Lessons From Elisha 03 Secrets of Soul Winning — Joseph Balsan

Elisha Raises the Shunammite’s Son

Let us open our Bibles to 2 Kings 4, and verse 18,. And when the child was grown, it fell on a day that he went out to his father, to the reapers. And he said unto his father, My head, my head. And he said to Elad, Carry him to his mother.

And when he had taken him, and brought him to his mother, he sat on her knees till noon, and then died. And she went up, and laid him on the bed of the man of God, and shut the door upon him, and went out.

And she called unto her husband, and said, Send me, I pray thee, one of the young men, and one of the asses, that I may run to the man of God, and come again. And he said, Wherefore wilt thou go to him today?

It is neither new moon nor Sabbath, and she said, It shall be well. Then she saddled an ass, and said to her servant, Drive, and go forward. Slack not thy riding for me, except I bid thee. So she went, and came unto the man of God, to Mount Carmel.

And it came to pass, when the man of God saw her afar off, that he said to Gehazi his servant, Behold, yonder is that Shunammite. Run now, I pray thee, to meet her, and say unto her, Is it well with thee?

Is it well with thy husband? Is it well with the child? And she answered, It is well. And when she came to the man of God, to the hill, she caught him by the feet. But Gehazi came near to thrust her away.

And the man of God said, Let her alone, for her soul is vexed within her. And the Lord hath hid it from me, and hath not told me. Then she said, Did I desire a son of my Lord? Did I not say, Do not deceive me?

Then he said to Gehazi, Gird up thy loins, and take my staff in thine hand, and go thy way. If thou meet any man, salute him not, and if any salute thee, answer him not again. And lay my staff upon the face of the child.

And the mother of the child said, As the Lord liveth, and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee. And he arose, and followed her. And Gehazi passed on before them, and laid the staff upon the face of the child.

But there was neither voice nor hearing. Wherefore he went again to meet him, and told him, saying, The child is not awake. And when Elisha was come into the house, behold, the child was dead, and laid upon his bed.

He went in, therefore, and shut the door upon them twain, and prayed unto the Lord. And he went up, and lay upon the child, and put his mouth upon his mouth, and his eyes upon his eyes, and his hands upon his hands.

And he stretched himself upon the child, and the flesh of the child waxed warm. Then he returned, and walked in the house to and fro, and went up, and stretched himself upon him. And the child sneezed seven times, and the child opened his eyes.

And he called Gehazi, and said, Call this Shunammite. So he called her, and when she was come in unto him, he said, Take up thy son. Then she went in, and fell at his feet, and bowed herself to the ground, and took up her son, and went out.

May the Lord bless to us the reading of his word. We were looking at some of the events, or some of the incidents, some of the parts of this incident here in 2 Kings chapter 4, and we were looking at it especially in relation to the woman of Shunamm herself.

Faith Tested in Life’s Crises

We saw, for instance, how that when the great crisis came in her life, because the Lord was going to teach her something more than she already knew, and that is that he was going to teach her that he was the God of resurrection, and we find that when this crisis came into her life, her faith drove her to the man of God, and the result was that she experienced and realized this wonderful deliverance that caused gratitude in her heart and in her life.

And you know it's in the crises that you and I prove really what is in us. Now this is a very simple saying, and perhaps it may seem funny to some people, and it is funny. But someone has said that every Christian should be like a bag of tea.

That is, always brings forth the best that is in him when he or she are put into hot water. And of course we know that's what the bag of tea does. It brings forth its best when it's put into hot water.

And that's the very same with the Christian. What we are comes out when you and I are brought into the various difficulties and crises of life. And this woman was brought into that circumstance, and we saw that her faith was unwavering.

When her husband asked, is it well, she said it is well. When he dehazed I asked her, is it well with thee, is it well with thy husband, is it well with the child, she said it is well. You know it's a wonderful privilege for a believer to know that all things are working together for good.

To them that love God, to them who are the called according to his promises. Sometimes you and I cannot always trace God's dealings with us. We are not always able to give an answer for the reason of God's dealings with us.

But you and I, while we cannot always trace God's dealings with us, you and I can always trust God in his dealings with us. And so this is so very important, to trust God in the various dealings of life.

The Joy of Leading Souls to Christ

But I want to look at this incident from another angle this morning. And that is, as you and I see Elisha, the man of God, raising this child from the dead, it illustrates for us, I think, the secrets of soul winning in the life of a believer.

