Salvation on Thursday!

A story from Paul Ackerman
Thursday
We were doing a breakdown group talking about letting Jesus be the cure to our addictions and emotional issues. Almost every breakdown group I had lead had been a couple girls. This group also had two women in it. They filled out a card of what emotional amd life issues they were facing in their lives. Both had written down an answer pertaining to being angry. So in repsonse, I asked them, “Do you know what some of Jesus last words were when He was on the cross.” One of the girls right away said, “Father forgive them for they know not what they do”.

So, I shared how Jesus is the ultimate example of giving up our rights were think we have, that lead us to become angry. Anytime we think we have been offended or taken advantage of and we want to get angry, we should look to Jesus who endured the great sacrifice but didn’t get angry.
Then from there, I used that as a transition to the gospel. I asked them if they had Jesus in their lives. One girl immediately answered yes, but the other girl, who had earlier identified Jesus last words, said no. She said, “I am looking for Jesus and I want him in my life and I want to be a better person, but I haven’t found him”.



Then I asked her if she knew what the gospel was. She said no. I said the gospel is the whole reason Jesus died on the cross. After telling me she hadnt heard what grace was, I explained Ephesians 2 :8–9 telling her that no matter what we do, it is not by our works that we are saved but by grace, which is a gift. To help her understand this gift I shared the judge analogy. In this small amount of time, thru this analogy, I helped her understand how love and justice meet at the cross. So I told her that this gift is like the check at the end of the analogy that is either accepted or rejected. I told her that she must accept the gift which is Jesus taking our punishment, which is what grace is. I asked if she had ever received this gift before and she said no. I asked her if she was like to recieve it, and she emphatically answerred “Yes”!

I asked her what she would ask God to receive this gift. Based on her response I could tell she was sincere and wanted the gift. So I lead her in prayer to tell God what she had just told me. After praying she was a little teary eyed, and also seemed very happy and relieved that she had found Jesus. The translator that was with me that know time, she and I invited her to come to church. Then they gave her a Spanish New Testament, and told her the importance of reading the Bible, and to start in John. She gave me a hug and said Thanks. This girls name was Anahai. We hope to see her at church, getting plugged in and growing!