January 30, 2020 – Click here to listen
Last night I attended a small group Bible study in West Palm Beach. Actually, it wasn’t such a small group, but maybe 40 people were in attendance. The attendees were some of the wealthiest residents of the island and it was encouraging to see them pray for those who live on the island whose gods are money, power, and fame. Make no mistake Jesus was the focal point of the event and traditional indicators of success, (money, power, fame, and significant accomplishments) were disparaged as being incapable of filling the void or of bringing peace to their often-chaotic lives without Christ.
Like Manhattan, which has a population consisting of just one per cent followers of Jesus, West Palm Beach is said to have a mere four per cent of its population as Jesus followers. There were both Gentiles and Jews at this meeting and the Jewish people talked of how difficult it is to profess faith in Christ due to pressure from their family and other Jewish people in the community.
Even though they faced tremendous backlash from their family these Jewish people became Messianic Jews and took up the cross of Jesus. There was much discussion about how to reach these people who need Christ in their lives. I could not help but think of Muslims, Hindus, and other groups who face the same obstacles.
Those in attendance gave testimony on what worked with them and it always came back to Jesus. Talking about converting to Christianity appears to be a turnoff and made them inclined to resist changing their thoughts on the tradition of their culture. However, they all had questions about this man called Jesus that they wanted answered. When the power of the name and person of Jesus Christ was invoked it seemed to clear the room of distractions and enabled the Holy Spirit to penetrate even the hardest of the hard core and they decided to follow Jesus.
My good friend evangelist Bob Hoskins recently posted to Facebook, “It is sad to see the darkness that veils the truth.” I have not been able to get this out of my mind. Yes, it is sad indeed to see our beautiful planet shrouded in darkness; Jesus Christ is light, and He can lift the veil of darkness, provided we are willing to speak out. Our group leader was asked several times about people who have rejected the message of Christ out of hand and his response was simple in that not everyone who hears will be persuaded and not to allow that to deter you from speaking out and continuing to pray for them. One person testified that they had prayed for their son for 12 years and met nothing but a stone wall but one fine day he came to his parents and told them he wanted Christ in his life. He was soon baptized and today is an avid follower of Christ and couldn’t be happier. The veil was lifted, and immediately light replaced the darkness like flipping a switch and illuminating a dark room. In fact, a stadium can be illuminated and for that matter the entire world if we will only do our part and share our testimony.
We spent the rest of the evening in deep prayer. The spirit of God filled the room and there was no veil.
Matthew 4:16
. . . the people dwelling in darkness have seen a great light, and for those dwelling in the region and shadow of death, on them a light has dawned.”