Foreword

I have written this book in the hope that it will be a source of encouragement to those faithful saints of God who desire to be effective witnesses for Christ.

My prayer is that it will stimulate them to such a degree that they will join with me in praying the prayer of anticipation, "Father lead me to a person who is hungry to hear the Gospel. Yes Lord, bring me into the presence of that individual in whose heart you have been working. Cause our paths to cross today. Let me not waste my time on those who refuse to hear, but use me today as a reaper, If not a reaper then a link In the chain."

All of the stories in this book are true, however, the names of some of the participants have been changed.

I pray that these stories will stimulate your faith and lift your spirit.

Don Herbert

Contents


Witnessing is usually accomplished through man's initiative Divine Appointments however are always the initiative of God!

Many thanks to Mrs Lesley deVries, my daughter Antoinette, Milton and Vela McDonald for the many hours they spent editing this book Many thanks as well to Mr Brent Smith for his brilliant illustrations and Mr Brett White for the front cover graphics.

Copyright - Don Herbert (06) 2317810 Permission given to copy except for gain or profit.

Printer Tuggeranong Print (06) 2319296

First Print 1996




I couldn't understand most of those weak-kneed Bible toting Christians of the seventies who quaked and shook over the prospect of telling people about Jesus.

Sharing the Gospel was easy. You simply grabbed your prospective victim by the throat and nailed him to the wall.

From this point you proceeded to bash him senseless with Biblical truths, highlight his lack of Christian morality and its dire consequences on his life, machine-gun him with Scripture verses, and then finally put the fear of hell into him - - - in that order!

After all, this was the way the man who led me to Christ did it and it worked for me. From my perspective as an unchurched new Christian delivered from a pagan world, this was the way to go.

This was the pattern for evangelism. The template for soul winning. Looking back in retrospect I would have saved myself a lot of aggravation, frustration and pain if I had thought about how the man who led me to Christ got his name. His name was Bull!

It finally dawned on me, Bull by name and Bull by nature. I say this with no disrespect towards my precious brother but I did note that brother Bull dealt with everything in life by grabbing it by the throat and shaking it until it gave up and submitted to him.

Patterning my evangelistic strategy after brother Bull's, I tried to evangelize in this way for a period of two years, without any success.

Further, I suffered the indignity of being dubbed the vicar by my workmates and a religious fanatic by my family.

Slowly, ever so slowly, I began to perceive a small knocking at the back of my head. God was properly using a length of three by two; yet for me it was just a tapping, the beginning of a new awareness that maybe, just maybe, I was doing things wrongly.

Could it be true? Was it conceivable? Could there be a difference between the BULL method of evangelism and the Biblical one? After speaking to God on the matter and yes, listening to Him for the first time in two years, (I had been waging war in my own strength) I received the distinct message that it I was going to find men for Christ I had to learn to keep my big mouth shut.

This was going to be tough! I was going to have to rely on God to set up men for me to speak to. God was going to have to make the Divine Appointment. The distinct impression I received was that I was not to share the Gospel with God's choice until the Holy Spirit prompted me.

No more ecclesiastical missile launchings, but waiting for God to say GO. What an exercise in patience!

The question I began to ask myself was, "What could I do in the interim period?" Well I discovered I could pray and I did! And I could look for God's choice and again I did!

Well I discovered I could pray and I did! And I could look for God's choice and again I did! So I began to pray each day in this manner: "Lord, bring the man of your choice across my pathway today, Lord; lead me to the man in whose heart you have been working, who is hungry to hear the Gospel.  Don't let me waste my time on men who refuse to hear or respond but give me a man with a soft heart."

After praying this prayer I would then move out into the day looking for God's choice, putting myself in a position to meet and relate with men.

A walk in the park. A game of pool with a workmate. Communication with the man fishing next to me on the wharf. I have always found this tremendously exciting never knowing who the man would be but anticipating meeting him at any moment.

I discovered that some of the divine appointments God gave me were not always reaping encounters but rather I was a link in the chain, sowing in fertile ground. When the fruit was fully ripe someone else would reap in a future divine encounter.

Nevertheless I always planned on being a reaper, recognizing that fruit picked green could go rotten. This thought kept me from reverting to my former Bull-style encounters.

Yes, my strategy for evangelism which was God's strategy imparted to me had become - Pray for divine appointments and then look for them!

A Hungry Heart At Last! John was my first God-given divine appointment. John was a young man around my own age who had just transferred to the bus depot where I was working. I introduced myself to him inquiring what he did with... (please buy the book to read some more)


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