Friday, August 17, 2007 at 1:01am
Planting seeds of faith
Column: For His Glory
" ... When the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?"
It is a telling question that Jesus asked His disciples: Will He find faith on the earth at His return? My experience from the last four and a half weeks of working door to door to reach people for Christ says the answer is no.
I spent four and a half weeks going door to door, offering people the good news about Jesus Christ, and not one soul accepted the invitation. Oh, many of the people whose doors we knocked on were polite; some even took the Bible studies we offered. Yet for the most part, they were too busy to learn more about Jesus. Some homes we would visit repeatedly, the occupants giving us false hope that if we would just come by the next day, all would be well. Yet the next day came and no one would be home, or someone else was home to tell us they had to leave and couldn't meet with us. I wonder often how people could not see the importance and sincerity of our message. We were doing door-to-door work in close to 100 degree suffocating heat. Knocking on doors, risking constant rejection and yet still eager to seek for those who may be searching for meaningful religion.
It was rough work, when you consider that we knocked on over 150 homes in a span of seven days. Spoke to hundreds of people, and yet not one accepted the message. One lady and her children did come out to the evangelistic meetings we were promoting; she did seem interested, but said she was too busy to attend regularly and hence showed up only once. Yet deep in my heart I knew that in her life a seed was planted.
You see, the work of going door to door may not have produced tangible fruit, but I know that it at least planted seeds of faith in people's hearts and minds. One day the Holy Spirit will remind them of the efforts of two Bible workers in bringing them the gospel of Jesus. Hopefully they will recognize that effort as God trying to draw them close to Him via two of His disciples. God is using every means possible to draw people to Himself.
That is why I am not disappointed in the efforts we gave going door to door. Sure, there are things I would have liked to do over again, but for the most part I know we gave it our all and God will bless.
Nevertheless, it is not like the evangelistic meeting did not have any success; it did. The last Saturday we were there, we witnessed 25 new people getting baptized. Heaven truly rejoices when one sinner repents; therefore, imagine the joy over 25. In total, there were 37 baptisms, all for the glory and honor of God.
So will the Son of Man find faith in the earth? I believe He will, because God's word never comes back to him void.
— —
Gio Marin is an author, currently working on a master of divinity degree at Andrews Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary, with a dual emphasis on systematic theology and church growth & evangelism. Visit For His Glory, the blog, and send an email to {email GioMarinColumn@aol.com}GioMarinColumn@aol.com{/email}. Copyright 2007 by Gio Marin.
It is a telling question that Jesus asked His disciples: Will He find faith on the earth at His return? My experience from the last four and a half weeks of working door to door to reach people for Christ says the answer is no.
I spent four and a half weeks going door to door, offering people the good news about Jesus Christ, and not one soul accepted the invitation. Oh, many of the people whose doors we knocked on were polite; some even took the Bible studies we offered. Yet for the most part, they were too busy to learn more about Jesus. Some homes we would visit repeatedly, the occupants giving us false hope that if we would just come by the next day, all would be well. Yet the next day came and no one would be home, or someone else was home to tell us they had to leave and couldn't meet with us. I wonder often how people could not see the importance and sincerity of our message. We were doing door-to-door work in close to 100 degree suffocating heat. Knocking on doors, risking constant rejection and yet still eager to seek for those who may be searching for meaningful religion.
It was rough work, when you consider that we knocked on over 150 homes in a span of seven days. Spoke to hundreds of people, and yet not one accepted the message. One lady and her children did come out to the evangelistic meetings we were promoting; she did seem interested, but said she was too busy to attend regularly and hence showed up only once. Yet deep in my heart I knew that in her life a seed was planted.
You see, the work of going door to door may not have produced tangible fruit, but I know that it at least planted seeds of faith in people's hearts and minds. One day the Holy Spirit will remind them of the efforts of two Bible workers in bringing them the gospel of Jesus. Hopefully they will recognize that effort as God trying to draw them close to Him via two of His disciples. God is using every means possible to draw people to Himself.
That is why I am not disappointed in the efforts we gave going door to door. Sure, there are things I would have liked to do over again, but for the most part I know we gave it our all and God will bless.
Nevertheless, it is not like the evangelistic meeting did not have any success; it did. The last Saturday we were there, we witnessed 25 new people getting baptized. Heaven truly rejoices when one sinner repents; therefore, imagine the joy over 25. In total, there were 37 baptisms, all for the glory and honor of God.
So will the Son of Man find faith in the earth? I believe He will, because God's word never comes back to him void.
— —
Gio Marin is an author, currently working on a master of divinity degree at Andrews Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary, with a dual emphasis on systematic theology and church growth & evangelism. Visit For His Glory, the blog, and send an email to {email GioMarinColumn@aol.com}GioMarinColumn@aol.com{/email}. Copyright 2007 by Gio Marin.