You know I think that perhaps one of the greatest joys that it's possible for a believer to have, is the joy of leading another soul to our Lord Jesus Christ. And after all, that is one of the great privileges of every child of God, to be used of the Lord to lead some soul to the Lord Jesus.

Samuel Rutherford was a very saintly, godly servant of the Lord. His beautiful writings have enriched the hearts and the lives of many. I remember one thing that he wrote that I've never forgotten. He says, whenever God puts me in the cellar, I always look around for the wine.

And how true that is. Whenever God puts me down in the cellar, I look around for the wine. In other words, I'm looking around for the blessing that he has for me in this circumstance into which he has brought me.

But one of the things that he said as he considered and surveyed his ministry and his life, he said, if one soul from Anwarth meets me in heaven, my heaven will be two heavens to me. In other words, he meant that if he was used of God to lead one soul to the Lord Jesus, why his heaven would be just twice as much to him as it would be otherwise.

We know that's what Paul said, didn't he? Paul said when he spoke to the Thessalonians, he says, you are my crown of rejoicing. You are my crown of joy. Why? Because they had been led to Christ through his ministry.

Spiritual Reproduction and Evangelistic Faithfulness

And he was looking forward to that day when they would be with Christ and with him. And they would be the crown of his rejoicing throughout the countless ages of eternity. You know, one of the lessons of life is, and one of the facts of life is, that life reproduces itself.

That's a law of life. We find that in the very garden, we find that in the very book of Genesis, when the Lord says, the seed is in itself. What did he mean? Well, you take the grain of wheat, you bury it in the earth, but when that grain of wheat springs up in life, what does it do?

It reproduces seeds, fruit, just like itself. All around us we see that life is constantly reproducing itself. And that's true in the spiritual realm as well. That the Lord hasn't given the angels the privilege of bringing souls to the Lord Jesus, but he has given you and me, sinners saved by the grace of God, the privilege of bringing others and telling others about our Lord Jesus Christ.

Remember that one of the sad laments in the Bible are those words of Rachel in the book of Genesis. When she was without child and she said to Jacob, give me children or else I die. And how true that is, that if Christians are not reproducing, if they are not seeing others and being used of God to lead others to the Lord Jesus Christ, movements die.

And how we've seen that, even among some assemblies of God's people, that they have lost the evangelistic spirit. They have lost the spirit of reaching out, and the result is that eventually they begin to die out.

Someone has very well said, we must evangelize or we fossilize. And how true that is, we evangelize or we fossilize. Here we find in the 18th verse of the 4th chapter of Kings, And when the child was grown, it fell on a day that he went out to his father, to the reapers.

And he said unto his father, My head, my head. And he said to a lad, Carry him to his mother. And when he had taken him and brought him to his mother, he sat on her knees till noon and then died. And she went up and laid him on the bed of the man of God, and shut the door upon him and went out.

The Unsaved Person’s Spiritual Death

Now you remember the story? You remember as we were bringing out yesterday, this child was given because of her kindness to Elisha and his servant? You remember how that when she received this child, we mentioned that in the 17th verse when the child was born, why as far as we know in the 18th verse, it had been some time since the prophet had visited her, but nevertheless the child had grown.

We don't know how old he was, but he was old enough to go out alone into the field where his father was reaping a harvest. And as he was out in that field, suddenly he cried, My head, my head. Now it is believed, of course, from the incident that takes place here, that evidently he had suffered a sun stroke, which of course at first afflicted his head and increased his fever, and then finally ended in his spirit, as it were, leaving his body and we find that he dies on the knees of his mother.

What a tragedy had come into this heart. What a tragedy had come into this life. This child had died. It doesn't tell us how old it is, but I think it is very significant. Might I just apply a little spiritual lesson?

Sometimes we ask the question, Well, how old does a person have to be before he or she is responsible? Now, of course, I have no law or authority about it. I remember hearing about a brother who was in a certain home and this child came up to him.

She had heard that she had been raised under the sound of the word of God, had heard about being saved, and as this child came to him, was talking to him, he readily saw that the child didn't have much understanding, but the child asked the question, Well, do you believe that I am saved?

Well, talking with the child, while he saw that there wasn't very much real concept of salvation or of sin or anything like that, and he says, Well, he said, Let me say that I believe that you're safe.

