God changes a man’s heart… At our latest festival in Paquera, Costa Rica (Nicoya Peninsula) there was a man who went from being hard against the things of God to loving Him. Whenever we work in an area, I like to take multiple training trips. I normally get to visit a lot of people in their homes, minister to folks, pray with them, and meet certain needs. During previous trips on the Peninsula, I met Tina. Tina loves Jesus and her daughter is married to a pastor. Tina is a very happy and talkative lady. She even likes to speak to me and have conversations in Spanish, which I do not speak very well, but she does most of the talking. However, I do pick up a few words every now and then. Normally she’ll speak to me for a little while, then pull me somewhere to show me something, then hug me and end with a prayer. Now let me tell you about her husband Luis…
Luis was never available to talk with me on previous trips before the festival. I had heard of him from Tina (via my interpreter). She told me that he doesn’t have much to do with the Lord or church. If I recall correctly, he gave Tina a hard time for attending church services. I remember praying for him.
Many months later at the festival. We had music, BMX, something for kids, and I shared the Gospel on a couple of occasions. The second time I preached was from the BMX ramp. As I started to preach, I felt the Lord impress upon my heart to focus on man’s sinfulness. And although we are loved by God, we stand under His judgment for our sin until we repent and come to faith in Jesus as our personal Lord and Savior. I continued to speak about being under the wrath and judgment of God. This isn’t something I normally preach about for long periods of time during my sermons. I like to balance His love and grace with His judgment more than I did in this particular sermon. However, God used that message to penetrate the heart of Luis. He was convicted and gave his life to Jesus. Tina found me afterward with tears of happiness in her eyes and a big smile on her face. I went and greeted Luis and welcomed him into the family of God.
