The great apostle, Paul, in Acts 17:17, finds himself in Athens.  He not only preaches the gospel and reasons with folks about the gospel in the Synagogue, but also, in the market place daily, "with those who happened to be there."  I love it!  That's one of the chief goals of Making the Gospel Known Ministries--to equip Christians to be motivated, trained, and able to reason the gospel with whoever God brings across their paths.  Here is a great example of this from my friends, Jeff and Mary Bruns:  

We had a plumber, Dan, come out to give us an estimate for some work today. When he was getting ready to go, I gave him a million dollar "tip". I told him it had the million dollar question, "Are you good enough to go to heaven?" He indicated that he wasn't and we stared talking. We went through the law and the incredible gospel. I gave him a New Testament and the booklet "One Second After You Die". He seemed grateful.
When Jeff got home he called Dan to answer some questions. Dan told Jeff, "I really appreciated the pamphlet your wife gave me today." Jeff then encouraged him that this was the most important thing in life to consider. It's just so amazing to be having these life and death conversations with people...

Yes!  It is amazing to be called to be ambassadors of our Lord Jesus Christ.  Everywhere we go, PEOPLE ARE PERISHING, and they do not even know.  And guess what?  Like Jeff and Mary, we have the privilege to make the gospel known the them.  After all, that's our job!  We sow the seeds, our great God and Savior makes them grow.

The modern evangelical church has lost so much ground in making the gospel known to the lost.  Why?  They have answered the question in the title of this post with a resounding "YES."  The assumption of many sincere believers is the assumption that I once held years ago.  It goes something like this: "C'mon everyone!  Sinners don't need to be told they are sinners, they already know that.  What they need is to be loved and to hear the good news."  This sounds so right on the surface, doesn't it?  The problem is that it's assumption is dead wrong.  Our MGKM team witnesses to hundreds of people (perhaps thousands) each year.  We have a common question for folks, "Do you consider yourself to be a good person?"  What do you think 95% of them say?  If you guessed, "Yes, I think I'm a good person," you are right.  Not only that, they, for the most part, are convinced that God has the same assessment of them!  Can you see how dangerous this is for their eternal welfare? 

This is why lost people desperately need to hear the law before they hear the gospel.  The law is God's instrument that brings the knowledge of sin.  This is why, in our evangelism training seminars (contact us if you are interested), we give much instruction on preaching the law of God, as well as the gospel of grace.  Consider the following:

John MacArthur noted: "God's grace cannot be faithfully preached to unbelievers until the Law is preached and man's corrupt nature is exposed. It is impossible for a person to fully realize his need for God's grace until he sees how terribly he has failed the standards of God's Law."

Therefore, let us go forth, laying the groundwork of the law of God, so hearts will be hungry to hear the gospel of Christ!

THE CONVICTING POWER OF THE HOLY SPIRIT October 30, 2009

Wow! That’s the only way I know how to describe it. I have seen God work in people before, but last night was pretty amazing.

I was witnessing to 4 young girls (ages 14 and 15). I spent quite a bit of time helping them to see how they stacked up in relation to God’s law and righteousness. They all readily saw that they were guilty before God and they immediately became concerned. I was witnessing the active, powerful work of the Holy Spirit.

Destiny, Kemara, Stephanie, and Esther were visiting the Inner Harbor of Baltimore from Charlotte, NC. Each of them, with precious sincerity, admitted that they thought they would go to hell if they died today. Kemara was the first to communicate here sense of guilt before God.

Then Destiny, visibly moved, said she felt like she was going to cry. Throughout the discussion, she must have repeated this 3 or 4 times. She said that she had tried to turn her life around with the Lord and it just didn’t work. Her solution? Just wait till she was older when she would be ready. I shared with her that there was absolutely no guarantee that she would wake up even tomorrow.

I looked at Stephanie and asked her what she was thinking. With her head down, she shook it and said, “I just keep seeing all the wrong things I’ve been doing.” She was very deep in thought and under conviction. Kemara, Stephanie, and Destiny all seemed to be fixated on the reality of their sin, God’s holiness and God’s immense love.

When I shared the glory of the love of God revealed in the gospel, the conviction seemed to increase all the more. I expressed how deeply God loved them, displayed by the supreme sacrifice of Jesus. At about that time, Destiny, began saying, “My heart is so heavy, my heart is so heavy.” She would walk around, unable to escape the pull of God on her life.

It was clear that these girls were at war on the inside. I pleaded with them for their souls. I shared my testimony of yielding my life to Jesus at age 17. Then, I begged them to do the same before their heads hit the pillow that night. They were all very thankful. Destiny said she was really going to be thinking about this for a long time. I prayed for them, gave them some excellent things to read, and they were on their way.

It is a glorious thing to think that we are laboring with the Holy Spirit. We, in our weakness, plant gospel seeds. And as we do, the Holy Spirit works on hearts. May God encourage your heart today to realize that, though you feel fearful and weak, God glories in using fearful and weak vessels to do His work. Please be bold to preach the gospel, and watch the Lord do His mighty work.