It’s God’s Timing

Welcome back to Ignite. I want to talk to you a little bit about God's timing for leading people to the Lord. I think like the most outrageous expectation that was put on us by the church, and I got past it, I think, close to 50 years ago, but I still find this stereotypical thought in Christian's minds that when you share your faith, you should expect to lead them to the Lord in that first conversation. And if you don't, you're failed. I had that feeling back early on, and I moved past it, but I'm shocked that so many people have that expectation today. It is held by people who don't share their faith. And it's one of the reasons they don't share their faith. I don't know how to get them down or pray the center's prayer. That's too much for me. That's for somebody else to do. You know, you have all these feelings about how they have to close the sale. I mean, it's like you get another notch on your gutter, another scalp or something. That's the reason for the whole exercise. Okay. And that's the wrong emphasis, folks. It really is. Again, going back to Jesus said, they'll know you're my disciple by your love. And if it's a sales pitch, you could sense that a long way off. You really can. When you love on people, it's the Holy Spirit. You understand God is speaking through you when you're loving on people. And that changes everything. And they sense it in their own spirits. And then they open up. And you can always have expectations, but you have no idea where you are on their journey. It's been estimated that the average person needs 10 to 20 different types of interactions with Christians or ministry before the light goes on. And they finally understand what salvation's all about. And they accept the words or Savior. It could take it could take a long time. What if you don't understand that, it can rob you of your joy. And it did mine through again, I'm going back decades. I've been doing this for a long time. But I would lose my joy because I know God wants to say them. Of course, he does. And I know they're good people. And I don't want them to be lost. And you can get so frustrated because you did. It's so clear to us and so foreign to them. And they, and they're blinded. And they have skills or eyes. They can't even hear what we're saying. But you all, you know, just keep loving on them. But we have these expectations. And it doesn't come, according to our schedule and all of a sudden, we're getting like, and back sometimes, you know, what's just give up saying, I just give up. Don't give up. Just keep loving. There's no end to sharing your faith. It's just, it's just amazing. It is God's timing. The whole point of this, this podcast is it's God timing. I'm sent yours. You need to be patient. Always patient. Don't, don't never run, never run out of patience. Never push. You can tell. I mean, be sensitive to it. Let the whole spirit guide you. When you're, when you're sharing your faith, you could, if you're, if you're intent is up, you stop before you're bothering them. Okay. You don't want to get the point where you're overbearing. They'll start running from you. That doesn't do anybody any good. I see it. We're people. They, they're going to tell their story or else. They're going to get that selfish shit or else. Like enough already. I didn't know. So that's why I like chummy. I like just, just throw a load of chumps. Say something about the Lord. Just remind them that you're a Christian without offending them. And you, and you just imagine every time you're with people that are non-Christian, you do that. You just chump. And if they're not hungry, nothing, nothing will happen that you see. Although they are again reminded that you're a Christian that God is important in your life. And it's usually when tragedy comes. I heard the other day. Most people come to the Lord when there's a problem in their life. How about you? And how many people do you know that have problems in their lives right now? When people are having problems, they're more open to God. Quite frankly, the world is having a problem right now. And, and there are millions of people right now considering God. What do we where God is right now? We're in elections gone the other way. And life was getting better and better. They probably wouldn't even be thinking about God. This, this whole thing of prosperity or persecution. These two models. If you're God, you're looking at it and saying the persecution models is bringing a whole lot better for bringing people to the prosperity model. Oh, that's so good. The church is falling apart in America. So, it'd be sensitive when people around you are hurting. And sometimes it takes that. A famous card designer, I won't give his last name, first name was Dave. He and his wife became great friends of ours. And they're about 20 years our senior. But God orchestrated our lives together to where we bonded. And wherever we were in the country at car shows, we always picked one night when just the four of us were going to dinner. But we found that they were very uncomfortable when we wanted to pray for dinner. So, we couldn't do that. We still love them. I spoke at a church not 15 minutes away from their house one Sunday. And the night before Saturday, I took them to dinner. I said, by the way, I'm speaking at this church over here tomorrow morning and their services are, you know, those two services. And I sat on the platform that morning watching for them to walk through the door. And they did not. I neither one of those two services. Now, we don't each other for, I don't know, 15 years or so. Just loved on them. Generally loved on them. I mean, they're just great people. And we're at the Million Island Concord down in Florida. And Patty says to me, you need to talk today for me and get me to go see a doctor. I said, what's that? She's got something serious going on. And he refused to go see the doctor. So, the last night after the Concord, we went to dinner that night. And the last thing I said to him, Dave, won't you make me a promise? You go see a doctor. I'm not leaving you. Tell you, look at me in the eye and promise me so he did. And, you know, several weeks later, he called and he said, I've got stage four cancer. I'm dying. Guess what? He wanted to talk about God. That's all he wanted to talk about. In fact, people around him said he lost interest in cars and in all the patients of his normal life. And he just wanted to focus on where he was going. And I got to speak his funeral to all the royalty, all the car designers and heads of corporations in Detroit. It was so fantastic. I just got to tell that you know, someday you're going to be in a box like this. And we're going to be as happy for Dave. Are we going to be as happy for you as we are for Dave right now? Dave should have them. It was just a great thing. You know, but it took how many years I had a guy locally as they was Dave, but he's close by me. We went to car shows regularly together. We were like neighbors. And he loved to banter about God. And we would talk about God a lot. He always had new questions. He was sending every religion and he was a great guy. He loved one of the brightest guys I've ever known. And then he got stage four cancer. And I was able to lead him to the Lord. In fact, we were in his hostage bed in his living room and his wife was crying. And through her tears, she said, David, I don't want to lose you. But you know, if it wasn't for this cancer, you never would have made it to heaven. And he couldn't talk. He just cried. I never forget that moment. I just kept loving on him. And the time came, you know, I one more. I tell you one more than I'm going to end this. I'm sorry. It takes so long. But there's so many experiences over all the years. I would, I yeah, Karen, we're going to movie. We had a free afternoon. Let's just relax. Just go see a movie. Okay. Just before we got the car, I got a call from a friend who told me that another mutual friend of ours was in a hospice bed on another state dying. And that shocked me. But then he said, he told his wife, I have to talk to Barry McGuire now. I knew exactly what it meant. I knew exactly what he meant. So I told him, I said, you drive. I've got business to do. And so I called Jack and exactly. I let him to the Lord in about 12 minutes. Okay. 12 minutes. Easy. He was so ready. I prayed the words. And then I had him pray the words himself. There's all done. He saved. He said, heaven now. Okay. He died shortly after that. Wow. They haven't 12 minutes. It was 40 years, 40 years of sewing, seat, and charming. And most of the time, it made it seem to have no results. But he heard it 40 years, like Chinese water torture. I just kept banging away. Loved him. Never offended him. We always close. We never discussed God. I just kept throwing out chum. He didn't respond. Never responded. And then when it comes to time when he's looking up and he realized that moment's come, he's telling his wife, I need to talk to Barry. The point is, the whole point of this podcast, this episode is, it's God's timing. That's yours. And never stop loving on people. Never stop loving on people. It's God's timing. Not yours. Just keep on loving and move everybody every day closer. Jesus, folks, what can I say? When you do that and the joy do you realize, can you possibly imagine my feelings when I hung up that phone after 40 years and he's going to heaven? I can be with Jack forever. Wow. You could have those experiences too. All you have to do is move everybody every day closer to Jesus. Okay. See you next time.