WITNESSING
One on One
A person needs not only to go to the city, to his home, and to the synagogues to witness to others about his faith in the Lord, but also to bear a special testimony—to lead others to the Lord one on one. Such is the testimony in John 1:40-45. The moment Andrew believed in the Lord, he led his brother Peter to the Lord. Although Peter later became more gifted than Andrew, Andrew was the one who led Peter to the Lord. Philip and Nathanael were friends; Philip first believed in the Lord and later led his friend to receive the Lord. Andrew led his brother to the Lord, and Philip sought out his friend. Both are examples of leading men to the Lord one on one.
About a hundred years ago, there was a believer named Harvey Page. Although he did not have any special gift and did not know how to lead many people to the Lord, the Lord was gracious to him and opened his eyes to realize that he could lead at least one person to the Lord. He could not do many great works, but he could concentrate on one person. He could only say, “I am saved. You also need to be saved.” Once he laid hold of one, he would not let go. He would pray and talk to his friend until he was saved. Through this practice he solidly gained more than one hundred persons for the Lord by the time he died.
In a certain country there was a believer named Todd, who was very good at leading people to salvation. He was sixteen when he was saved. It was a holiday and he was in a village. An older couple from a church took him in for hospitality. They were experienced workers, and they led him to the Lord. The young man had lived a wanton life, but on that day he knelt down to pray and was saved. In the course of their conversation, the young man found out that the gospel could not prevail in that place because a certain Mr. Dickens would not repent. When Todd heard this, he asked, “Who is this Mr. Dickens?” They told him that he was a retired soldier over sixty years old. He kept a gun at home and vowed to shoot whoever came to preach the gospel to him. He regarded every Christian in the world as a hypocrite, and he called them all by such a name. Whenever he came across a Christian, he would behave in a violent way. No Christian dared to preach the gospel to him or even walk past the street where he lived. If he knew that a Christian was walking past his street, he would curse vehemently and fiercely. When Todd heard this, he prayed, “O Lord! I have received Your grace today. You have saved me. I must go and testify to Mr. Dickens.” Even before he finished his tea, he said, “I am going.” He had been saved less than two hours earlier, yet he wanted to witness to Mr. Dickens. The older couple advised him, saying, “Do not go. Many of us have failed. He has chased some away with a rod. Others fled when he threatened them at gunpoint. Even though he has beaten up so many people, we do not want to take him to court because we want to maintain a proper gospel testimony. This has given him the excuse to become more fierce.” Todd said, “I feel that I should go.”.
He arrived at Mr. Dickens’s door. As soon as he knocked, the man came to the door. He had a stick in his hands, and he asked, “Young man, what do you want?” Todd said, “Is it all right for me to speak a few words to you?” The man nodded, and both of them went into the house. The moment they were in the house, Todd said, “I would like you to receive the Lord Jesus as your Savior.” Mr. Dickens lifted up his rod and said, “I suppose you are new here. I will let you go and not beat you up. But have you not heard that no one is allowed to speak the name of Jesus here? Get out! Get out right away!” Todd said again, “I would like you to believe in Jesus.” Mr. Dickens became furious. He ran upstairs and returned with a gun in his hand. He shouted at him, saying, “Get out or I will shoot!” Todd responded, “I am asking you to believe in Jesus. If you want to shoot, you can shoot. But just let me pray before you shoot.” He immediately knelt down in front of Mr. Dickens and prayed, “O God! This man does not know you. Please save him.” Then he prayed again, “O God! This man does not know you. Please have mercy on him. Have mercy on Mr. Dickens.” Todd knelt there and would not rise up. He continued praying, “O God! Please have mercy on Mr. Dickens! Please have mercy on Mr. Dickens!” After praying five or six times, he heard a groaning near him. A little while later, he heard Mr. Dickens lay down his gun. Soon Mr. Dickens was on his knees next to Todd, praying, “O God! Please have mercy on me.” Within a few minutes, that man had accepted the Lord. He took the young man by the hand and said, “In the past I have only heard the gospel. Today I have seen the gospel.” Later, the young man told others, “The first time I saw his face, it was truly a face of sin. Every wrinkle spoke of sin and evil. Later, light shone through the wrinkles, and every wrinkle seemed to be saying, ‘God is merciful to me.’” The next Lord’s Day, Mr. Dickens went to church, and later he led dozens of people to salvation.
In the first two hours after his salvation, Todd led a notoriously difficult person to the Lord. The sooner a new believer opens his mouth, the better it is. We should not waste any time in leading others to Christ.
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