Grace for Grace

I am finding that the calling to be a "fisher-woman" for the Lord Jesus is really a wonderful calling! Sharing the Gospel with folks who need to hear the truth is a tremendous privilege - and it's actually a lot of fun as well!

I am forever grateful to the ministry of Living Waters as well as Mark Cahill's books for the tried-and-true method of evangelism they teach. Not only has this method of using the Law (the 10 Commandments) coupled with the Gospel proven to be extremely effective time and again, but learning this model has caused me to feel confidently equipped to witness to just about anyone.

Over the past week, the Lord gave me three Divine appointments to share the Law and the Gospel with different young women. Two were in the counseling room at the pregnancy center so those conversations will have to be kept confidential. :) The other opportunity came last Friday night with an international student from Hong Kong.


It just so "happened" that my parents were out of town for the weekend and my sister had wedding plans to attend to, leaving me on my own for the long drive to American Chinsese Fellowship. Then, a friend called and asked if I could take her daughter and their college-age international student, Grace, with me. (I had met Grace on one other occasion and had been looking forward to having her in our Bible study at ACF, so I glady agreed to play chauffer for the evening.) However, it just so "happened" that the other girl didn't end up coming along...so it was just Grace and me together for the long ride. *smile*

I had heard that Grace was a Christian, but that can mean different things to different people. My prayer for the night was that God would open a door to ask her questions about her faith and share the Gospel with her if possible.

We spent the trip down to ACF in casual conversation, chatting about our respective lives and families. She is a dear, sweet girl, and we had a wonderful time together!

The Bible study was our first in a new series on creation vs. evolution. One of the topics we addressed during the study was "The Four Great Questions of Life."
1. Who am I?
2. Where did I come from?
3. Why am I here?
4. Where am I going when I die?

(A person's worldview will determine the answers to these questions. Obviously, an evolutionary or naturalistic worldview will produce very different answers from a creationist worldview.)

While driving home at the end of the evening, I asked Grace what she had learned during the study, and she shared several concepts that were new for her which she found very interesting. Then, I asked her how she would answer the four great questions of life. Here are her answers:
1. I am a human.
2. I came from my mother's womb.
3. God gave me life to experience this world.
4. I hope I am going to heaven when I die.

It was the last question to which I was most interested in hearing her answer. :)

"You say you hope you will go to heaven when you die." I said. "Why do you think you will go to heaven?"

"Because I am a good person," she replied.

To myself I was thinking, Yes! I love this answer! Time to break out the 10 Commandments!

"Grace, do you know what God's definition of being "good" is?" I asked.

"No."

"Well, He gave us rules in the Bible to teach us right from wrong, good from evil. If we keep the rules, we're good. If we break the rules, we're bad. These rules are called the 10 Commandments. Have you ever heard of these?"

"No, I don't know about these," she said.

"Okay. I'll tell you about them. One of his rules or laws is 'Do not tell lies'. Grace, have you ever told a lie?"

"Oh, yes!" she said.

"How many lies do you think you've told?"

"I don't know. Many lies!"

"Me too. So, what do you call someone who tells lies?" I asked.

"A liar."

"Exactly. Another one of God's laws is 'Do not steal.' Have you ever stolen anything? Even if it's small...no matter the value?"

"Yes," she said. "From my brother when I was younger."

"Do you know what you call someone who steals?" I asked.

"No."

"A thief."

"Oh."

"Another of God's rules is not to take His name in vain. That means to use His name flippantly, casually, without respect. Like a curse word, or in phrases like 'oh my G-d'."

At this point, Grace turned to me with wide eyes and said, "You mean, that's wrong? We shouldn't do that?"

"Correct. I know it's very common and acceptable in our culture to use God's name that way, but it's not right. God is a wonderful, holy, perfect God. He is the One who gives us air to breath and life itself! Yet, so many people drag His holy Name through the dirt by using it as a curse word or in flippant, casual exclamations. The Bible calls this blasphemy. It's very serious. Have you ever done this before?"

"Yes."

"Have you ever killed anyone, Grace?"

"Oh, no!"

I smiled at her. "I didn't think so. But Jesus teaches in the Bible that having anger toward someone without cause is equal to murder. And the Bible also says that hating someone makes us murderers at heart. This is because God judges our inward thoughts as well as our outward actions. Have you ever felt hatred or anger toward another person?"

"Yes," she replied.

"Those are only a few of God's 10 Commandments, Grace. According to what you just told me, you are a liar, a thief, a blasphemer, and a murderer at heart. When you die, if God judges you according to His laws, will He find you innocent or guilty?"

"Guilty."

"So do you think He should send you to heaven or hell?"

"Hell."

Amazing. In approximately five minutes, Grace went from believing that her own goodness would earn her a place in heaven to admitting that she is a lawbreaker deserving of hell.

"That's right, Grace. And I deserve the same thing. I, too, have told lies, stolen, am blasphemed. I, too, am a murderer at heart. This is what sin is: when we've broken God's laws and done things that are not good. Grace, do you know what hell is like?"

"It's a bad place. There's fire there, right?"

"Yes. The Bible says that hell is a horrible place of torment where there is fire, darkness, weeping and gnashing of teeth. It's a place where God isn't! Hell wasn't even created for humans. It was created for the devil and his workers - called demons. But when we as humans choose to break God's laws, we are acting like the devil acted, so we deserve the same punishment he will get.