I believe that you're safe. In other words, as long as she was in that condition where she didn't understand, she was safe. She was sheltered by the blood of Christ. And if anything would have happened, she would have been taken to be with him.

But here we find this lad. Might it suggest to us that this lad struck in the head would suggest to us that time in a lad's experience where he comes to the place where he knows the reality of sin, where he begins to realize the reality of his need, where he understands the difference between salvation and being lost, and suddenly conscious of that condition, he comes into the position where he knows that he needs to be saved?

And is it then that that person comes to that age of responsibility? I'm glad that that's all in the hands of the Lord, and that the Lord is the one who determines when and where that child has come to the place of responsibility.

But nevertheless, the child died. And when the child died, why, the mother, of course, didn't despair. She didn't, as it were, give up. This mother didn't say, well, let's take the child and bury the child.

That would have been the natural procedure in that land and in that day. But instead, she takes the child and she deposits it in the chamber where the prophet had lain. She lays it upon his bed, closes the door, and we see how she goes out, how she says to her husband she's going to see the prophet.

And this was a journey, they tell us, from twenty-five to thirty miles, and she was going to make it by ass, which was the beast of burden in that day, which perhaps might travel at the rate of four or five miles an hour.

So it would be at least four or five hours' journey for her to get to the prophet. And it seems that perhaps there wasn't the understanding in the husband, that there wasn't the wife. She's not able to communicate to him the experience that she was passing through.

Was it perhaps that he didn't know the Lord? Or was it perhaps that he wasn't quite as spiritual or quite experienced in the things of God as she was? Nevertheless, we find that she tells her servant, she says, run now.

She says to the servant, drive and go forward. Slack not thy riding for me, except I bid thee. And we see that she's coming to the prophet, and when she comes to the prophet, the prophet sees her, and when she comes into his presence, she falls at his feet.

She catches him by the feet, and Gehazi comes near to thrust her away, and the man of God says, let her alone, for her soul is vexed within her, and the Lord hath hidden from me, and hath not told me.

And she says, did I desire a son of my Lord? Did I not say, do not deceive me? Then he said to Gehazi, gird up thy loins, and take my staff in thine hand, and go thy way. If thou meet any man, salute him not, and if any salute thee, answer him not again, and lay my staff upon the face of the child.

And the mother of the child said, as the Lord liveth, and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee, and arose, and followed her. And Gehazi passed on before them, and laid the staff upon the face of the child, but there was neither voice nor hearing.

Wherefore he went again to meet him, and told him, saying, The child is not awake. Now here we have brought before us how people don't get saved, how people are not brought to life. You know, I don't think there's anything more hopeless and anything more difficult than to consider the condition of the unsaved person.

The unsaved person, according to the word of God, is spiritually dead. And that, of course, is what the soul needs. The soul needs life. Here is this child, and this child is dead, and Gehazi is sent on before with the staff of Elisha.

Religious Forms Cannot Give Spiritual Life

Now that was a very useful staff. It was something that Elisha used at various times, but it was put into the hands of this man, and he goes forth, Gehazi, and perhaps as he is running forth, he thinks to himself, Well, I'm going to perform a miracle.

I've got the staff of Elisha, and by means of this staff, I'm going to raise this child from the dead. Have I not been divinely authorized? Here I am going to perform something. But when he comes into the presence of the child and lays it upon the face of the child, the Bible says, There is neither voice nor hearing.

Neither voice nor hearing. You know, there are many today who are having staffs laid upon them, and they're good staffs. Oh, how many people today. I remember, I was in Grand Rapids, Michigan, waiting in a train station for a brother who was returning home, and there was a number of people in that train station, and I had some gospel tracts in my hand and pocket, so I started passing them out.

And it just happened, I say it just happened, but it was evidently of the Lord as I look back upon it now, that as I came to my last two tracts, I came to the last two people that there were and that I hadn't given them to, and they were two men sitting in a window, and they had an open Bible between them.

And as I came to them, I says, Well, that's a very good book that you're reading, and I want to give you something that tells you more about that book. I'd like to give you these two gospel tracts. And they says, Well, we'd like to give you some of our literature, too.

I said, Fine. I said, Thank you. I says, I wonder if you men are on the way to heaven, are you? Oh, they says, Well, we hope so. Well, I said, Well, aren't you sure? Well, they say, We hope we're going there.

