Draw the Net

Last week, I was visiting with 'Paul', one of our 14 CPs. 'Paul' has toiled in his area many years. He has built a church on the side of his house and has 10 members. He also disciples 2 CPs in his area. His strategy has been to go door to door and sing praise songs and do bible drama skits as a means of sharing the gospel. He also preaches over radio broadcast and megaphone from his rooftop. Over the many years, he has seen little fruit, and he has been discouraged. Biblically, he is a sound believer, and his foundations in the Lord are solid. He has a real burden to reach the lost people of his area, but has not been able to see a movement of Christ among them yet. A couple of weeks ago, we held our monthly meeting of our 14 in our city. My partner taught Luke 10:1-11, that we should pray for God to lead us to the right place, then go and pray as you go that God will lead you to the person of peace He has already put in that place (Acts 17:26-27). This is the entry strategy phase of what we are teaching our 14. 'Paul', as soon as he came back to his area, put this strategy into action. God led him to a village and he began to share with a group of 35 people, all interested in the Gospel. He was so excited to see some results so quickly, that he is really sold out to do this everywhere he goes now. He said that no missionary has ever been to this village, and no one here has ever heard of Jesus before now.

This village of fishermen, have been listening to bible stories for the last few weeks, and always asks for 'Paul' and his son to come back, even trying to keep them overnight to keep preaching. No one has accepted yet, but the visits continue twice a week. I asked if they shared the salvation of Christ and asked if anyone wanted to receive it. He and his son, who has been going with him, said they did not want to ask yet for fear of getting run off. I used the analogy of a fisherman who had a large catch of fish in his net. Should he just let the net stay in the water for fear of losing the catch, or should he draw his net and pull in the ones in the net, even though a few get away? They answered, the fisherman should draw his net. I told them, in the same way we can share the Gospel with people, but if we do not ask them if they want to accept the salvation, they will not know what to do. I told them that they must do this in this village, because these people dod not know what to do with this new knowledge you have reavealed to them. God has led you to this place, and has given you an opportunity to give the Gospel, and draw the net by asking the question "Do you want to receive the salvation Jesus has offered to all people?" Some of these 35 people are ready, and that the question has to be asked, even if only one accepts. That would be your person of peace that God has led you to. Do not worry about all the others, the seeds of the Gospel have been planted in them, and they will respond when ready. 'Paul' and his son understood this, and did commit to drawing the net to find the people among this group who will become followers of Christ, and who they will begin to stay with and disciple. Praise God for giving this opportunity for 'Paul' to see fruit in this way. Pray for 'Paul' and his ministry, that this will be an encouraging springboard for him, and also for him to share in upcoming meetings with the other 14 his successes.

I was also able to share my testimony with one of their relatives. They have share with this young man many times, and he has shown interest, but never has been asked the question of accepting and following Jesus. God gave me the right words to say, and after hearing the Gospel, he accepted Christ. I was so excited, not just because of a new family member in the body of Christ, but that 'Paul' and his son were able to see how we draw the net. I explained later, that if I had just stopped at the Gospel without asking the question, this young man would still not know what he needed to do. God gave opportunity for 'Paul' to see this in action, so that he can go and do it. Over the next month, he will be going to new areas that God leads him, and putting the Luke 10:1-11 strategy (HOP- House Of Peace) to work, as well as taking his 2 CPs with him to model it for them to also do. God's word is so good. How do we ever stray from what is written in it, and try to do our own thing?