by Zeke Flores<\/p>\n
Sometimes, people just don’t want to hear it- the gospel, I mean. As persuasive a preacher as Paul was, he couldn’t convince everyone to repent and turn to Jesus. So, he moved on, but not before letting them know that it was their choice to make and the consequences were theirs to bear.<\/p>\n
Nothing has changed. We want as many people as possible to hear and heed the gospel, but some simply won’t. There are many reasons for this, but the bottom line is the same: They refuse. So, we move on, just as Jesus said (Matthew 7:6, 10:14).<\/p>\n
As disheartening as that is, the evangelizing Christian needs to realize that he’s not responsible for the conversion of anyone; he’s only responsible for giving them the information they need to make an \ud835\ude2a\ud835\ude2f\ud835\ude27\ud835\ude30\ud835\ude33\ud835\ude2e\ud835\ude26\ud835\ude25 decision. And if they make the wrong one, it’s their choice, and God will honor that choice. Just make sure you give them the right information.<\/p>\n
“Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly and said, ‘It was necessary that the word of God be spoken to you first; since you repudiate it and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold, we are turning to the Gentiles.’ … When the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord; and as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed<\/em>” (Acts 13:46, 48).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
by Zeke Flores Sometimes, people just don’t want to hear it- the gospel, I mean. As persuasive a preacher as Paul was, he couldn’t convince everyone to repent and turn to Jesus. So, he moved on, but not before letting them know that it was their choice to make and the consequences were theirs to…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27],"tags":[536],"class_list":["post-87166","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-preaching"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":34485,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/are-we-condemning-those-who-never-heard-the-gospel\/","url_meta":{"origin":87166,"position":0},"title":"Are We Condemning Those Who Never Heard the Gospel?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 24, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"by Matthew W. Bassford I received the following question: \"I heard one yesterday I've been pondering. The man said that unless you believe in God you will be lost. So what about all those people who have never had the opportunity? I have him some answers but I'd be interested\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/Yagua_Tribesman-300x253.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":50470,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/who-is-responsible-for-sin\/","url_meta":{"origin":87166,"position":1},"title":"Who Is Responsible for Sin?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 7, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: Ezekiel 18:4-20 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A number of years ago, I couldn\u2019t find a parking space in our lot because of some school function across the street. I finally found a spot on the side of one street among many other cars and walked to the building.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":49116,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-do-i-get-my-dad-to-see-that-his-church-isnt-good-enough\/","url_meta":{"origin":87166,"position":2},"title":"How do I get my dad to see that his church isn’t good enough?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 27, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I have a problem I have been dealing with my father, and he simply does not understand. For many years we've been going to this small church. The people are nice. I would describe the church as traditional because it is Baptist. The majority of people who like to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":31840,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-gospel\/","url_meta":{"origin":87166,"position":3},"title":"The Gospel","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 4, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: Romans 2:1-11 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The word \u201cgospel\u201d translates a Greek word that means \u201cgood news\u201d \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The gospel is a message that is to be heralded to all the world - Mark 16:15 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0B.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0It is a message that brings hope to those who hear it - Colossians\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":25034,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/of-course-god-sends-people-to-hell-but-hell-doesnt-exist\/","url_meta":{"origin":87166,"position":4},"title":"Of course God sends people to hell, but hell doesn’t exist!","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 22, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Your article that God does not send people to hell falls way short of giving any real and meaningful answer.\u00a0 True, people have a choice to some extent and God will not force Himself on anyone, but it most\u00a0certainly\u00a0says in the Scriptures that no one can come to the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":28310,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-is-god-holding-us-responsible-when-it-is-he-who-made-us\/","url_meta":{"origin":87166,"position":5},"title":"Why is God holding us responsible when it is He who made us?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 4, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Why does a perfect God, who knows all and sees all, create imperfect beings in the first place, then curse those people and all the people thereafter? Then we who were born into this world without a choice must obey all these things, meet every week, and if we\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87166","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=87166"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87166\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=87166"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=87166"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=87166"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}