“And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: of sin, because they do not believe in Me; of righteousness, because I go to My Father and you see Me no more; of judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.”
John 16:8-11
We received a letter from a fellow laborer in Christ that helps describe the problem we see today. This issue is one of the reasons of why we exist. We wanted to share it with you here:
“I am seeking some training for our volunteers – approximately 165 – that will help them discern when the work of the Holy Spirit is convicting of sin, righteousness, and judgment. Sometimes it is so easy to get a detainee or inmate to say a prayer yet we observe no change in their life. We need refreshing on how to not only share one’s testimony but discern when the Holy Spirit is bringing conviction.”
True repentance and faith in Christ comes first by conviction of one’s own sins. This is by the work of the Holy Spirit. We can see fruits of repentance in a person’s life. But when no fruit is seen as described above what has happened? Jesus said that, “every branch that does not bear fruit He takes away” (John 15:2). It is easy to plant dead branches. It does not require any tilling of the ground. But if we are to proclaim the gospel biblically we must work with the Holy Spirit as he plows the earth of a person heart in order to kick out the heart of stone and replace it with a heart of flesh. This is accomplished by walking in obedience with regards to how God has taught us to proclaim His gospel message. This is what Hearts For The Lost does in our Stepping Up and Stepping Out events. We do not teach evangelist methods but instead the biblical principles given to us in God’s Word. The experience of our brother above in his letter is much too often the case. But if we follow the biblical principles given to us we can be discerning of the work of the Holy Spirit in bringing conviction and walk in the frame work of God’s evangelistic plan bringing glory and honor to Christ our Lord.