But Brother Chad stepped in and he said something that was really interesting.
He gave the person an illustration afterwards.
So somebody was going to grab the guy at Bible.
The guy is from Atlanta, Georgia.
I think he had just moved there, or maybe he hadn't been there for very long.
But anyway, this is what Chad said, so I'm going to try to go through it kind of exactly
how he did.
So he basically said this, he said, so he used his left hand to say, you know, this
is a guy on my left, he believes on Christ, is saved, and has eternal life.
However, he never goes to church, never reads the Bible, never prays, lives a life of sin,
and is overall kind of a jerk.
But when he dies, where does he go?
And then, obviously, if they're saved, they know where he goes, he goes to heaven, right?
And so then he says, the guy here on my right hand, he believes in Christ, is saved and
has eternal life, yet he decides to read his Bible and go to church.
He prays regularly, gets sin out of his life, tells others about Christ and is overall a
great guy.
When he dies, he goes straight to heaven also.
So he gives this scenario where there's the guy on the left that's, you know, he's basically
just doesn't live for Christ, he doesn't follow the truth and all that.
This guy does all the stuff he's supposed to.
So and then he asked the guy, which of these two guys do you think is more blessed by God
while on earth?
Which one gets more rewards in heaven?
Which one goes to heaven and sees people and loved ones he got saved?
Which one is that person?
And which one is getting disciplined on earth by God?
Probably this guy over here, right?
And then he says, now praise God, they both go to heaven, but which one do you want to
be?
And the guy, what do you think the guy said?
He wants to be the guy that gets the rewards, reads his Bible, goes to church and all this
stuff.
And I don't know if he ever ended up going to church, but he said he wanted to be this
guy.
But you know, sometimes it takes time to get to be this guy right here.
But what I thought, I thought it left a lasting impression on me, because I thought that was
a great thing to say.
I think that I would like to incorporate that.
I think I did the last time I got someone saved after that, but I couldn't tell as cool
as he did.
So I had him text me all this stuff.
But he just kind of made that up, and he does that with all his converts, and I thought
that was pretty cool.
So then he says, now what do you think this guy, what do you think made this guy so great?
And he made the decision not only to trust Christ for salvation, but to trust him in
every area, every other area as well.
He decided to go to church, get baptized, read the Bible, and obey what it said, etc.
He said you wanted to be the guy on the right, so now what should you do from now on?
And so then he goes to Acts 2.41.
So go to Acts 2.41.
So what am I talking about?
I'm talking about walking in the truth, and this would be something that would be very
helpful to help somebody to walk in the truth, to kind of just give them a challenge right
after you get them saved, and just say, hey, which one do you want to be?
The loser that never goes to, you know, the loser that doesn't do the follow after Christ?
You know, because most people proclaim their own goodness, don't they?
Most people, before you get them saved, they already thought they were saved, or thought
they were a good person.
So because they do all this great stuff, but then when they get saved, then they just,
a lot of people, just become a loser, or whatever, so to speak, as far as not doing the things
that they thought were getting them saved in the first place, you know what I mean?
And then when they get saved, they don't come to church and do all the things that they
thought were good things to do, the things that they were getting saved from.
So it's pretty weird, but look at Acts 2, 41, it says, then they that gladly received
his word were baptized, and the same day were added unto them about 3,000 souls.
And they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship and breaking of bread
and in prayers.
And so then he said, when did these people decide to get baptized and join a good church?
It says in that verse, the same day, not next month, or when I get married, or when I, whatever,
fill in the blank, so if you want to be this guy, the guy on the right, now decide to go
to church, get baptized, read the Bible, pray, et cetera.
So this is trademarked by Brother Chet Argonne, and so anytime you speak these things, you
have to say it was a trademark by him, nah, I'm just kidding.
I just texted him today, because that really did leave an impression on me.
I thought, man, that's something good to explain to people.
Obviously tell them, show them the verses, what it says to be baptized, but sometimes
we toil with people for so long, we don't want to give them the special ending where
you should tell them that they need to get baptized, you give them a Bible.
Some people just throw some stuff at them and go, okay, bye, but it's good to challenge
them and say, hey, now that you're saved, why don't you follow God and walk in the truth
with him.
So I thought that was really good, really interesting, I wanted to share that with you.
Let's go back to 2 John, look at verse 5, it says, Now I beseech thee, lady, not as
though I wrote a new commandment unto thee, but that which we had from the beginning,
that we love one another.
This is another theme in John's writings about loving one another.
And this is love, that we walk after his commandments.
This is the commandment, that as you have heard from the beginning, you should walk
in it.
Walk in what?
Walk in the truth.
Now Ephesians 2, 8 is a familiar chapter for you, but in verse 10 it says we are the workmanship,
we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works.
So we should, in 2 John it says in verse 6 that you should walk in it.
In Ephesians 2, 10 it says we are created unto good works, which God hath before ordained
that we should walk in them.
It doesn't say you have to or you won't be saved, it says should.
So should makes it seem like a choice, doesn't it?
So we do have a choice of whether we want to serve God or not, and some people just
choose not to.
There's this guy on the left that doesn't want to do the things of God, or sometimes
they start out as this guy and then they end up as this guy because they can't hack it.
So that's just the way it is, that's the way church life goes, but some of our converts
are going to follow and walk in the truth and some of them are not.