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The
Hidden Listener |
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On our missions trip to Mexico in 2009, most people listened
to our gospel message and readily accepted Christ. There were a few resisters, however and this
is what happened in one of those encounters. My wife and I were accompanied by Pastor José Patiño, the
pastor we knew in Ejido Janitzio #2 as we went from house to house. This village of about five hundred souls is
located between the embankment of the
canal delivering Colorado River water to the fields of the Colorado Delta in
Baja California Norte and the raised highway that leads from Algodones on the
California border to its end at Mexican Highway 2 outside San Luis Río
Colorado, Sonora. It is a village of
dirt roads and ramschackle dwellings. As we moved along one of those roads we were invited to enter
a rather nicer house. There we met two
younger men and a middle-aged woman. As I began to to share the gospel with
one of the men, he immediately began to resist the message by throwing out a number
smart remarks mocking the message. I worked a while with him but got nowhere. My wife who was
acting as my “spotter”, noticed that the woman was listening intently to the
word of Christ. Barbara directed me to her and she immediately accepted
Christ and was gloriously saved with tears in her eyes. Fortunately, when I turned away from the resister, Pastor
José, took up the conversation and kept him busy so we could get on with soul
winning. After we left that house we
ran into the second man, who had left to go to the little village store. As he was returning we stopped and led him
to the Lord before he could get back into the presence of the mocker. I have found that when sharing in a group where there is a
resister, there may be someone hidden, as it were, nearby genuinely
listening. That is why it is important to have a spotter with you when you do
soul winning to be aware of what is happening in the surroundings. That person should be praying, listening
and, above all, looking. I expect my spotters to interrupt the presentation
in this type of situation. |
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Copyright © 2020 by John St.
Clair |