Save the Perishing Blog

Saturday night, a few of us from the Save the Perishing group were outside the Sprint Center handing out Million Dollar Bill gospel tracts to those entering the Miley Cyrus concert.  Lots of moms and dads with daughters were entering the arena.  Most were happy to take a tract.  As we were passing out tracts, I noticed a boy on a bike.  He was out of place in this crowd.  What was a boy doing riding his bike at night in downtown Kansas City?  Anyway, he rode past and went on his way.  Strange.

We continued to pass out tracts to the waves of Miley Cyrus fans.  Here comes the boy on his bike again.  I reached out to him with a million dollar bill and asked, “Did you get one of these?”  I thought he would grab it and ride right on by.  Instead, he stopped his bike, and put both feet on the ground.  As he was looking at the million dollar bill, I asked him if his parents brought him downtown with his bike so that he could ride around.  He said that he lived in Gladstone, and he’d ridden his bike all the way from there by himself — about a two hour bike ride!  He was 14 years old.

I started the conversation with him by telling him that we were out there asking people what they think happens when they die.  The boy looked at me and said that he didn’t believe in heaven and hell or God.  He didn’t know what would happen when he died.  I asked him if he considered himself to be a good person.  He said, “yes”.  Then I gave him the good person test.  Have you ever told a lie?  Have you ever stolen anything?  Have you ever used God’s name in vain?  He answered “yes” to all of these questions, and we gave names to each — liar, thief, blasphemer.  I didn’t want to ask him the adultery question, because he was pretty young.  So, I asked him if he had always honored his mother and his father.  He said that he didn’t honor his father, because his father wasn’t around, but that he had always honored his mother.  So, I said, “By your own admission, you are a lying, thieving blasphemer, and you are standing before God on judgment day.  Would you be innocent or guilty of breaking God’s law?”  He said, “Guilty”.  I asked, “Would God send you to heaven or hell?”   He said, “Hell.”  I asked, “Does it concern you that if you were to die today that you would spend eternity in hell?”  He said, “Yes.”  And his mouth stopped.  (We’ve noticed that it’s always a good sign in witnessing when a person’s mouth stops.  It’s a sign that they are convicted and ready to hear the Gospel.)

Then I asked him if he knew what God did for him so that he wouldn’t have to spend eternity in hell.  He shook his head no.  I told him that over 2,000 years ago, God came to earth as Jesus Christ.  Jesus lived a perfect life.  He didn’t commit the same sins that we do.  He was perfect in every way.  Even though he didn’t deserve it, He was sentenced to die, then put to death on a cross.  While he was on the cross, God poured His wrath and punishment on Jesus.  Jesus took the punishment for our sin and God’s just requirements were upheld.  Jesus died and was buried, and then on the third day was raised to life.  He is seated at the right hand of the Father in heaven right now.

Then I asked him, “Do you know what you must do to inherit eternal life?”  The boy again shook his head no.  I told him that he must repent — turn away from his sin — and put his full faith in Christ alone for salvation.  I took a minute to explain both of these concepts so that he knew what to do.  Then I asked him if this made sense.  He said it did.  I asked him if he’d ever heard it explained that way before.  He said he had not.  I told him that this is the Gospel.  I asked him if he had a Bible at home.  He did not.  I started to get one out of my backpack, but realized that he would have no place to put it for his bike ride home.  So, I flagged down my co-laborer, Bill, and asked him for a “Why Christianity” booklet.  Bill gave him the booklet, and the boy was able to fit that in his pocket.  We told him that we’d be praying for him, and if he had any questions he could go to the savetheperishing.com website to ask.  He thanked us and rode off.

One of the most interesting things about this encounter was that it was a textbook Way of the Master presentation.  There were no objections made by this boy.  No arguments to counteract.  Just plain and simple witnessing.  And he really seemed to get it.  Please be praying for the boy on the bike.