A Businessman Finds Jesus

China continues to experience incredible church growth surpassing anything ever seen before. Many people have recently come to terms with their immortality and have discovered their great need for Jesus. One leader in the country recently expressed: ​“The gospel is everywhere and spreading. Online teaching, prayer meetings, and evangelism cannot be suppressed by the authorities. Especially small house church gatherings are thriving. Literature is spreading but the need for Bibles is great. God is using this difficult time, to refine the Church and bring revival.” He then shared a story about a recent interaction between a pastor and a businessman living in the city. For the last five years, Pastor Timothy has planted churches in a large city in Southern China. Reaching people with the Gospel who have money and a good job is challenging. Most of them don’t believe they need anything more than a decent paycheque and a place to live. Certainly, they don’t think they need a Saviour in Jesus. Pastor Timothy preaches the Good News of the Gospel, and the need for the Lord, despite the opposition and complacency surrounding him. Recently, he met a factory owner who lost his business and almost went bankrupt. As a result, the man spent every day in a drunken stupor until a concerned friend intervened and brought him to the pastor. The two men spoke for months about the Gospel and slowly built a friendship, until one day the businessman humbled himself before God. He repented and gave his heart to Jesus recognizing that he desperately needed a Saviour. His immediate joy and the all-encompassing peace he felt was overwhelming and he knew he needed to share what had happened in his life with others. He arranged for his friends and past employees to hear the Gospel so they too could share in his newfound hope. Pastor Timothy went to the man’s apartment and preached the Gospel to the packed room. Many people believed that day and now dozens of believers gather in that same apartment to study the Word of God.

In Romans 23:3 we read: For all have sinned and fall short of the Glory of God. This is a hard truth for people to come to terms with, but Pastor Timothy doesn’t shy away from expressing to all those he encounters how desperately they need Jesus to save them from their sin.