God is alive and at work in the lives of many people that you and I come across daily and we may not even recognize it. There are many opportunities that God gives us to participate with Him in reaching the lost with gospel. The work of evangelism is all about partnering with God, to speak the good news of what Christ has done for us at the cross and call people to repent and place their trust in Christ. Henry Blackaby said in his book Experiencing God “Find out where God is working and join Him there”. This is what the life of Jesus looked like when He walked the earth as a man. Jesus said that he only did what he saw the Father doing (John 5:19). He was always in step with the will of the Father and the work of the Father. The Father had ordered the steps of Christ while he was on the earth and Jesus followed everyone of them.

In John 4:4 it says Jesus “had to pass through Samaria”. Going through Samaria may have been the most direct route to go where Jesus was headed but I don’t think that was the only reason Jesus “had to pass through Samaria”. I believe that the Father had a divine appointment set up for His Son to speak to a woman in Samaria. Jesus shared good news with this woman (John 4:14, 26) and she believed in Him. She then went and told many others in town about Jesus and they also believed (John 4:39). There was a domino effect upon this one woman coming to Christ. Jesus surely “had to pass though Samaria” for this reason, namely that these Samaritans would become believers in Him. After Jesus had this time of evangelism he told His disciples to lift up their eyes and look at the fields that are white for harvest (John 4:34-35). The harvest of souls was truly great and ready for reaping in that Jesus’ day and so it is in our day. All around us there are people who God has been working in and is drawing to Himself and we get the glorious privilege to partner with God by sharing His love and the truth of the gospel, that they might come to Christ.

This past Spring Break of 2013 a group of students from Valley Creek Church came to Dallas for an inner-city mission trip. I took them out on the streets to do evangelism and invite people to a basketball tournament we were hosting. There were two young ladies who began to feel a bit discouraged after they had knocked on about 7 doors and got no answer. Then they had a divine appointment. The Lord directed them to this woman named Regina who was ready to come to Christ. Regina was weary, distressed and in despair. She had lost her children to CPS due to her drug addiction and had experienced some devastating events. The father of her children had committed suicide right in front of her children. She too had been contemplating suicide. But in her pit of despair God sent two of His daughters to share His love and the hope of the gospel. These two young ladies came and told me about her and I also was able to share the love of Christ and hope of the gospel with Regina. As we spoke words of life and hope over Regina tears were streaming down her cheeks. We prayed for her and we began to sing the song How He Loves Us over her. As we were ministering to Regina I was reminded that Jesus came not only to preach the gospel to the poor but to heal the broken hearted (Isaiah 61:1, Luke 4:18). And this precious woman was brokenhearted and God brought healing and hope to her heart when she seemed to need it the most. That evening Regina showed up for the outreach event we were hosting and she got loved on by all the students from Valley Creek and heard a message about the blessedness of being being forgiven out of Psalm 32.

Two days later on Sunday morning she showed up at City Church and we happened to be doing baptisms that morning. During the service when I asked for those who were getting baptized to come forward she came up to the front of the congregation. Now I took eight people through a baptism class a week prior to that and she was not one of those eight people. Nevertheless I felt great about baptizing her because it was obvious that God had drawn her heart and brought her to a place of dependence upon  Christ. Regina had heard the gospel and she responded publicly to declare her faith in Christ. So we baptized her there on the spot. It felt like something out of the book of Acts. Indeed God was at work in the early church as we see displayed in the book of Acts. And He is also at work in our day drawing people to Himself for salvation. “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever” (Hebrews 13:8 ESV).

May our eyes be opened to see the great harvest that is all around us and to recognize every divine appointment God gives us. And may we be faithful stewards of every divine appointment that the Father brings our way.