Grace----Faith

[Boaz]

Matthew 2;5-13

And when Jesus was entered into Capernaum, there came unto him a centurion, beseeching him, 6And saying, Lord, my servant lieth at home sick of the palsy, grievously tormented. 7And Jesus saith unto him, I will come and heal him. 8The centurion answered and said, Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof: but speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed. 9For I am a man under authority, having soldiers under me: and I say to this man, Go, and he goeth; and to another, Come, and he cometh; and to my servant, Do this, and he doeth it. 10When Jesus heard it, he marvelled, and said to them that followed, Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel. 11And I say unto you, That many shall come from the east and west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven. 12But the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 13And Jesus said unto the centurion, Go thy way; and as thou hast believed, so be it done unto thee. And his servant was healed in the selfsame hour.


Ephesians 2;8-9

For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone should boast.


About 3 weeks ago a man came in the shop needing a little work done . We talked and I made a ticket and he paid . In the coarse of conversation I asked him what church he attended . He replied he was not a believer .

That opened up a conversation on GOD . I told him to sit down , we talked a while and he seemed interested even asking a few questions . But then I brought up faith and explaining GOD's offer of salvation . He got slightly agitated and said ...yea ! I knew you were going to bring up having to have 'faith' ! I don't have faith in anything that can't be proven !

I said ........You didn't examine that chair before you sat down in on it ....you had faith it would support you . You didn't count the change I gave you ....you had faith I didn't miscount . I Think you have faith that one day you will die ?

[flint45]

You brought him to the water, only the call of the holly spirit can make him drink.

[dverna]

Good post Charlie. You did the right thing. Do not give up on non-believers for I was one too. Sometimes God sends messages we do not want to hear...and then he may decide He needs to take a 2x4 to us....in a manner of speaking.

[Santa Lee]

I have experienced the 2X4. As the writer of Hebrews says in the beginning if chapter 12 God, disciplines those whom he loves. He loves me alot! I am truly a blessed man. I can only imagine how it must hurt our Lord for him to have to discipline us as is needed. Thanks for this section of the forum.

[Boaz]

Thank you Don . Dealing with the public I talk to many . Asking what church someone attends is just conversation to me . It use to be a common question when getting to know someone . The bonus is when others talk of their church , it's outreach programs and activities and such . It's confirmation to the both of us .

It rarely makes anyone mad just to ask were they attend church . Many times they say they need to get back in church and I just trying to be encouraging . Witnessing is not hard , scripture is hardly ever mentioned unless they ask questions and if they do that's good .

Early last week a middle age man came in and I asked where he attended . He said ..at Black Flats . That's a tiny community 30 miles west of me . Basically there is nothing there ...you can't even buy a Coke . He knew what I was doing and flat out said ....I'm a Baptist preacher , I preach there . We had a nice conversation , he said they had 25-30 in attendance on Sunday . very nice guy !

You never know what kind of response you will get but I never seem to have problems just being conversational . I enjoy witnessing .

[buckwheatpaul]

Planting seeds and witnessing is what we are called to do...God will provide the rain for the seeds to grow....good job Charlie....Paul