Have You Ever Met an Eight Year-Old Atheist? – July 6

Have you ever met an eight year-old atheist?  Neither have I.

Recent statistics indicate that 86% of people in the United States make a decision for Christ by age 15.  The older one gets, the more likely they have made up their mind about God (is there one, isn’t there one, can we know Him, what is He like, etc) and the less likely they are to change their mind!

The implications of this are manifold:

1)       The larger harvest field is with children and youth.

2)      Young people are more open to consider the straight forward offer Jesus gives.  Remember, Jesus tells us that unless you come to Him with the faith of a little child, you aren’t going to find Him.  (Matthew 18:3)

3)      Adults will respond to the gospel, but it is rather unusual.  (Aren’t you glad that ALL things are possible with God? – Matthew 19:23)

4)      We need to be about sharing the good news through our words, lifestyle, decisions and attitudes (there’s that word again!) and be sensitive to the Holy Spirit’s leading in that regard.

Several years ago Gil Brown led a study on witnessing called Share Jesus Without Fear.  In it, the author listed five questions you can ask someone to determine if the Holy Spirit is working in their lives and if they would be open to hearing the good news.  Here they are:

1)       Do you have any kind of spiritual belief?

2)      To you, who is Jesus?

3)      Do you believe there is a heaven and a hell?

4)      If you died right now, where would you go?  If heaven, why?

5)      If there was anything about what you believed spiritually that was incorrect, would you want to know it?

The author recommends that you simply ask the first four questions and receive the answer – don’t indicate agreement or disagreement – you are simply taking their spiritual “temperature” in order to know how to proceed.  And question #5 politely asks if the person wants to hear the truth.  If no, simply move on with the rest of your conversation.  But if yes, you have an open door and a little bit of background to work with.

I challenge you to pray and ask God to put someone in your path this week who needs to hear the gospel.  Assume He will answer that prayer in the affirmative – are you ready?

– John Sadowski (Deacon)

Visit Mt. Airy Baptist Church online at www.MtAiryBaptistChurch.com.