© 19 Colin Melbourne
Q: When do we stop preaching the Gospel to individuals who have shown time, and time again, that they won’t accept it?
Are they not accepting the message because I am a poor speaker, and am not gifted in evangelism?
I am a Christian who grew up in a family with no religion. My brother, mother and father are all non believers.
I tried to share the message at dinner this evening, and was disheartened when no one would take me seriously.
I’m feeling discouraged thinking that it’s me who gave the wrong message. I’m not sure when to try again, or if ever.
Please give me some advice. I’d really appreciate it. Allie
A: Well done Allie!
Cart Before the Horse?
First, ensure you understand Gospel; where we came from, what we were meant to be, what went wrong, how our Creator came and fixed the problem, who Jesus really is, what He’s done for us, and how we are to respond.
Plugged In
Receiving Him and the Power Baptism, are crucial; without a living relationship with The LORD, and His Holy Ghost anointing, we are powerless to preach Christ’s Gospel to anyone.
When you have the promised power, you’ll have Holy Fire in your heart, that nothing, and nobody, can quench.
Halleluia!
When do we stop preaching to sinners?
When there are none left on Earth. Mk. 16:15-16 KJV;
And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to EVERY creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.
That single command is the only reason we remain here today.
Let’s be busy, occupied doing Father’s will, Lk. 19:13 KJV;
And he called his ten servants, and delivered them ten pounds, and said unto them, Occupy till I come.
What about those sinners who refuse to listen?
There’s plenty more eager to hear, so get Spirit-filled afresh, and go and find them.
The Key to Success
As you venture, listen carefully to His Spirit within your heart, do what He leads you to do, say what He leads you to say, and leave the results to Him.
Take whatever comes; mockery, insults, anger, threats, spitting, sticks, stones, bullets and bombs.
Rejoice whether you have riot or revival: Believe the LORD is at work through you, confirming His message with signs and wonders, and He never fails to do so!
Glory to mighty Jesus, our Lamb upon the Throne!
What you experienced is normal.
Family members are frequently recalcitrant, for obvious reasons.
Put yourself in their shoes, then you’ll understand their stubbornness, and you will learn how to share the love of Christ more effectively, not only with them, but with strangers too.
Take familial apathy and discord as strong meat, training in discipleship; cheek-turning, and going-twain practice (Mt. 5:39-42), because Jesus taught that families will assuredly be divided by His word, Lk. 12:51-53 KJV;
Suppose ye that I am come to give peace on earth? I tell you, Nay; but rather division: For from henceforth there shall be five in one house divided, three against two, and two against three.
The father shall be divided against the son, and the son against the father; the mother against the daughter, and the daughter against the mother; the mother in law against her daughter in law, and the daughter in law against her mother in law.
Can you imagine the friction Jesus endured from His own family? He waited patiently for Father to tell Him to cease chiselling ox-yokes, stools, and door frames, and lead Him towards Calvary.
There’s never been a more misunderstood teenager than Jesus of Nazareth: God made Flesh.
And that, despite Him being perfectly behaved, respectful, diligent, and obedient. His own flesh and blood family had no fellowship with Him, until after His resurrection.
His Mum and Brothers even came to where He was preaching and tried to shut Him up! (See Mk. 3:31-35 KJV)
Contemplate what life was really like in the busy, cramped, and dusty, Carpenters shop in Nazareth, it will help you identify with your LORD.
He hasn’t changed. Heb. 13:8 KJV;
Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.
His neighbours will be awe-struck at their Final Judgment.
But… that’s the Bloke who lived next door to me!
Ask Father how to deal with your stiff-necked family members.
He loves them, knows them far better than you do, and understands how to win them.
How Did He Come to You?
It helps, when witnessing to sensitive folks, to recall how the LORD won our hearts. For example, I was too arrogant to listen to anyone preach the Gospel to me.
So re-examine how Father drew you, learn from that experience, and you’ll be more effective in future.
Each sinner is different; some require kid-gloves, others need waking up and confronting, but all respond to the Truth in Love.
It’s clumsy and tedious to use a prescribed “method of evangelising”, and less effective, because people sense you are “preaching-at-them”, and quickly switch-off inside, where it matters most.
I used to mock such Christians to their faces. Bless them LORD!
Oh my LORD is so merciful, and gentle, nevertheless He kept sending His children to love me to Him wherever I trod.
Learn to listen to His Spirit in your heart, and as you follow His leading, you will shine for Him.
One young lad got saved and immediately began sharing Jesus with everyone, soon becoming a teenage pastor!
He was wise enough to realise his family would not appreciate being instructed by their youngest member. So instead of angering them, he asked the LORD to send other labourers across their path, to whom they would listen.
He believed the LORD had answered him, and persisted quietly believing until every member of his family got saved.
That’s a good example to follow for close relatives.
You ask, Are they not accepting the message because I am a poor speaker, and am not gifted in evangelism?
Poor speakers are perfect for the Holy Ghost to use, look, 1 Co. 2:2-5 KJV;
For I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified. And I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling. And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man’s wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power: That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.
Read Charles Spurgeon’s testimony for an idea how the Lord uses simple yielded vessels.
You’ve perhaps sung the wonderful foot-stomping hymns of Charles Wesley, a preacher who stuck closer to the LORD than his dear brother John, who backslid somewhat in his later years.
The Wesley Brothers were intelligent, highly educated graduates of Oxford University, who “preached Jesus” in the English colonies of America.
They were methodical diligent church-men, but not Christian; neither of them born again.
They were zealous, but ignorant nominal “Christians”.
Denominations are still packed with such-like today.
It was only after they sailed back to England as failed missionaries that the LORD mercifully opened their spiritual eyes wide enough to respond to the Gospel, and become real Christians, who subsequently brought Revival Fire to England and beyond.
He used a humble brazier named John Bray and his wife, to get through to sick and dying Charles Wesley.
The Brays had only recently been saved themselves, and fellowshipped with some Moravians in London. You may wish to read the story of John and Charles Wesley’s salvation.
It is the anointing of the Holy Spirit who destroys the yoke of unbelief on sinners’ necks, not human eloquence or wisdom: As prophesied in Is. 10:27, and Zech. 4:6b KJV;
And it shall come to pass in that day, that his burden shall be taken away from off thy shoulder, and his yoke from off thy neck, and the yoke shall be destroyed because of the anointing.
…Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the LORD of hosts.
Tips: Buy some of these Chick tracts, and carry them with you wherever you go.
Ask the LORD to lead you to, say, three people a day to deliver them to, then be alert for those three daily opportunities.
Devour TL. Osborn’s marvellous book called “Soulwinning“, it’s full of practical tips how to get the Gospel over in your milieu.
© 19 Colin Melbourne