FREELY OPEN DOORS

Brazil, like America, is a land of many freedoms. This thought came to me as I returned from Brazil earlier this week as we approached Independence Day in the USA. We had total freedom to proclaim Christ in Casa Branca, Brazil. There was no fear of police, governmental authorities, spies, or of members of a certain political party, as I have experienced elsewhere in the world. We could freely come and go into homes of people who gladly welcomed us in to share the good news of Jesus Christ. We were able to gather together dozens of youth after one of our sports clinics and openly speak of salvation through Jesus Christ to them. During each half-time of a youth soccer tournament we co-sponsored with a government entity we were invited to share personal testimonies about our faith in Christ. Coaches gathered both teams to listen attentively. Additionally, the mission team members from our church were able to spontaneously engage in evangelistic conversations with Brazilians who were standing alongside the soccer field during the tournament. We found these parents, relatives, friends, and players willing and eager to direct their attention away from the soccer and onto the good news of Jesus, which we presented through a booklet proven to be effective in Brazil.

While in America we share the same legal freedom to proclaim the gospel as we had in Brazil, our mission team commented that evening that very rarely would anyone ever exercise that freedom. We discussed how you could never do what we did among the crowd at the soccer tournament. Factors inhibiting that free expression included our fears and the expectation of indifference or even irritation at what would be perceived as an intrusive interruption. So ironically, while we are as legally free to talk about Jesus here in America as we are in Brazil we find ourselves not sharing as freely of Christ as we could be. I guess partly because people also feel free to tell us to “get lost” or “I’m not interested in hearing that” or “I already know that stuff, so please….” But is that response by some an adequate reason to forfeit our freedom to speak about the difference Christ makes in our lives?

I wonder if we cannot find more culturally appropriate ways to share the gospel here in America with greater freedom than we do currently. I wonder if we could not sponsor a soccer tournament here in Lake Wales where we could then freely share personal testimonies at half-time. I wonder if parents and children in our community might not come out for a free sports clinic where coaches could share of their faith in Jesus. Maybe Americans would not respond with immediate faith in Christ as so many Brazilians do. Maybe Americans won’t invite us into their homes to spend 30 minutes talking about gospel of Jesus Christ. But, maybe there are unexplored avenues of gospel-sowing and sharing than we are not freely pursuing. Maybe we have more freedoms than we walk in by faith.
This 4th of July weekend let us thank God for the freedoms we continue to enjoy in America, and as believers for the freedom that is ours in Christ. This will be a featured theme in our worship at FBCLW this Sunday. But also, let us also prayerfully think about, discuss and act upon ways we may better utilize the freedom we have in our town and nation to share the good news of Jesus.

In Colossians 4:3 Paul asked the believers in Collosae to pray for him. He wrote: “…Pray also for us, that God may open to us a door for the word, to declare the mystery of Christ, on account of which I am in prison….” Ironically, none of us are in prison. We are free men and women! So in a very real sense the doors are open for us to share the Word. We have what Paul prayed for! Therefore, may we freely walk through each open door in Brazil, America, and wherever the Lord sets our feet.

Glad to be wholly free!
Pastor Scott