“How can I become a believer?”

One of my favorite stories from the Bible is the story of the Philippian Jailer from Acts 16. I like the story for multiple reasons – Paul & Silas’s hope and joy as they sing from prison, the conversion of the jailer and the baptism that follows, and the celebratory banquet soon after that. But my favorite part of the story (and probably the most well known part of the story) is the jailer’s question – “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” I long for people to ask me this sort of a question — a softball for a person in ministry.

Well, two Saturdays ago, that is exactly what someone asked. We are currently storying/teaching through the Old Testament with some new believers as well as their families and friends. Some Saturdays we have over twenty people, other Saturdays there are four. Two weeks ago was one of those “over twenty” days, with all the ‘regulars’ in attendance as well as new faces from upriver. We’ve been telling stories from the Old Testament with a focus on the Hope of the Messiah – Genesis 3:15’s promise of the conquering descendant of Eve, the worldwide blessing promised of Abraham’s seed in Genesis 12, and the eternal reign of David’s son. At this particular study, I told the story of the Exile – because of Israel’s sin, they were kicked out of the Promised Land just as Adam and Eve were kicked out of the garden. Instead of the promises being realized in and through Israel, they were pushed off into the unforeseeable future because of their disobedience and inability to follow the Law.

At the end of the story I talked about the hope of the Messiah – that God promised one who would come and defeat sin, death, and Satan. Suddenly, one of the men I had never met looked up at me and asked, “How can I become a believer?” Praise God! I spoke to him for a few minutes during the study, then for a few minutes after the study, and again at the riverbank the next day.

One of the difficulties about where we live is that the next day he went back upriver. And we don’t have any means of communicating with him until he comes back downriver – which usually only happens once every three or four months. Pray for him and his family. I’m not quite yet willing to call him a believer, but he’s definitely seeking and interested. Pray that God would break his heart of stone and give him a heart of flesh; pray that God’s Sprit would breathe life into him.