Well, I says, How are you going to get there? Well, they says, You know what the Bible says, Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.

Well, I says, Well, do you believe that you have to be baptized in order to be saved? Oh, they says, Yes, we do. We certainly believe that you have to be baptized. I said, Well, have you been baptized?

Oh, yes. Yes, we've been baptized. But you're not sure whether you're going to heaven. Well, we hope we are. Well, let me ask you this question. Who baptized you? Oh, they says, So-and-so baptized us.

Well, I says, If so-and-so baptized you, and that's necessary for you to get to heaven, to be baptized, I says, Well, then you owe just as much gratitude to the person who baptized you for getting you to heaven as you do for the Lord Jesus dying for you.

Oh, and that was impressed upon them. Suddenly they lost all their religion, and they began yelling out loud and talking out loud, and everybody began looking, and I walked away. But I thought to myself, How true.

How many there are who think because they've had the staff of baptism laid upon them. But you know the sad thing about them is that that staff laid upon them, there's neither voice nor hearing. There's no result.

How many there are who think that perhaps because they've received the so-called sacrament. How many there are who have the Lord's Supper, as it were, ministered to them by a clergyman, and they think that in so doing, they've received Christ.

I've talked to people and asked them, Have you received Christ? Oh, yes, I receive Christ every Sunday. What do you mean you receive Christ every Sunday? Every time I receive the sacrament, I'm receiving Christ.

Ah, that's not what the Bible speaks about when it speaks about receiving Christ. It's not receiving Christ in the sacrament. It's by faith. How many there are who think that because they go through a certain form.

They've gone up to the front. They kneel down at the front. They say a prayer. They weep some tears. They think that perhaps they have life. I remember some years ago, another brother and I were holding tent meetings in a little town in Colorado.

And a man was brought to those tent meetings by his wife. He was wheeled in a chair. We were using the big chart, the two roads and the two destinies. And one day we visited that man. And after a little talk with him about various things, I said to him, Henry, you've seen this chart that we're preaching from.

And you notice that that door is open on the broad way. And people get into it on the narrow, into the narrow way. But you notice one day that door is going to be shut. When the Lord Jesus comes, that door of opportunity is going to be closed.

Let me ask you, when that door is closed, Henry, on which side of the door will you be? And he said, I'll be on the outside. Oh no, his wife says, Henry, you wouldn't be on the outside. Henry, you'll be on the inside.

I said, well, how do you think, why do you think that? Well, Henry was converted when he was a boy, young lad. I said, is that true, Henry? He said, oh, I thought I was. I said, what happened? Well, he said, we had a series of meetings in the church that I went to.

And you know, the preacher preached and I went up to the front. And he said, and I got down on my knees and I prayed. And he said, and I cried. And he said, I felt good for a couple of weeks, but it passed away.

And I said to him, well, Henry, when you went up to the front, what did you get? He said, I didn't get a thing. I said, that's the trouble, Henry. You didn't get a thing. If you had come to Christ, if you had received Christ, it would have lasted for all these years.

He was a man in his sixties. But instead you got nothing. You went through the form. And how many people have gone through a form? But there's neither voice nor hearing. You know, the voice is the expression of life in prayer.

The hearing is there's a desire for the word. And a sign of a person receiving life is that they have an expression of life in prayer. They have an ear for his word. But when the staff was laid upon him, there was neither voice nor hearing.

Ah, my friend, let me ask this morning. Is there a voice? Is there an expression of life in you and me? You remember one of the first signs of the conversion of Saul was, it is said, behold, he prayeth.

And one of the first signs of life when that babe is born is that it cries. And whenever a child is born into the family of God, there's an expression of life in the voice. There's an expression of life in the testimony.

There's an expression of life in the desire to hear his word. The staff couldn't accomplish it. But the woman wasn't led away with the servant. She stayed with Elisha. She knew that this child must come in contact with the Living One.

And my friends, people can only be brought to life by contact with the Living Christ of God. And so we find that they come into the house. In 32nd verse it says,. And when Elisha was come into the house, behold, the child was dead and laid upon his bed.

Responsibility for Individual Souls

Here we find the first thing that is essential. He was laid upon his bed. You know, that was the place where Elisha was used to resting. That was the place where Elisha was used to sleeping. I wonder how a person could sleep if there was a dead body in the bed.

