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 29
“Because there is wrath, beware lest he take you away with one blow: then a great ransom cannot deliver you” (Job 36:18). Harry Ironside tells the story of meeting “a very refined and elegant lady on a steamer, who asked indignantly, ‘You don’t mean to say I have to go to heaven like the dying thief, do you?’ ‘No, madam,’ I replied, ‘you do not have to. If you reject Christ, you will have to go to hell with the other.’ And so we would remind the reader: The saved thief believed on the Son of God, and is with Christ now. The lost thief scorned a Savior, and is in the depths of woe. You must be with one or the other for eternity. On another occasion a young man said, after hearing the gospel, ‘Of course, I intend to be saved some time; but there is no use being in a hurry about it. There is always a chance, even at the eleventh hour. Remember the dying thief!’ ‘Which thief?’ pointedly asked his questioner. One was saved that none may despair; but only one, that none may presume.”
Today’s Reading: 2 Chronicles 21-23 Memorize: Habakkuk 1:13April 28
It’s good to have some simple ways in mind to present gospel truth. For example, an outline of John 3:16, as follows, can be easily sketched on a paper napkin at a restaurant table as you speak to a friend who is searching but still without Christ. The verse can be arranged as follows:
GOD LOVED: “God so loved the world”I BELIEVE: “that whoever believes on Him shall not perish”
GOD GAVE: “That He gave His only begotten Son”I HAVE: “but have everlasting life.”
John 3:16
April 27
Eric Liddell, the winner of the 400-metre race at the 1924 Paris Olympics, was a consecrated Christian. The film *Chariots of Fire* accurately
recounts his refusal to run his best event, the 100-metre race, because it was on the Lord’s Day, and that someone slipped a paper to him as he stood at the starting blocks. It read, “Them that honour Me I will honour” (1 Sam 2:30). Having been born in China to missionary parents, he left Scotland in 1925 and returned to China to serve the Lord. A huge crowd gathered at Waverly Station to bid him farewell. He addressed them, saying, “Let our motto be ‘Christ for the World, for the World Needs Christ’.” He then led them in singing Isaac Watts’ hymn, “Jesus Shall Reign”. “Blessings abound where’er He reigns; the prisoner leaps to loose his chains; the weary find eternal rest, and all the sons of want are blest.” Eric died in a Japanese prison camp in 1943. These were his last words: “It’s complete surrender.”
April 26
If the Bible is rooted in history, that presents a problem: how can you trust the accounts of Jesus when we now know that history is simply propaganda written by the winners? This is an increasingly popular view, especially in academia. Postmodernist historian Greg Dening argues: “History is something we make rather than something we learn…I want to persuade [my students] that any history they make will be fiction.” The argument quickly grows less robust when the Holocaust is mentioned. Do we not have evidence galore for it’s reality? Yet less than a generation later, Holocaust deniers reject it’s historicity. Amy Orr-Ewing writes: “Luke and the other Gospel writers recorded the events that had taken place with scrupulous accuracy. Their intention in writing was that we as future generations could read about Christ confidently, knowing that historians had thoroughly researched and compiled the material in a rigorous way.” See Luke 1:3-4; 2 Pet 1:16.
Today’s Reading: 2 Chronicles 10-12 Memorize: Micah 7:7April 25
Ira Sankey tells of an incident in Brooklyn, NY. “A fine-looking young man came into the inquiry room. I asked him if he was willing to accept Christ as his Savior. He bowed his head in his hands, while his whole frame shook: “Jesus will not accept me.” “Why not?” “For the last eight years I have traveled the world, speaking against Him.” He explained that his Christian mother in Scotland had made him promise to attend when Moody came to the city. “Do you want Him to forgive you?” I asked. “Yield to Christ and he will receive you.” He bowed his head, his trembling form telling how deeply he was moved. After a hard struggle, he took my hand: “By the grace of God, I take Jesus Christ as my Savior now!” A few evenings later, I met him at the door. He said he had sent a cable to his mother. “I just said, ‘I’ve found Jesus,’ and signed my name.” “Thank the Lord,” I said. “Yes,” he exclaimed, “that’s just what my mother cabled back, “Thank the Lord, O my soul.’” So pray on!
Today’s Reading: 2 Chronicles 7-9 Memorize: Micah 6:8April 24
If God made everything, who made God? John Lennox responds: “One of the central arguments of The God Delusion, Richard Dawkins’ book, is the famous school-boy argument, ‘If we believe in a Creator, we’ll have to ask: Who created the Creator?’ But if you ask, ‘Who created God?’ you are thinking of created gods. Now the ancient world knew all about created gods; we call them idols. If Richard Dawkins thinks he is demolishing belief in created gods, then good for him! But he could have written a far shorter book, because millions of us don’t need any convincing that created gods are a delusion. Christianity, of course, does not believe in a created God; it believes in a God who is eternal and is the Creator of everything else. In other words, the God of the Bible is, by definition, uncreated.” Thus there is no infinite regress. And, in the end, it is not merely a philosophical question: “The eternal God is your refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms” (Deut 33:27).
Today’s Reading: 2 Chronicles 4-6 Memorize: Micah 5:2April 23
William Haslam (1817-1905), an Anglo-Catholic vicar, on hearing many conversion testimonies, came under deep conviction. He felt he could no longer preach. “The thought came to me that I would go to church and read the morning prayers and after that dismiss the people…The psalms and hymns were especially applicable to my case…So I gave out my text: ‘What think ye of Christ?’ Something was telling me, ‘You are no better than the Pharisees. You do not believe that He has come to save you.’ I do not remember all I said, but a wonderful light and joy came into my soul. I was seeing what the Pharisees did not. All of a sudden a local preacher, who happened to be there, stood up and shouted, ‘The parson is converted! Hallelujah!’ His voice was lost in the shouts and praises of three or four hundred…I joined in the outburst of praise; and to make it more orderly, I gave out the Doxology and the people sang it with heart and voice, over and over again.”
Today’s Reading: 2 Chronicles 1-3 Memorize: Jonah 2:7, 9