Everyday Evangelism-My Letter To Jay

Jay will probably never read this, but I will never forget the encounter I had with him a couple of years ago at the park. My heart goes out to him. This is for any 'Jay' who fits in this category.

    We were learning a lot about evangelism a couple of years ago. I feel like I had been through boot camp or college because of the teachings of Ray Comfort, Mark Cahill, and several others. One thing I had learned, not only through teaching, but by personal experience, is that people resist God. They don't want to hear God's voice. This is not surprising, since Scripture teaches this, as well. Sometimes people react in a strong way when the Gospel is being preached. Sometimes, people make fun of the person telling the Gospel, or of Christians in general. One such irony, happened to me. I was running into people who would say they were going to hell, after I would give them a tract or start a conversation. Were they happy about this 'going to hell' situation or were they perhaps looking for help? I don't know. I went to an evangelism forum and posted a message about it. One person responded by saying that, if someone were to have asked her questions about the Gospel, she would have said to them that she was going to hell (a couple of years before this). But she did get saved and now she knows where she is going. Why would she have said such a thing? It was because she felt like it would have been too hard for God to save her. It was just that simple. So from that time on, I had a new perspective on this response. Maybe people really did care about where they would go into eternity. Perhaps God was working in their hearts, but they were listening to the Enemy of their Souls who was telling them that their sin was too great for God to forgive.

   I was at a park one Saturday afternoon, a couple of years ago. There were a group of young men playing football or some kind of game on a field. I went up to them and gave them tracts and started talking with them about the Gospel. I asked them if they knew where they would spend eternity. They gave me their answers. But one stood out. He told me that he was going to hell. At first, I thought he was just mocking, so I focused on the other guys. But it kept coming back to him. He kept saying that he was going to hell. After I was finished talling with the guys as a group, I started asking this young man questions. Still trying to figure out if he was being antagonistic or mocking, I wasn't sure where he was coming from. I continued to talk to him about the Gospel. He still had doubts that God would or could forgive him. I explained about the Blood of Christ, and how it was powerful enough to cleanse even the worst of sinners. He explained to me what he had done. He just came back from Afghanistan and was trained in shooting people. He had shot people at random and had killed innocent women and children. He really believed that God could not forgive him for that. We continued to talk for a little while. He seemed a little more hopeful at the end of the conversation. I left him with some tracts. His name is Jay. Jay, if you are out there I hope you have considered what we talked about that Saturday afternoon. Please know that God will forgive you, if you turn from your selfish ways and trust in what Jesus did on the cross for you. Please repent and turn to God. Trust in Him. He is bigger than all your sin and failures and will forgive you if you turn to Him. 

   This letter is for all the 'Jays' out there, whoever they may be. If you are like Jay, please consider what God has done for you by sending His Son to pay for your sins so you could be cleansed from sin and have a right standing before God on Judgment Day. You can be free from the traps of sin and guilt. The Bible says, "If any man (person) is in Christ, he is a new creature. Old things have passed away. All things have become new." Please write to me if you have any questions about this.