When

When was the last time you shared your testimony in person?

Can we effectively share the gospel without including our testimony of what the mercy and grace of God has done in our lives personally?

Has anyone here on SI ever "shared the gospel” about Gods redemptive plan, ie; the Good News and actually had someone convert and come to faith in Christ?

Do we ask ourselves, how many souls have I won for Christ today, thos week, this year, since my conversion?

Are we being proper stewards,…, meaning are profitable servants (from His perspective)?

I stay home a lot - often with my hands full (special needs child etc). And have very little electronic contacts. But I pray/interceed much and so believe that God is through the same prayers saving many sinners out there, I would say.

PS. Meaning I understand what you mean and thus I often find comfort in my closet work - that I am not idle.

That’s encouraging to hear and I couldn’t agree more regarding the importance of intercessory prayer, building on the foundation.
While your situation limits opportunities, it’s refreshing when the opportunity is present and taken🙏🏻

Amen
............

When I got to town to start a revival a lady contacted me who ran a boarding house. She said, "Brother Finney, do you know a Father Nash? He and 2 other men have been at my boarding house for the last 3 days, but they haven’t eaten a bite of food. I opened the door and peeped in at them because I could hear them groaning, and I saw them down on their faces. They have been this way for 2 days, lying prostrate on the floor and groaning, I thought something awful must have happened to them. I was afraid to go in and I didn’t know what to do. Would you please come see about them?”

"No, it isn’t necessary,” I replied. "They just have a spirit of travail in prayer.”

..........

I was already continuing under the said spirit when I came across this and it has been a great confirmation. I often reflect on how it must be by someone (unknown to me) else's prayers that I found (heard and believed in) Christ.

Dear Brother Fletcher,
I surely would like to know if I have brought about fruit, (someone into the kingdom).. but actually I do not know!

I know I have a burning desire to show forth Jesus… to share what He has taught ( revealed) to me (this undeserving person) , to encourage whereever I can,..but no, I do not know.

I do, and have shared things of His workings in my life, wherever I’m prompted.

…. Though I be nothing….

………….
Much love my brother,
elizabeth

Sweet sister :)
So good to hear from you !
And yes we are all unworthy and that’s kinda the point isn’t it….

Had seen this sign in a fish restaurant, it said -
"God never asked us to be attorneys,… just witnesses”

This got me to thinking,… what do witnesses do?
They testify,…. seems easy enough to simply tell your experience from your perspective but if I’m being honest it seems that we would rather be attorneys most of the time and rarely witnesses, in that we often seek a conviction (which is Holy Spirits job) rather than admitting that we needed and still need Gods mercy and grace -
We try to convince others, not of Gods love but more so that our position is the "right one” this may be well intended and doctrinally correct but is it effectual?
Does it have life in it? 🤔

Earlier this week I had a new client and she had asked questions to get to know me and without even thinking, I shared portions of what God had done in my life in a very casual matter of fact kind of way, which tho she too was a follower of Christ it had a profound effect and was found to be quite encouraging and uplifting to her :))))

This got me to thinking and I had remembered the sign quoted above….
Maybe we’re too focused on our theology and doctrine and not enough on the simplicity of what the gospel has done for us 🤔

Interestingly this has, finally, answered a long standing question I had about ministering to Jewish persons and it occurred to me that our testimony is the most effective means regardless of whether a person knows the Lord or not.
Mainly because our testimony contains the seed of life and as such if it finds the good ground of their hearts will take root, grow, and produce much fruit which will produce another testimony that glorifies the Lord Jesus 🙏🏻

It was quiet humbling to realize that the only thing of worth I have to offer anyone is not all my work/study , rather the only thing I have of value to offer is what the Lord Himself has given me, namely a testimony that magnifies Christ 😇

In any case, I hoped that it may encourage and embolden others to be more forward in sharing their testimonies in common situations where it might otherwise seem out of place, awkward even, but ultimately is precisely the remedy that God has prescribed ✝️

Fletcher,

I've also been being brought to many of those conclusions lately. In light of that, look at the Greek root of the word "witness":

μάρτυς

martus

mar'-toos

Of uncertain affinity; a witness (literally [judicially] or figuratively [generally]); by analogy a "martyr”: - martyr, record, witness.

I've been being brought, more deeply than before, to the steady and abiding realization that to truly know Jesus, is to know nothing else - a determined and purposeful forsaking of dogmatic ideals for the living truth that is Jesus Himself. Paul said he determined to know nothing save Christ and Him crucified. From this single eyed affection, and the death to our own ideals and prejudice, the living martyrdom of the witness of Jesus, we are able to truly be the salt and light of the world.

