“Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Doesn’t he leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? ~ Luke 15:4
In Luke 15, Jesus shares three consecutive evangelistic parables. While these words of our Lord contain many points of application, three are very important and obvious for all of us as His followers:
- Lost people matter to God and, therefore, must matter to us.
- Going to seek and save the lost was a priority to God and, therefore, must be a priority to us.
- The repentance of sinners results in God’s rejoicing and, therefore, it must result in our rejoicing as well.
What a joy it is to be used of the Lord to leave the ninety-nine to go after the lost one!
We praise God that after several years of sowing and watering seed week after week after week in our hometown, we are now starting to regularly see those we speak with on the streets on Friday show up at church on Sunday.
A short while ago I was training another Christ-follower from our church in the basics of witnessing, as he joined us on the street for the very first time. After we passed tracts and shared the Gospel one-to-one, we then moved into a time of training our team in open air preaching.
It was toward the end of the night when this new seed sower encountered a “wandering sheep” who he had worked with many years previous. The longer this man and his family listened to the preaching of the Gospel, the more he was pierced to the heart with the truth of God’s Word…and His need to come to church.
After a lengthy discussion about the things of God, we then prayed for him and his family and he assured us that they would all be at church on Sunday. We praise the Lord that he kept His promise and enjoyed a great time of worship and Word with us this past Sunday!
It has been my experience that many evangelists are hesitant to invite the people they share the Gospel with to church. However, if the lost have already encountered “the church” through hearing the Gospel on a street corner, then why not expose them to your fellowship as quickly as possible? After all, with the Body of Christ being one body with many members, we are most like Christ when we witness together.
For His Glory Alone,
~ Cory