I was at the park this evening tossing around some disc golf discs. As it approached time to leave I made my way back to my car. As I walked up to my car, three teens were walking up to the car next to me. Now, I know this is beginning to sound like the intro to a new horror film, but it’s not!
Since the three were almost to their car doors, I knew I only had a second to catch them. “Hey, guy, how you doing? Did you get one of these?” They stopped came over to me and I handed each of them a different Gospel tract. I told them that I only had a minute but what I had to share with them was very important. They were listening.
I asked “have you ever read the Bible?”
“I tried”, said the first guy.
“No”, said the second and third.
So I turned to the first guy and said, “when you read the Bible, did you start at the beginning?”
He said yes. So I told him that I like to have people read the Gospel of John first. I asked if it would be ok for me to show him why? He agreed. So I opened the trunk of my car and took out three New Testaments. I opened to the Gospel of John and showed them that it is only 14 pages. I turn to Chapter 20 and showed a section heading “The Purpose of this book” and underneath read the scripture to them:
30 Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; 31 but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.
I suggested that they each read a chapter of John each day starting with Chapter 1. And I gave them each bookmarks (one from the September mailing of the Bezeugen Tract Club). With the bookmarks I explained, these 10 questions and verses will show you the purpose of the entire Bible. They all three gladly accepted the New Testaments.
I gave them my business card with my phone number and email on it, I told them I’d be happy to talk more, but that I had to leave right then to go pick up my son. I invited them to call me if they had any questions and we parted ways.