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)