Church staff members assured me we were all “home folks” that Sunday night. No firsttime visitors; all involved in the ongoing life of the church. I had been preaching there about three months and recognized the faces, even if I could not yet put names with every one in the congregation.
As the sermon ended and I issued the invitation, I did not know what to expect. The sermon had not been evangelistic. Instead I had warned against playing around the edges of sin, pointing out how Eve in Genesis 3 had been lured ever closer to temptation. Satan’s seeds of doubt grew into the plant of disbelief and finally culminated in the fruit of disobedience.
Flee sin, I had urged. “Just say no.” Of course, no sermon should ever end without a reminder that God can forgive our sin, which begins by accepting Jesus Christ as personal Lord and Savior, but this one did not.
Still we were all “home folks,” all involved in the life of the church. I wondered how God would bring the service to conclusion.
As soon as the invitation began, an elementary-age girl stepped out of her row came forward followed by her parents. She told me she had accepted Christ as her Savior and wanted to be baptized.
All of us know stories of people who have been moved by the powerful preaching of the gospel to confess their sin and accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, but this was not one of those times.
This young lady had been reared in the church. She had gone through a new members class for children and had responded to the presentation about how to become a Christian and the difference between being a church member and being a Christian.
This Sunday night, she wanted to let everyone know of her decision for Christ and become a church member. I knelt by her and her parents, and we prayed together, thanking God for her decision.
Powerful, spirit-filled preaching is important. There is no substitute for it. But the spiritual story of most people will be closer to this young lady’s than that of the dramatic account of one falling under conviction as the result of a spellbinding sermon.
The young lady stood before the church, the result of influence by parents, by Sunday School teachers, by church staff members, by friends. Her decision was the combined influence of years of investing and nurturing. Her Christian growth in the years ahead will reflect a similar pattern.
The truth is that most people come to faith in Christ because of the personal touch on their lives by another person, not because of the eloquence of a preacher.
Parents have the greatest opportunity to lead their children to faith in Christ. This is done by example, living in such a way that Christ and His church are important in their lives. It is also done with words. Every parent has the opportunity at some appropriate time to talk with the child about accepting Jesus as Savior.
Sometimes it is another family member who has this privilege.
That Sunday morning, a native son of the church, now serving as an international Baptist missionary, had shared how God was working in the country where he serves.
The young man’s parents did not attend church. It was his grandparents who involved him in church. Many grandparents have similar opportunities.
Neighbors, co-workers, friends — the list goes on of people whom God uses to influence others toward faith in Christ.
To do so requires recognizing that without faith in Christ one is eternally separated from God. That means the decision for Christ is important.
It requires recognizing that God puts people and opportunities to witness in our paths. That means we have a role to play in making Christ known. It requires obedience, actually speaking a word of faith and testimony.
Sometimes people accept Christ the first time they hear about Him. Most people who accept Christ do so after cultivation. Friendship, ministry, involvement in church programs — all are cultivation opportunities but none is an end in itself.
At some point, a person must be given an opportunity to accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. They must be asked if they will accept Jesus.
Next Sunday, I will be back in the pulpit of the church and will again issue an invitation to accept Christ. I pray the sermon will have been Christ-honoring and will have encouraged people to make that decision.
Still, if decisions are made, the decisions will be more the result of the faithful witness and ministry of the people of God than they will be the result of a single sermon.
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