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Why Is The Church on Life Support ?
By Adam Bartlett - Page 2
I remember taking my Bible to work with me and there was a man that had a locker right behind me. He worked days and I was on nights and as I was changing clothes to come home he was coming in. He had the worst mouth of anyone that I knew, using expletives every other word. I remember one day as I was getting dressed the Lord started dealing with me to talk to him. I of course argued with the Lord and explained to Him that this man would make me look like a fool in front of everyone. He would curse me like I never was before and besides he would not listen to me.
This went on for several months with the Lord prodding me to talk to him and me arguing and refusing. One Monday night as I came in his locker was standing opened and cleaned out. That is what they do when someone has been fired or quit. I heard some other guys talking on the other side of the lockers about how he had died over the weekend of a heart attack. My stomach sank and I sat down on the bench and put my head in my hands and began to cry. I just kept saying, "I'm sorry Lord, I failed you," repeatedly.
It was about two weeks later that I was studying and came across the scripture in Ezekiel 3:17-21. As I read it I began to cry again and think about this man. It was from that experience that a radical change took place in me and I realized that nothing was worth allowing that to happen again. I realized that we never know how long a person has on this earth and it is not our place to decide when we need to talk to them or not.
If God ever deals with you to talk to someone, Do It Now! Don't wait and go through the same experience I did. I did not learn to witness to anyone in any church I have been in. It is automatically assumed that Christians know how to do this because they go to church. The church is not training the people in this area because it is not an area that the church is working in. I cannot train someone to build a house if all I know how to do is work on car engines. The church should be full of specialists that know how to share the Gospel with the lost. Unfortunately, the numbers would be extremely low of the amount of people in each church that feel comfortable doing just that.
I pray that no one ever has to experience what I did with that man at work. I fear though that there is little training in the churches in this area and therefore there are many that will. I fear that there are many that will experience it and that there are many that are not even aware it is happening to them each day. The focus of the church has changed and the priorities are mixed up and winning the lost is not the main topic. I pray that this work is effective in many areas but mainly to the encouraging of its readers to be bold in spreading the Gospel to the lost. I pray that this work will spark a fire and a hunger in those that read it to make a change starting with them first. If enough individuals change the church will have to because WE are the church.
Adam Bartlett
Chapter 1 - Why is the Church on Life Support?
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