A Testimony You Should Share

Bible Reading: II Corinthians 5:17-21

Several years ago, I listened to a message on Easter Sunday that challenged me. The pastor taught about the price Jesus Christ paid for the redemption of humanity. He then encouraged us to go ahead and preach the gospel of Jesus to all nations. I became very bothered because I have been hearing this kind of messages from time to time and it is now becoming like “twinkle twinkle little star”. At the end of such messages, I do agree with almost everything the pastors say, and conclude that it was a good and timely message. But that was all about it. I do not do anything about what I heard.

What kind of Christianity am I practicing, I questioned myself. Why will I just listen to good messages and conclude that “it is true” or “I do not agree with that”, and everything ends there? I even teach others in Church about this, but wasn’t doing much about it. No! I must break this circle. I must at least put some of these things into practice. I am supposed to be a living epistle. I cannot try to cheat my divine nature and continue like this.

I went home and discussed the state of my “knowing so much, and doing so little” life with a friend called Tayo. Tayo suggested we go out straight away to evangelize. We set out to the street in the midst of the Easter euphoria, sharing the gospel with folks. I remembered we asked some guys – why are we celebrating? Does it make sense to celebrate that someone died? That question caught the attention of some, like Apostle Paul would have aroused attention when he asked “Have you receive the Holy Ghost since you believed?”. I remembered one of the guys we talked to replied – I never gave that a thought. We expounded the word to him, told him how the resurrection of Jesus opened the gateway to the redemption of man. I also remembered we preached to a group of guys who were smoking and drinking. They made fun of us but as we were about leaving, one of them ran to us and pleaded that he wanted to be saved.

Guess what? At the end of our missionary tour that day, 13 people accepted the salvation of Jesus Christ. What a glorious day! Beloved, the truth is that if I write a powerful message telling you why it is important for us to preach the gospel. I bet many of you will agree with me. But the question is not whether you agree or not, the question is “are you preaching the gospel?” When was the last time you led someone into the kingdom of God?

Today, I see many of us discussing about money-making opportunities. I also do the same. But I long for the time when believers will be discussing about soul-winning opportunities – the city that has not been evangelized; the village that has only 2 believers; the church that nothing has been said about the gospel for over 5 years.

Hey! Don’t look too far. These opportunities are also around you. Jesus said the life of a man that is saved is worth more than the whole wealth of the world (Mark 8: 36). Wow! This is serious business my beloved. Can we start to act now? The gospel in itself has power to save anyone; your duty is just to preach it. Will you take that step today? You may be surprised that there are some “13 souls” waiting for you to decide. I like you to take that step this week, and share your testimonies with me at testimony@christlifeline.org . I am expecting to read from you.

– tope aladenusi