Join This Chariot

Some years ago, I invited a man to church, but he told me he had made up his mind not to go to church anymore. In fact, he said the last time he went to church was two years before. When I asked why, he answered that he had been going from church to church, then finally he found himself in one church, with his friend, where they called them out as sinners because they were strangers.

They were called out to the front and ordered to lie down flat on the floor, which they did. Then they were told they had sin in their lives, for which they needed forgiveness from God. This meant they had to pay the penalty and this they were supposed to do by receiving several lashes of the whip. He told me that his friend obliged, because he wanted all his sins to be taken away. So they went ahead and started whipping his friend, but before they got through with his friend, he escaped through the window! He said though he wanted his sins dealt with, he didn't think he could withstand the beating. It was that day he made up his mind never to be in a church service anymore.

This story may sound unbelievable, but it’s true; that's the kind of message he heard. It took so much time to change his conception about Christianity. I had to make him understand that Jesus Christ never meant it to be so. Don't ever think everyone has heard it. Many have not heard the true gospel. They only heard something like it, and that's a lie. A lie is not necessarily the opposite of truth but a perversion of it. Initially, it goes in the direction of truth, but suddenly veers off, and many do not realize it. Apostle Paul asks, “...how shall they hear without a preacher?” (Romans 10:14).

Most sinners will not come to church; drug addicts will not come to church. The prostitutes will not come to church because they rest during the day and carry out their business in the night time. For everyone of them that goes to a church, you may have ten thousand more out there on rampage. All their activities keep them away from church. So what do we do? Do we pray that God will bring them? No! The Holy Ghost is not an errand boy. Some Christians pray, “Holy Ghost I send You to talk to them.” Who do you think is boss? He was the One who instructed Philip, “Go and join the chariot.”

Stop praying for God to talk to your friend, or speak to his heart. Some people give the conversion of Saul of Tarsus as an example, forgetting that Saul of Tarsus still needed a man named Ananias. God instructed Ananias to minister to Paul after his encounter with Jesus. God still needed to send a man to Paul after his encounter with Jesus. God still needed to send a man to Paul to tell him what he had for him to do. God still needs you to be His witness and talk to people for Him.

________________________

This is an excerpt from the classic on soul winning entitled "Join This Chariot" by Rev. Chris Oyakhilome DSc. D.D.

#Quotidian...grow daily!