Legacies of Light: Thomas Jefferson Bowen

What if the hardest part of sharing your faith isn’t what to say, but what to expect? We start with raw honesty about why evangelism stirs anxiety and pushback, then move into a practical, grace-filled path for action—one invitation, one clear verse, one real conversation at a time. Along the way, we challenge the scoreboard mindset and trade it for a better aim: obedience over outcomes.

We talk about relationships that break your heart and seeds that seem to die in the soil—Demas deserting Paul, Whitfield praying for Franklin, crowds walking away from Jesus. That history grounds us when a coworker deflects with stories or a neighbor bristles at the word sin. The gospel exposes guilt before it heals shame; light stings before it saves. So we practice a different posture: clarity with kindness, truth without spin, pity instead of heat. No quick fixes. No promises of rose petals. Just the honest news that Christ saves sinners and the patience to keep doors open.

Then comes the story that reframes success: Frank Jenner on George Street in Sydney, an aging sailor who asked thousands the same simple question and never saw a single response. Decades later, the fruit surfaced across oceans—sailors, pastors, and missionaries tracing their first step toward Jesus back to a quiet man with tracts and courage. His legacy frees us. You don’t need the perfect moment or the perfect words; you need a faithful next step and trust in the Spirit who does the heart work.

If this stirs you, join us in a small, bold move: invite one person from your workplace, school, or neighborhood to church, and be ready with a simple path through Scripture. Subscribe for more honest, practical conversations, share this episode with a friend who needs courage, and leave a review to help others find the show. Who’s your first invite?

