The 4 Alls of the Gospel
It was an early morning flight and being a frequent flyer, I had boarded first and was trying to read my Bible while the rest of the plane filled with passengers. Sitting in the aisle I was secretly hoping that the center and window seat to my right would not be taken, allowing me to spread out some on the short flight from Colorado Springs to Denver. But, the last person to board threw his backpack into the window seat and proceeded to climb over me into the window seat.
Before the plane pushed back from the gate he leaned over and asked, “Hey, what are you reading?” “I’m reading the book of Isaiah in the Bible,” I replied. “Oh, that’s one of my favorite books,” he said. A short conversation ensued where we exchanged some background information and then I asked, “So, how long have you been a believer?” A quizzical look came over his face when he answered, “I think since I was born.”
I found out that he was headed for a funeral of his 14-month old son who had recently died of SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome) and he had been reading a Bible to see if he could discover what happens to a person after they die. I asked for permission to share with him a short summary of the central theme of the Bible, a summary I called the “4 All’s.”
As we leveled out after takeoff, he retrieved a Bible from his backpack and we turned to Romans. I explained that there are four things that are common to all people – the 4 All’s. We then proceeded to look at the verses in his Bible: Romans 3:23 – All have sinned; Romans 5:12 – All will die; Romans 5:18 – Jesus died for all; and Romans 10:9,13 – All must receive Christ. I checked for his understanding after each verse. He nodded approvingly as we read each verse.
After reviewing these verses I asked him, “If you were to die tonight are you certain of seeing your son again in heaven? He replied that he was not certain at all. I then asked, “Is there any reason why you wouldn’t want to accept Christ right now as your personal Savior?” “Why no,” he replied, “but how do I do that?” I then shared a short prayer with him and somewhere over Colorado at 12,000 feet, Rick trusted Christ as his Savior.
When landing we went over a few short passages on assurance of salvation from 1 John and after de-planing he hugged me and said, “Thanks so much for telling me about Christ! Please pray for me. I hope I can tell someone else about Him at this funeral.”
Developing Kingdom Leaders - Tom Yeakley 