The following article appeared in our September 2000 Newsletter. It is part 3 of a 3-part series on the impossible work of evangelism. Click here to read part 1 and here to read part 2. Also,let it be known that my nephews Erik and Keith Andersen (ages 10 and 11 at the time) contributed quite a bit to this final installment.
STRANGER IN THE NIGHT
It was a dark and stormy night . . . I was all alone in the house, save one dead man. Lightening flashed in the distance and backlit the tattered shades and cobwebbed corners of the room. The floor boards creaked as I stepped over the decaying corpse. I needed to find the Mysterious Mr. X - and fast! But I could hear the eerie patter of rain against the tin roof. . . and I didn't want to muss my hair.
It was not long ago that I received my mission from Headquarters: "Deliver a message of life and death proportions to the deceased Adam Race. Well, I found Mr. Race with little difficulty, but how does one speak to the dead? I racked my brains for a solution to this ominous dilemma.
"I'll just have to revive him myself," I said as I flexed my sinewy biceps against his flabby chest. I thought for sure his heart would respond tot he sheer weight of my brutish masculinity, but there was not even a beat. The next step probably should have been to apply mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, but I rejected that idea out of hand. Even if it could work, the mere thought of kissing a dead man gave me the willies. So, it looked like I'd have to brave the weather and start seeking Mr. X. I slapped on my shower cap and galoshes and headed out the door.
I wandered about for what seemed like hours before I noticed a shadowy figure standing off in the distance. With cat-like tread, I caught up with the stranger and began my polite interrogation:
"Excuse me sir, you wouldn't happen to have seen a Mr. X, would you?" I asked. "I can't describe him very well except that he's supposed to be 'windy'. . . or something like that."
"Why, yes, I do believe that I have seen such a one," he replied. "If I'm not mistaken, he was last seen entering that house over there."
"Thank you for your counsel, kind sir," I said and then hastened across the street.
As I approached the old home, I was overcome by a vague feeling of familiarity. It was as if I had been there before. With great anticipation, I ascended the front stairs and knocked on the front door.
"Come in," a voice called from inside.
I opened the door and quaked in absolute astonishment, "Muh...muh...muh...Mister Race? Is that you?"
"Welcome back," Adam Race said with a regenerated tone, "I believe you have something to tell me."
THE END
Well, this concludes our exciting saga, but before we go, let's take another moment to reflect on our approach to evangelism: "the telling of the Good News of eternal life in Jesus Christ to dead humanity." We've already learned that before we have any hope of success, the dead must be resurrected by the power of the Holy Spirit (a.k.a. the Mysterious Mr. X). But now the question is: How do we get the Holy Spirit to assist us in this task?
Jesus teaches His disciples just how to do this in Luke 11:5-13. the process is very simple: Ask, Seek and Knock. In other words, BE PERSISTENT IN PRAYER! For His own glorious reasons, our heavenly Father sends His Spirit in response to the prayers of His people. Just like our hero, we won't complete our mission until we abandon, our efforts to save others by our own strength and wisdom and begin to ask, seek, and knock for the power of the Holy Spirit. In fact, this is one of the amazing lessons of church history - the fervent and persistent prayers of God's people always precede the great revivals. [For further study, take a look at the place of prayer in the First Revival in the book of Acts, chapters 1-2.]
So, as we prepare ourselves to speak to dead men, let's first seek and speak to the Living God!