This perpetual calendar includes:
- Remarkable testimonies of souls won to the Savior
- Explanations of gospel concepts
- Answers to frequently-asked questions
- Stories of real-life witnessing opportunities
- Encouragements and tips for sharing the glorious gospel
April 8
George Whitfield, who preached more than 18,000 times, was one of the most widely recognized public figures in colonial America. During the Great Awakening of 1740, he was addressing a large open-air meeting from the words, “And the door was shut” (Mt 25:10). A young man in the audience, standing not far from the preacher, said to a companion in a voice loud enough for Whitfield to hear, “Well, what does it matter if the door is shut? When one door shuts, another door opens.” Whitfield immediately sprang into action: “Some may say,” he called out to the crowd, ‘What does it matter if the door is shut; if one door be shut, another door will open.’ Yes, that is true: if the door of heaven is shut against you, the door of hell will be open. If you are shut out of heaven, you must enter hell.” The Holy Spirit carried the words home to both of the young men, who remained for conversation with the preacher, and were led to accept Christ as their Savior.
Today’s Reading: 2 Kings 6-8 Memorize: Jeremiah 9:23-24April 7
Your humanity is at stake; the souls of the unsaved are at stake. The sinner saved by grace is not only a person who is heartbroken over his own sins. But he is also heartbroken over the sins and present destiny of those around him: “Rivers of water run down from my eyes, because men do not keep Your law” (Ps 119:136). When you sit around your kitchen table with your children or your siblings or your parents, when you spend time with your friends, when you go into your office, when you walk the streets of your town, when you stand in a great concourse of men and women with the hordes thronging about you, you are in most cases seeing a mass of untaught and hell-bound sinners. Your soul should be stirred to its depths by the reality of those whom you love and even those whom you do not know, lost and on their way to an eternity under the just judgment of a holy God who will yet save whoever turns to Him. — Jeremy Walker, The Brokenhearted Evangelist, p 36
Today’s Reading: 2 Kings 3-5 Memorize: Isaiah 64:6April 6
I had been called at the last minute to speak at a conference. I spent the night preparing and was exhausted when the taxi arrived to take me to the airport. The cabbie, on discovering the purpose of my trip, asked my age; he thought I was too young for the task. I then asked him his age. “Fifty,” he replied. Flippantly I said, “So does life begin at 50?” “It hasn’t begun for me yet,” he responded. “Does your Bible have the answer?” My tiredness vanished as I shared with him the way of salvation. As I read scriptures to him, he suddenly pulled the car to the shoulder, put his head on the wheel, and began to pray. “Lord, You knew I needed this. I’m ready for all you want to do for me. Thank You, Jesus, for what you did to save a pathetic case like me.” Back on the road, his joy was evident as I shared with him the blessings of being in Christ. I wasn’t ready, but the Spirit was, and so was this poor soul. What grace that the Lord uses weak vessels. It’s all He has to work with! —J.B.N.
Today’s Reading: 1 Kings 20-22; 2 Kings 1-2 Memorize: Isaiah 61:10April 5
The Jehovah’s Witnesses (Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society) began at a study with Charles Taze Russell in 1879, and now boasts 7.5 million adherents. Their magazine, Awake, has a circulation of more than 20,000,000 in over 130 languages. Russell proved himself a false prophet by declaring that 1914 would be the end of the Times of the Gentiles (admitted on their official website). JWs reject the doctrine of the Trinity, with Christ as the first creation of God (not God the Son), and the Holy Spirit being a force. They also deny hell as a permanent place of punishment, and that the afterlife consists of heaven for 144,000 chosen Witnesses, with eternity on the new earth for other Witnesses. All others will be annihilated. Although we are forbidden to receive them when on official business (see 2 Jn 10-11), there is no reason we cannot otherwise show them love and hospitality, as with any other unbeliever. Love, not arguments, will open their hearts to the truth.
Today’s Reading: 1 Kings 17-19 Memorize: Isaiah 60:1-2April 4
One evening, Abigail Luffe was accosted on her way home. “What’s in your bag, lady?” Abigail held up her Bible: “I will give you this, the most valuable thing I possess, for it says, ‘For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever…’” Paralyzed with fright, she lost the ability to finish, only repeating “whosoever.” The thief angrily pushed her into a snowbank. Abigail hurried home where prayer was asked for the assailant. Four years passed. Traveling on a streetcar, Abigail was jostled as she paid the fare—then discovered her purse missing. The next morning, a man came to her door and confessed that he was the thief in both cases. He explained that he had found in her purse a card. On one side was “Whosoever—that means you” and the words of John 3:16. On the other side, “Whosoever—that means you” and the verse “Whosoever was not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.” He and two accomplices were saved that day.
Today’s Reading: 1 Kings 14-16 Memorize: Isaiah 59:1-2April 3
I think of my fellow-sinners; my companions in crime and guilt. I would fain make some suitable amends to them. And what can be more appropriate in that view than the resolution, with reference to them, and all my fellow men, “I will teach transgressors Thy ways, and sinners shall be converted to Thee” (Ps 51:13). This is, and should be—it must be—the immediate and instinctive purpose of one who has himself known the ways of God, so as to be himself converted to Him. Can anyone who has really been thus taught and thus changed, refrain from the cry, “Come and hear, all ye that fear God, and I will declare what He hath done for my soul” (Ps 66:16). Will he not, moved by his own experience, feel his heart burn within him for souls who do not fear the Lord, souls all but perishing? Have I discovered the hidden treasure? Have I been snatched as a brand from the burning? And can I resist the imperative impulse to sound a general alarm? —C.H. Spurgeon
Today’s Reading: 1 Kings 11-13 Memorize: Isaiah 57:15April 2
In the fourth century, the “golden-mouthed” Chrysostom of Antioch wrote: “I do not think of Christ as God alone, or Man alone, but both together. For I know He was hungry, and I know that with five loaves He fed five thousand. I know He was thirsty, and I know that He turned the water into wine. I know He was carried in a ship, and I know that He walked on the sea. I know that He died, and I know that He raised the dead. I know that He was set before Pilate, and I know that He sits with the Father on His throne. I know that He was stoned by the Jews, and I know that He was worshipped by angels. And truly some of these I ascribe to the human, and others to the divine nature. For by reason of this He is said to be both God and man.” “And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifested in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen by angels, preached among the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up in glory” (1 Tim 3:16).
Today’s Reading: 1 Kings 8-10 Memorize: Isaiah 55:7