"Now when Jesus saw a crowd around him, he gave orders to go over to the other side. And a scribe came up and said to him, "Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.” And Jesus said to him, "Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.”” (Matthew 8:18-20)

The scribe wanted to follow Jesus so long as he knew the destination, "wherever you go". Jesus immediately, and subtly rebuked this mindset by telling Him there was no destination in this world for someone who follows Him. This struck me, as it shows the true nature of following Jesus - He calls us to follow Him, but never tells us where. So long as Jesus is in our view, and our affections are set on Him, it no longer seems to matter anyway, because if He is leading, following is the safest thing we can do - He is God after all.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer said it this way, and this quote has lodged in my spirit ever since I first read it, "He leads the way, stay close Him". It's literally that simple, and the profound simplicity found in Jesus is also the reason the world finds it so profoundly complex - because His call is to Himself, away from self and the world. Everything gets wrapped up in, and revolved around the living person of Christ, and nothing else matters - because only in this does anything else truly have meaning.

I say that to say this - it's important to remember what it is we are witnesses to.

"And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power. But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.” (Acts 1:7-8)

Sharing experiences of God's dealings is good, but we have to beware to not pigeonhole this as the perfect. We are witnesses to Jesus, we testify of Him - because as He said, He is life. If we want to offer men life, we offer them Jesus Himself.

Edited
Witnessing is not to be taken as formal evangelism ministry though, in my understanding. Also to not get discourage by lake of immediate positive response. Knowing that the witness efforts can/should very well add weight in the day of their visitation (when ever it shall from then on)

PS: "
One night in Hobart, Tasmania, as my wife and I were walking home together from the meeting, she said, "Archie, I have just wasted my time to-night. I have spent the whole evening talking with the most frivolous girl I have dealt with for a long time. I made no impression whatever. I just wasted my time. I don’t believe it pays to talk to that kind of a girl.” But she went home and cried to God for that girl.
The next night that girl came to her completely transformed and brought her mother with her and asked Mrs. Torrey to talk to her. They were both brightly converted. Oftentimes where we seem to have accomplished the least, we have in reality accomplished the most."

R. A Torrey

Thank you my brother,and long time friend., Fletcher,
It is always good to hear from you!

It is always so good to hear one’s testimony,.. I always love that !

I so much want to ,.. and hoped for complete testimony of , the man , Bro.Gbile Akanni, whom we both love, for his work in the gospel, but I can only hear a bits and pieces,..here and there, and I have listened to hundreds of his videos.

I’ve heard others tell of him, how he made a paycheck, laid it on the table, and told this brother, "there’s our money, take whatever you need”

A governor there, I saw him , down on his knees praying,.. he got up to say, he had once offered Bro Akanni a car, and he would not except it.

Also, (this is from Bro Akanni’s lips)
Note:They feed all these crowds of people for free w/they come to these big meetings over there,.. they "needed a cow to help feed the people, and up walked a cow.”

…………..
Bless you dear brother
elizabeth

Bro. ES,
I appreciate what you said,..

You wrote,”Sharing experiences of God's dealings is good, but we have to beware to not pigeonhole this as the perfect. We are witnesses to Jesus, we testify of Him - because as He said, He is life. If we want to offer men life, we offer them Jesus Himself.”

Yes amen !
And that’s the point I’m hoping to hilite-
Namely that when we are presenting the gospel (good news) it is often ineffective insofar as it may be textually accurate but lacks the seed of life, Jesus as the risen, living King. Many times He is presented as merely an historic figure rather than an intimate friend, which is why it seems when we witness to what He has done in our lives personally alongside the "objective” gospel it provides more opportunity for the Holy Spirit to do the work which only He can do, in that our personal experience can and often does make others feel or say to themselves, if the Lord can do that for this guy then He surely can for me 🙏🏻

Like when a preacher or pastor shares their personal struggles from the pulpit, it has always left me feeling encouraged that I’m not the only one who struggles with this and makes them more relatable and therefore more effective as a witness…

Yes I too have only caught snippets of brother Akannis testimony and would love to hear it from end to end 🙏🏻
His ministry has been such a blessing to me personally and I refer others to him often tho they sometimes struggle with his accent tho for me it isn’t much trouble at all-

I hope to get to see/meet him the next time he’s stateside 😇