From Chaos to Christ: A Village Transformed
RON: Hello, everyone. Today I want to take you for a few moments to a place on the Mediterranean coast of Israel called Caesarea. Whenever I’m in Israel, I always make time to visit a particular spot there — an area where King Herod built a massive palace complex right beside the water. It’s also where the Apostle Paul stood before King Agrippa to explain the Gospel and answer the charges against him.
The walls of that room are long gone, but the flooring remains, and there is a plaque marking the site. I love to stand there, open my Bible, and read the account of Paul addressing Agrippa. Every time, two words leap off the page: “Almost persuaded.” Agrippa said to Paul, in essence, “Are you trying to persuade me to become one of those Christians?” And Paul replied, “Yes — I absolutely am.”
To persuade means to convince or win over, not just through words, but through actions, attitude, and character. Paul lived this out everywhere he went. Scripture repeatedly tells us he reasoned, explained, and persuaded Jews and Gentiles alike. “Knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade men,” he wrote in 2 Corinthians 5:11.
Around the world today, we see this same gentle, steady persuasion happening. Believers are sharing Christ with loved ones, neighbours, friends, and officials — not forcefully, but respectfully, persistently, and with grace. And when someone is persuaded, true conversion follows: repentance from sin, faith in Jesus alone, and the new birth through the Holy Spirit. That is biblical conversion — turning from false religions to the only Truth.
Recently, a leader in India shared a story that deeply moved me. In a central Indian city, there lived a man who was six-foot-four, powerfully built, violent, and constantly drunk. He terrorized the streets, broke into homes, and was feared by everyone. One day, a national missionary was in the village sharing the Gospel, unaware that this man was listening just behind him. Led by the Holy Spirit, the missionary went over, laid hands on him, and prayed.
A week later, the man searched everywhere for the missionary. When he found him, he said, “Can you say those mantras over me again? When you prayed, for the first time in years, I slept peacefully.” The missionary explained, “I wasn’t chanting mantras — I prayed for you in the name of Jesus.” The man asked, “Who is Jesus?” The missionary shared the Gospel, and the man was persuaded. He accepted Christ, followed the missionary for months to learn, then attended Bible school. Today, he is a pastor. His changed life — his peace, behaviour, and character — was so dramatic that 40 – 50% of his entire village became Christians, convinced that Jesus is real and the only true God.
This is what persuasion looks like when the Gospel takes hold.
I want to close with Isaiah 1:18 – 20, from the New English Translation:
“Come, let us consider your options,” says the Lord — the self-existing, promise-fulfilling, unchangeable One. “Though your sins are red like scarlet, they can become white as snow. If you are willing and obey, you will eat the good things of the land. But if you refuse and rebel, you will be devoured by the sword.”
God still invites the world to reason with Him, to see the truth, and to choose life in Christ. Many have been persuaded. Many more are almost persuaded. And the Gospel continues to spread rapidly.
Come — let us reason together.
