A Conversation With Sarah

Today, I went to Dover Center and Center Ridge in Westlake at around 11:30. There was moderate vehicle traffic, but barely anyone walking on the sidewalks, and none on my side of the street. I didn't sleep well the night before and I felt like calling it quits early, but I made a commitment to stay out there until at least 12:30. My audio recording device has a clock on it, and I was checking it often to see how close I was to 12:30.

As it was getting closer to 12:30, a girl rode by me on a bicycle. She stopped her bike, turned around, and came back to talk to me. It was 12:27.

Sarah asked me what I was doing, and I told her I was promoting the gospel. She responded, "That's awesome!"

I asked her if she had a Christian background, and she said she did. She told me she goes to a Calvary Chapel. She told me she went by me and realized, "Wait a minute- he's holding a cross!"

She told me she was never able to get out and evangelize before. I asked her if she had taken any classes on it, and she told me she had not. I gave her an Obama Trillions tract and directed her to LivingWaters.com and told her about Way of the Master.

I explained the "Are You a Good Person" test (using myself as an example) and explained some of the analogies such as the parachute and how confessing a crime doesn't get a criminal off the hook.

The parachute analogy is this: If I am on a plane that is about to crash and there is a parachute that can save me, I have to do more than merely "believe" in the parachute to save me. If have to strap the parachute on, trust it will do what it is supposed to do, and jump from the crashing plane. In the same sense, merely "believing" in Jesus won't save us. We have to put on the Lord Jesus and place our trust in Him alone and abandon our old, sinful lifestyle (repent of our sins).

The confession analogy is this: Merely confessing I committed a crime to a judge will not let me avoid the penalty. In the same way, merely confessing our sins doesn't let us off the hook. One has to repent of their sins for that forgiveness to apply.

Let's say there is a $1 million fine for the crime you committed or you face life in jail. There is no way you can pay the fine. The judge is about to pass judgment on you when someone you don't even know comes in and pays the fine for you. The person who paid your fine for your sins is Jesus.

Even when someone comes up to me who says they are a Christian or proclaim to know the Way, I still trying to explain the necessity of repentance (along with trust in Jesus). Today, I did that by going through the Good Person Test on myself and I make sure to include repentance. I am trying to make it a point to always mention repentance, because I don't want anyone who talks to me to leave with hearing repentance. I told Sarah that so many people "believe," to which she said, "Even Satan believes!"

I told Sarah I grew up Catholic and she told me she did too. She said she didn't like going through all the motions and the hypocrisy of people who were just in church but acting a completely different way once they left church.

I told Sarah about an article I read by John MacArthur and the heresy of the Catholic mass and how the Church re sacrifices Jesus every Sunday.

I also told Sarah about how I never knew about the necessity of repentance, about how I used to commit sins and then just confess them at night. She also said that someone pointed out to her that it wasn't just about saying "I'm sorry," it's about making that U-turn and walking away from sin, and not putting yourself in those situations.

I told her that was exactly the point I was trying to make about repentance. It was so refreshing to hear someone who had the correct theology!

I don't want people to feel like I am only promoting repentance and leave out faith in Jesus. That is not the case- I just know so many people believe but do not practice repentance.