brothers never trusted in God- maybe because they had life pretty easy like he did, so they’re not too concerned about the afterlife. So the rich guy comes up with this brilliant plan to convince them that Scripture is true: send a preaching phantom- and then they’ll believe.
That sounds reasonable, doesn’t it? I mean- it worked for Scrooge in The Christmas Carol (sure, it took three ghosts, but it finally changed him).
Have you ever wished that you could produce something supernatural for your friends or family to convince them of the truth of Scripture? Yet Abraham’s response was: `If they won't listen to Moses and the prophets, they won't listen even if someone rises from the dead.'
In other words, The Bible is not just a collection of letters on some paper. If you are witnessing to people using God’s word, that is as powerful as it gets. Not even a ‘gospel ghoul’ would be more convincing than John 3:16.
So if you are discouraged that people don’t seem to be responding to your efforts to share the good news of Christ, be encouraged by Luke 16. If you are presenting the gospel with the words of Scripture, you are doing exactly what God wants you to do. Fancy talk, flawless arguments, and flashy methods add nothing to the power of the Word. Don’t wait until you have all the information down before you share your faith, just remember that quoting the Bible is more effective than calling a ghost.
Questions:
1) When it comes to sharing the gospel, what are you waiting for?
2) Why is God’s Word more powerful than a poltergeist?
3) How many verses could you quote from memory?