If you or I found a dead body in our bed, we wouldn't be able to sleep. And I think that this dead body laid upon the bed suggests to us that here Elisha has a sense of responsibility that cannot allow him to rest.

Each of us needs that sense of responsibility. Each of us needs a sense of responsibility to those who are around us, to those with whom you and I come in contact. You know, I like to think of this in regard to Elisha.

He had a sense of responsibility for one soul, for one person. After all, that's how people are reached. They're reached individually. If you went through the Gospel of John, you would find that in the Gospel of John, the Lord is dealing and reaching souls individually.

In the first chapter of John, you remember, there was Nathaniel, there was Peter, there was John, there was Andrew. In the third chapter of John, you remember, there was Nicodemus. In the fourth chapter of John, there was the sinful woman at the well of Sychar.

In the fifth chapter of John, and you could go all through the Gospel of John, and you would find that the Lord is leading souls one by one to himself. Oh yes, we like to see multitudes of souls saved.

You know, Charles Spurgeon, in his book on the soul winner, says that if you wanted to fill a hundred bottles, he says, how would you fill them? Would you just put them all in front of you like that, and then just take a pail of water and throw it on them, and take another pail of water and throw it on them, hoping to fill those hundred bottles?

Or he says, would you take those bottles one by one and fill those hundred bottles? He'd say, you'd surely take those bottles one by one. And you know, that's the way souls are saved. Souls are saved one by one, and the thing is that I need to have a sense of responsibility for one soul.

Elisha had his bed occupied by one who was dead. He couldn't sleep. He couldn't rest. Here was one that was dead. Ah, do you and I have loved ones who are dead? Can we rest when they're in their sins, when they're unsaved?

Are we doing anything about it? His rest was disturbed. You notice it says, when Elisha was come into the house, the 32nd verse, behold, the child was dead and laid upon his bed. He went in, therefore, and shut the door upon them twain.

Here we find the second thing that he did. What did he do? He went in, he shut the door upon them twain. In other words, my friends, he shut himself up to that which was before him, and he shut out everything else that would detract him from what was before him.

I think that today, Christians need to have a sense of priorities. We need to get our perspectives readjusted. We remember that when the Lord Jesus was here on earth, he says, As the Father hath sent me, even so have I sent you.

You and I ask the question, well, why did the Lord send me in the world? Why does the Lord have me here? Why has the Lord left me here? There must be something, someone, that perhaps he can use me to reach and touch for himself.

You've all heard the story of William Carey, the cobbler. You remember he was a shoemaker before there were any mission boards, before there was very much mission work, and in his shop he had a map of the world and how many people were in that particular locality.

And whenever he came, or anybody came into the shop whose ear he could get, if they were Christians, he would talk to them about the need of the world. And if they were unsaved, he would speak to them about the Lord and about their need of salvation.

And one day he was speaking to someone about his need of salvation, and this person says, Mr. Carey, why, we've got the preacher to tell us about that. Why, you're only a shoe cobbler. You tend to your business.

He says, oh no, he says, my business is to tell others about the Lord Jesus and try to win them for him, and I'm only cobbling shoes to pay expenses. Ah yes, he had a sense of his mission. He had a sense of what was first.

He had a sense of what was the most important. And I think that when Elisha shuts the door upon them, Twain, and is alone, he is facing, and he is giving the right priority to that which is most important of all, and that is that a soul needed to be brought to life.

Dependence on God in Soul Winning

But then we find the third thing. It says, He prayed unto the Lord. There was the sense of dependence upon God. Ah yes, there was the sense of dependence upon God. And as he prayed unto the Lord, he realized, if there is to be life, it's only the Lord that can give it.

And if there is to be life, it's the Lord that has to show me how. Oh, you and I think, well, there's a soul that I'd like to reach. Do we pray about that soul? Lord, how can I reach that soul? How can I touch that soul?

How can I speak to that soul in such a way that that soul will be reached and touched? Ah friends, he prayed unto the Lord. There was a sense of dependence. This is something where we're absolutely helpless.

Where we're absolutely powerless. We're unable to do anything. I don't think there's anything that shows us how helpless we are as trying to lead a soul to Christ. You can give them all the verses that you know.

You can be, as it were, showing them the right path. And yet, my friend, it seems there's no response. You're absolutely dependent upon the power of God. And that drives you to your knees. It drives you to the place where you realize, except the Lord gives life, why there'll never be life.