But God doesn't want us to go to hell! He loves us so much and wants us to be in heaven with Him! Do you know what God did so you and I wouldn't have to go to hell?"

"He sent His Son?"

"Yes! He sent Jesus to earth. Jesus is God's Son and is equal with God. He left His beautiful home in heaven where angels worship Him all the time, and became a man. In other words, He was God with skin on. During His life in this earth, He faced every temptation we face. But He never once broke God's laws! He never once sinned! For 33 years, Jesus never told a lie, never stole, never blasphemed, never hated anyone. He was perfect.

Then, He willingly chose to die on a cross. Crucifixion was a horrible form of execution that only the worst of criminals received. Even though Jesus never did anything wrong, people that didn't like Him made up stories and lied about Him so that the government would kill Him. Jesus let this happen. He chose to die on that cross for us because the Bible says that the punishment for sin is death (Romans 6:23) and Jesus wanted to take our punishment upon Himself. He died in our place.

It's like what happens in a courtroom. Let's say I break the law and go to court. The judge finds me guilty. He is a good judge who makes sure justice takes place. He won't let me go just because I say I'm sorry or I tell him of all the good things I've done in my life. He says I must pay a fine for my crime. But it's a huge amount of money - and I can't afford to pay it.

If someone were to step into the courtroom and pay the money for me, then the judge could let me go. Justice will have been paid.

That's like what Jesus did. I deserved death in hell for my crimes of breaking God's law. He died on the cross to pay my fine. The Bible says that without shedding of blood there can be no forgiveness of sin. So, Jesus shed His blood for you and for me. Then, after 3 days of being in the grave, He rose to life again, proving that He is God! If He had stayed dead, He would have been no different than any other man. But by coming back to life, Jesus showed that He was more powerful than death! Death could not hold Him down! This is the difference between Jesus and every other religious leader in history. Buddha did not come back to life. Hindu gods did not die and come back to life. Only Jesus.

Because of Jesus' death on the cross for me, God - who is a good Judge - can find me "not-guilty." Justice has been paid, so now He can extend His mercy to me.

The Bible says that those who repent of their sin and trust in Jesus as their Savior will be forgiven and saved from hell. To repent means to be sorry for our sin, sorry for breaking God's laws, and have a desire to turn away from such a lifestyle. Trusting Jesus means to place our faith completely in Him and His death on the cross for us to pay for our sins. It means to believe that He is alive today and to follow Him as our Master. Those who repent and trust in Jesus will go to be with Him in heaven when they die."

Somewhere along the way in this part of the conversation, we got talking about the resurrection of everyone's bodies and the topic of ghosts entered in. Grace wanted to know if ghosts are real. After dealing with that question, we came back to the more important topic at hand.

"Grace, has there ever been a time in your life when you repented of your sin and chose to put your faith in Jesus as your Savior?"

"No," she said. "No, not yet."

"Is there anything holding you back?" I asked.

"I just want to make sure I understand it all first."

"Sure. I can understand why you would feel that way. It's the most important decision you will ever be faced with, and you don't want to take it lightly."

"To me, it's kind of like marriage, " she said.

I smiled. She's a discerning girl.

"Yes, you're right, Grace. It is kind of like marriage because trusting in Jesus and following Him is a life-long commitment. And it's wise to want to be sure you understand what you're getting into."

"Thanks," she said.

"But Grace, there's something else to consider too. You and I aren't promised tomorrow. We could be killed in a car accident tonight. It happens. I am not saying I want it to happen...but you never know. We don't know what the future will hold. And once we die, it will be too late to change our mind or make any other decisions. We only get to make decisions in this life on earth."

"Oh," she said.

"If God's Holy Spirit is tugging at your heart, Grace, you don't want to ignore Him. Yes, you want to count the cost that is involved with being a Christian and understand about Jesus. But if you wait too long, there might come a day when it will be too late.

"Yeah.....(silence).....there's a cost?"

"Yes. There's a cost to being a Christian. It's not an easy road necessarily."

"What's the cost?" she asked with concern. (This was news to her!)

"Suffering. Persecution. It's not so bad here in the United States, but in China or middle eastern countries, it's illegal to be a Christian. You could be thrown in jail or even killed for your faith. But Christians are willing to suffer and die for Jesus, because Jesus suffered and died for us! Besides, dying isn't really dying...when we leave these bodies, we go to be with Him!

Here in the U.S. we aren't thrown in jail for following Jesus, but sometimes suffering comes in other ways. Like with people who don't understand our desire to please Him with our lives. They might mock us or disagree with us and try to make us feel bad for the decisions we make as Christians."

Apparently, this was food for thought for Grace!

About this time, we pulled into the driveway of her host family's home and she climbed out of the car with smiles, waves, and much to think about. We parted ways as friends who had just enjoyed a very natural conversation about spiritual matters.

Ever since then, I have been praying a lot for grace for Grace - that God will continue to "enlighten the eyes of her understanding" and draw her to Himself.

Tomorrow night is another Bible study at American Chinese Fellowship. I don't know if Grace will be able to participate or not....we'll see. I hope so. She is a precious young lady with a genuine interest in the Lord and a desire to learn more of Him!

I love the Scripture that talks about some planting and some watering, but God giving the increase! What a comfort it is to trust that God is at work in the life of my friend Grace! After all, His love for her is far greater than I can possibly comprehend.