James was a young man who worked at a cellphone store. He enjoyed partying on the weekends, going to clubs, bars, and strip joints. You could say he was addicted to pleasure.
One day, while walking to work, a man handed him a flyer and said, “I hope to see you there.” The flyer said: Baptist Outreach Ministry Concert
Come share worship with us!
James threw the flyer in the trash and started to walk away. But something caused him to pick it back up.
Later, after work, James decided to go to the concert just to see what it was like. As he came in, everyone was so nice and people were raising their hands in the air. He started asking his questions to the person next to him.
Then, they had an altar call: “Will all those interested in being saved please come forward?” James felt called to come forward, so he did and they prayed over him. He felt better than he had ever felt before.
One of the ministers talked to him about taking up his cross, which meant giving up worldly things like strip clubs and womanizing. At first, James felt that it was going to be too difficult.
“Pray for the Spirit to lead you and He will give you the strength to say no,” said the pastor.
So James went home and started to pray. It started to come out of him with relative ease. The big day would be next Friday after work. He decided to go to a park instead of going out or going home. He stayed at the park, watching nature and marveling at his new found faith.
On Saturday, he found that he had more time since he wasn’t hungover. He decided to go to the grocery store and cook lunch and dinner for a few friends. So he had a little party with three friends.
As he prepared food, he started talking to them about his new found faith in Jesus. He was worried they were going to laugh, but they were kind and said, “James, you’re our friend and we love you for who you are,” they said.
So he talked to them about Jesus and they listened intently. After talking to them, they all decided to come to church with him on Sunday. After hearing the sermon, all three of them went up during the alter call and gave their lives to Christ.
James was so excited that he had brought them to Christ. He looked back and remembered the flyer that he almost threw away and was happy he had a change of heart.
“His kindness leads you toward repentance.”
Romans 2:4