And it says, He went up and lay upon the child and put his mouth upon his mouth and his eyes upon his eyes and his hands upon his hands and he stretched himself upon the child and the flesh of the child waxed warm.

You know, this was a strange procedure, wasn't it? He went and he lay himself upon the child. And it says, He put his mouth upon his mouth and his eyes upon his eyes and his hands upon his hands and stretched himself upon the child and the flesh of the child waxed warm.

Adapting Our Approach to Reach Different People

What does this suggest to me? It suggests to me, my friends, adaptability. That he adapted himself to the one that he would win. I like to go fishing every once in a while. Our brother Jim Humphrey used to come up to northern Michigan where I lived for a number of years and worked for a number of years.

And whenever he came up for those six weeks because of his hay fever, well, usually one day we'd go out fishing together. And I remember this particular day that he took me fishing. And you know, we came to a lake and he had his box full of all, every kind of lure that had been possible for him to get.

And you know, we were there in that lake and we would put a lure on and we would throw it out and bang! There'd be a strike. But we couldn't get a hold of anything. And we spent our whole day trying every lure that he had.

Going around that lake, I'll never forget it. That was a big one. You could tell that was a big one the way it struck for that lure. But we couldn't get a strike. We couldn't get a handle on him. We couldn't catch him until we exhausted every lure that he had.

And we spent about five or six hours like that. Just thrilled with nearly getting a strike but not catching a single fish. And so as we were going in, we saw another fellow and we says to him, Are you catching any?

Oh, he says, I'm catching a few. Little ones. A few with minnows. Oh, he says, we've been over there in that area and we've had wonderful strikes but we haven't been able to land a single one. How come?

He says, oh, he says, those are sturgeon in there. He says, you would never catch them with that stuff. You've got to fish with them in a different way. You can't use the same method, the same procedure with every fish.

You've got to fish through one kind of fish one way. Another fish another way. It's the same with soul winning. To win souls, you've got to adapt yourself to the one that you're trying to reach. And of course, we've often heard it, that when the Lord Jesus was speaking, He didn't address Nicodemus in the same way that He did that poor sinful woman by the well.

And He didn't address that woman by the well in the same way that He did Nicodemus. He had an approach for each one. He adapted Himself to the one that He was trying to win. And He won them. Here we find Elisha.

He puts His mouth upon the child's mouth. His eyes upon the child's eyes. In other words, He's speaking in language that the child can take in. He sees things as the child sees them. He's doing things as the child would do them.

Because He wants to what? Raise that one to life. But I want you to notice, the first time the flesh waxed warm. The child still wasn't living, but the flesh waxed warm. Your contact with a person should warm him up to you.

Yes, it's essential to win the confidence, to win the interest, to win the attention, to get the person to warm up to you. Oh, probably Elisha, someone has said, he must have felt very cold coming in contact with that dead body.

Sometimes that's the way we feel when we come in contact with unsaved, don't we? My, I try to talk to them, and oh, the difficulties, oh, the confusion. Oh, how hard. Our spirits are, as it were, chilled.

Now, I want you to notice here, it says, he stretched himself upon the child and the flesh of the child waxed warm. It's not enough to just get people to like us, to just get people to agree with us, to just say, yes, it's so, we've got to see them brought to life.

And so he rises again. Now, I want you to notice, he doesn't become discouraged. It says, he arose, he returned, and walked in the house to and fro. Ah, there's an exercise. There's an exercise. He doesn't give up.

Perseverance in Bringing Souls to Christ

You know, sometimes we give up. Oh, I've tried to talk to that man so often, and I haven't been able to do anything for him. I've tried to talk to her so often, and I haven't been able. And we're prone to give up.

I remember one couple that gave up. And as they gave up, this couple that had been given up, the brother-in-law says, well, I'll never, there's no use talking to them anymore. They just ridicule and laugh at it.

But it just happened that these people live right next to the gospel hall, and the Christians lived across the street. And this Sunday night, as the Christian was walking across to the meeting, he had determined, said to his wife, I'm not going to speak to them anymore.

He'd given up. As he walked across to the meeting, that unsaved man and wife looked out the window and saw him crossing the street with a Bible in his hand. And the husband said to the wife, you know, I wonder what there is over in that place.