His Name is Jack. Part 二

So when we first started our journey in the bible, Jack wanted you to give him "The important figures and a general explanation of the bible". So instinctively you wanted to go straight to the New Testament and go through the gospels, but Jack insisted that we start in the beginning. Let me just remind you, Jack wanted to go through the entire bible and get a 'complete' understanding of the bible. Just wanted to throw that out there. We are talking about the bible. To give him a full understanding of the gospel! Praise the Lord I read Galatians 1. Where it says,

¹¹For I would have you know, brothers, that the gospel that was preached by me is not man’s gospel. ¹² For I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ.

Praise be to Him, for it is He who saves. It is His gospel. It is not man's gospel, but it is sent from above.

So, continuing on. Your friend Scott was so gracious as to begin helping you present the good news to Jack. We started talking about what it means to be a Christian. What it meant to have a relationship with Jesus Christ. You talk about something that was completely God! It was He who spoke through you! Unquestionably, the stories and analogies of grace, forgiveness, love and redemption, were surely from Him. No doubt! We eventually reached what was the climax of our study of the bible. Faith. What it means to have faith. To believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, the Christ, the Perfect Lamb, the Great I am, God, Lord and Savior. (You should note: just about every time that a encounter with God's Word happened, we would ask Jack, do you believe? do you understand? And he would respond, "I need to think about it").

Faith was something that Jack couldn't exactly wrap his mind around. It was just as if it wouldn't click for him. It seemed almost so frustrating, because it seemed so simple, so plain, so straightforward. Jesus Christ, crucified, dead, buried, and risen. I just kept saying to myself, "He died for you Jack, so that could live". But it was just something couldn't be comprehended by him. It was as if the enemy was deliberately with holding truth from Jack. It was as if he was blinded by him.

We encouraged Jack to pray that God would open his eyes. That God would open his eyes to His word, that he would receive understanding.

So after several more conversation about Christianity, Jack started wondering about other religions. He started asking about the difference between Christianity and say Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, etc. And we asked Jack back, why he wanted to learn about Christianity. He stated a couple of things: one that Christianity had good morales and ways of life and two because it seemed that America was based on such things (good morales). We informed Jack that Christianity is more than a set of rules and regulations on how one should live their life. We also informed Jack that not all Americans are Christians.

So as we continued this comparative study of other religions, we informed Jack that most religions have a merit system or a working system of salvation. Meaning, you have to earn you salvation, or you have to do good works to go to heaven. Christianity on the other hand, you have to believe and confess with your mouth that Jesus Christ is Lord and repent from your sins. I distinctly remember telling Jack this and him simply saying, "that's it? that's all I have to do? Let me think about it". Inside you were thinking, "THAT'S IT JACK! THAT'S ALL, BELIEVE!!" But the Lord works in mightier ways than I.

All this to say is that Jack taught you countless things about the Holy Spirit, working in Jack's life and yours as well! That whether or not you recognized it or surrendered to Him, He still worked through you to share the gospel with Jack. That He is so passionate about His fame, that He would do anything for it. That He is so in love with Jack, that He passed all your guards and walls to reach Him. At whatever cost, God was/is reaching to Jack. That is powerful stuff.

We've heard the phrase, "God doesn't have to use us at all to reach the lost". But I think the interesting thing to think about, is that God wants us to enjoy him. Key word in that sentence is 'enjoy', and when we enjoy Him, God is glorified. Or as Piper says, "God is most Glorified in us, when we are most satisfied in Him". Meaning, God will use us for His glory at whatever extent and whatever cost He wants, but He would love for us to recognize Him and enjoy Him in those moments when He is using us because when we recognize and praise Him, he receives glory and thus we receive joy.

All of that to say is God did wonders through you to Jack and God did wonders through Jack to you.