Learn more: https://www.wisdomonline.org/

Transcript

Honest Lament And Spiritual Reality

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Eugene Peterson paraphrases chapter 16. God, you have wasted me totally. You've shriveled me up like a dried prune. My spirit is broken. My days used up. My grave is dug and waiting. You talk like that. You suggest to someone that this is an example of honesty before God, bringing your doubts and disappointments and frustrations openly before him like this, and they're gonna wonder if you've been skipping your quiet time. Now I gotta be honest, you know, my parents invited me to church when I was growing up. But it was sort of like, you know, go to church or find somewhere else to live. That was the invitation. For those of you who didn't grow up in a believing family, and I've met many of you through the new members process, and we have a lot of first generation Christians. You're the first believer in your family. It's interesting to me to read one survey result that with this information that 82% of non-churched individuals said that they would consider attending a church service if they were invited by someone they knew. Maybe that's how you got here. Or maybe you came to faith at an earlier time in your life because someone invited you to church. Now, obviously, that doesn't mean church services are the answer. In fact, the church meets for the purpose of edification, not evangelism. But we know unbelievers attend and we want them to come and see, to watch, and to listen, to see your spirit. And I've had a number of people tell me they were marked just by the way this congregation sang. It moved them to want to know more. Another survey I read was disheartening because it revealed that less than 30% of people who call themselves born-again Christians ever talk about the gospel with their colleagues or acquaintances. Only two out of ten talk about Jesus, where they work or live. I remember hearing a comedian years ago where somebody asked him about his religion, and he said, I was raised a Jehovah's Witness, but I'm now a Jehovah's Bester. I'm more comfortable being a bystander than a witness. I'm not endorsing Jehovah's Witnesses. They're witnessing the wrong thing. But I am concerned that so many Christians are bystanders instead of witnesses. How would you answer these questions to yourself? Have you ever invited someone to a church event or service? Have you ever told an unbeliever about your relationship with Jesus Christ? Have you ever taken the word of God and shown someone who asked the way to heaven? Now, if we're the average church in America, and I'd like to think we're not average, but if we were the average church in America, less than 50% of our congregation has ever invited someone to attend here. Less than 20% have told an unbeliever they belong to Christ. And less than 5% have ever shown people from the scriptures the way to heaven. Now, my my goal, beloved, is not to discourage you with these statistics. It's my prayer that will be inspired today to move from bystander and more aggressively into that world of ambassador. Now, at the end of this service, I want you to make a commitment. You're not going to walk forward and sign a card or raise your hand, but make a commitment to invite an unbeliever from your job, your school, your class, your neighborhood, your work, your shop, or whatever, to a church service. That's a great place to start by then. That's an easy place to start. Just invite them to church. Now, I'm hoping that a thousand of you are unsuccessful because I'm not sure where we'd put them if they showed up. But that'd be a great problem to have. We'll figure it out. I'm also praying that you'll prepare yourself to take the word of God and show somebody how to find their way through Christ to heaven. Now, if your memory's like mine, let me give you a little tip, I've used this and still do. Go to the first verse that you would want to take people to. For me, it's Ephesians 2, verses 8 and 9. And then right in the margin by that verse, the reference to the next verse you want to go to, which might be Romans 3 or Romans 6, and right in the margin of that verse, the next verse. So you only have to remember one verse, and you're home. Now, let me get real here about the subject of evangelism. There are some subjects I could preach on, and it's immediate conviction. I could say, I'm going to preach today on prayer, and we'll all go, uh, I know I need to do that more. Evangelism is one of those things. I know I could do that more. I know I'm supposed to be an ambassador. I know I'm supposed to talk to people about Christ. But listen, beloved, if it were easy, we'd all do it. It isn't. It's actually a battle. It's cosmic warfare. An invisible world is battling that impulse that you have. Should I say something or not? As that soul is on the bartering block, as it were, between the devil and the gospel of light. So let me just speak to some of the obstacles or some of the discouragements. Let me put them in the form of seven reminders as we consider a legacy of light from someone who faithfully served. Number one, relationships with unbelievers are vital, but they may be unfruitful after all. And that's discouraging, isn't it? I think of the Apostle Paul who invested a lot of his time and life into a man named Demas, only to have Demas abandon him years after Paul's investment. An apostate who turned away, who never really believed. In Colossians, Paul included greetings from Luke, that physician that traveled with him, and he also included greetings from Demas. In the book of Philemon, he called Demas a co-worker, a fellow worker. He was on the team. In his last letter, 2 Timothy, I can't imagine a more surprising verse to the early church where Paul would write, Demas, in love with this present world, has deserted me. What a shock. All that effort with that true spiritual conversion. I think of a more modern example, the friendship of George Whitfield with who was the architect of the Great Awakening in the mid-1700s, with Benjamin Franklin. A friend of Franklin's. He often shared with him the gospel. Benjamin Franklin would come to hear Whitfield preach. He even financially supported Whitfield's orphanage. Benjamin Franklin never moved, however, past his deism, the belief in a creator God, to belief in the Son of God, the Lord Jesus. He denied the resurrection, as many deists did. When Whitfield died, Benjamin Franklin wrote a letter to a friend, and he said this, and I quote, ours was a mere civil friendship, sincere on both sides, and lasted to his death. Mr. Whitfield used to pray for my conversion. But he never had the satisfaction of believing that his prayers were heard. Benjamin Franklin, 1780. I think Whitfield would have been surprised and discouraged by Franklin's view of their friendship. But I know he would have been discouraged by Franklin's sarcasm at being on Whitfield's prayer list. Witnessing doesn't always result in spiritual fruit. Think of Noah, he preached over a hundred years. Nobody believed him. You ever