Red Apple Evangelism

I received this transcript from a church out on the east coast. I have been massaging this idea in my thoughts and life.

The message is called Red Apple Evangelism. 2 Corinthians 2:15 – “Some will receive our witness and be saved, for we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved.” God is going to give us opportunities to share Jesus with some people and they’re gonna to be like, “Wow, you are the aroma of life.” There are people who are what you would call red apple people – people who are ripe to the gospel. You are going to talk to them and they are going to say, “Where have you been all my life? I have been searching and looking for this message.” You walk away and are taken back with a cool sense that you were an aroma of life to some people. It is so powerful when that happens; when people reveal their hunger to know about God. Please note that it is God who does the work. Who is it that gets people to the red ripened stage to receive the gospel? God does! And how does he ripen people to the gospel? I think he uses circumstances. Now, I can’t ripen someone to the gospel even though I would like to and even may try. This is the work of the Holy Spirit that draws many to know Jesus. Think of the process like the sun beating down on this apple ripening it and preparing it for harvest. Now the same sun can melt the ice but also hardens the clay. And you can see 2 people going through the same thing. One will become so tender, red ripe for the gospel, and another one will become bitter and hard. What’s up with that? One will reject our witness and perish or the timing is not right at this point. The other is an aroma of life and he or she is wide open to receiving the gospel.

Well it goes on to say, “To one a fragrance of death to death to the other a fragrance of life to life.” Some people will reject our witness and possibly perish. We have all seen that before. They will be spending eternity separated from God, even though they have heard the message. Well we call these people green apples. Maybe someday they will become red apples, but the key is to understand where they are at. Sharing to a green apple may be offensive and the aroma smells like death. Green apples are not ripe for the gospel; they are not ready to hear it. Have you ever tried to share Christ with a green apple? Yea, it is tough to see people who are green and not ready, but the key that we need to remember is God can ripen people to the gospel and we need to look for his lead and watch how he draws all people unto Him.

I like the analogy of the red apples maybe because my name is Apple or maybe it’s about a core passion that I have? One thing I do know in the last 4 weeks at Praise Fellowship we have seen 76 red apples. There may have been some green apples in our midst, but all I know there is a hunger for salvation and I can’t wait to see what God is going to do at PF church. Please note: Our core mission is all Apple’s are welcomed no matter where they are at in the ripening stage. It has been a blast watching many give their lives to the Lord. All I can say is…give us some more red-ripe apples!