thought about the fact that nobody joined him? Not one friend, not one acquaintance, not one neighbor, not even his extended family, none of the parents of his three daughters-in-law believed him. I think of the prophet Jeremiah, who was told by God, you're going to have a ministry of delivering the news of my judgment and mercy if they believe, but they're not going to listen to you. Here's what God said to Jeremiah in Jeremiah chapter 7. So you shall speak all these words to them, but they will not listen to you. How's that? As a you know, front runner to your ministry. You shall call to them, but they will not answer you. You shall say to them, This is the nation that did not obey the voice of the Lord their God and did not accept discipline. Truth has perished in the land. Sounds like your culture today in mine. You think of the Lord, who already knew the heart of everybody to whom he spoke, yet he delivered the gospel to them. On one occasion, Jesus was being followed by perhaps several hundred people who considered themselves disciples. They were called disciples. The Apostle John recorded an event where Jesus challenged the genuineness of their commitment. And here's what happened. John 6 records after this, Jesus is challenged to them. Many of his disciples, they've been following them, turned back and no longer walked with them. We're done with you. So Jesus asked the original 12, Do you want to go away as well? And Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. So don't be discouraged when you tell somebody of the gospel and they don't believe you. Jesus himself delivered the gospel and they did not believe him. And that leads me to this second reminder. Remember that while witnessing for Christ does not require a favorable response. It requires faithful obedience. The issue is never the response of the world, the issue is our obedience to the word. The truth is, you may never know the end result. Some of those results may come in indirectly after you're in heaven. The response of someone with whom you've shared the gospel on that campus, in that shop, in that with that person in the next cubicle, you may never know until you stand before Christ, and you're going to be stunned to find out how the Lord used just a word of your testimony in the lives of others. So don't focus on their response, focus on your responsibility. Here's a third reminder. Witnessing must depend on the Spirit of God because people are not honest even with themselves. They're not honest with themselves. They're blinded, we're told in 2 Corinthians chapter 4, Paul writes that they're blinded to the truth of the gospel by the God of this world. That's why this is a battle. Not only resistance in your own flesh to putting yourself out there, there is resistance from that one listening. They're not about to open up. People don't want to hear that. Our world is skilled at deflection, at self-defense. I can't tell you how many times I have been talking to somebody, and two minutes in, they turn left and talk about their grandfather who started a church, or some mystical experience, or a dream they had, or what about all those people who've never heard? Just deflect, deflect, deflect. Think about it. Witnessing means you are asking them to open up to the idea that they are in need of saving. Who me? I came across a humorous illustration where an old man was walking down a country lane, leading a mule, his mule and his dog walking alongside, and suddenly a speeding truck careened around the corner and knocked the man and his mule and the dog into the ditch on the side of the road. Later, the old man decided to sue the driver of that truck to recoup all the medical expenses and everything he'd lost, and it ended up in court. While the old man was on the stand, the defense attorney said, Sir, I want you to answer simply yes or no to the following question. Did you or did you not say at the time of the accident that you were perfectly fine? The man said, Well, me and my dog and my mule were walking along the road. And the attorney said, No, no, no, stop, stop. I asked you to just tell me yes or no. Did you say you were, quote, perfectly fine at the time of the accident? Well, me and my dog and my mule were walking along the road, and the attorney appealed to the judge, Your Honor, this man refuses to answer my question, and the judge said, Well, he obviously has something to say. Let's let him speak. The old man said, Well, me and my dog and my mule were walking along the road, and this truck came around the corner and went too fast, knocked us all in the ditch. The driver here got out of the truck, saw my dog, was terribly injured, went back to his truck, got his rival, and shot my dog dead. Then he saw my mule had broken his leg, he shot him too. Then he came over to me and said, How are you feeling? I said, I'm perfectly fine. I can't tell you how many times that's the reaction of people I've had and you'll have, their lives are a wreck. They're a mess. And you're gonna say, I'm perfectly fine. The Bible does not portray us as perfectly fine, but entirely fallen. And it is the gospel through the power of the Holy Spirit, not your effectiveness, not your cleverness. It is the supernatural work of his spirit that penetrates the dishonesty of an unbeliever. Just like he did with you and me. Number four, we need to expect the gospel to expose guilt over sin and produce a defensive attitude in the unbeliever. Wait a second, God isn't gonna judge me. I'm not a sinner. By the way, be encouraged that you're delivering the true gospel if it provokes a reaction that isn't all that comfortable. The true gospel exposes sin. It isn't, hey, come to Jesus, he's gonna fix every one of your problems. That isn't true. He might make more problems. Or you want to have a better life? I mean, he's gonna, it's rose petals from here on out. Prosperity, health, you get it all, come to Jesus. That's not gonna provoke any anger. You're not pointing out any sin. There's no need of saving. They can often be angry. But just remember the Bible says, as you deliver the truth that the law of God is already written. It's hardwired on their heart. Romans 2.15. They already know what they're doing is sinful. They already experience the guilt of their sin and they're trying to manage it. They might hate you for telling them the truth of what they already know. They're not about to admit to you. Keep in mind, it isn't just because of maybe something you said. It's actually deeper than that. If they know you, it's it's they happen to know how you stand, where you stand. Listen to these insights. Proverbs 29, 27. An unjust person is an abomination to the righteous. We get that. We get this. But the one whose way is upright in his life is an abomination to the wicked. You disturb them as much as they might disturb you. Proverbs 29, 10 says, Violent people hate the one who is blameless and seek the life of the upright. Psalm 37, 12. The wicked plots against the righteous and gnashes his teeth at him. He grinds his teeth whenever you come around. He can't stand you. I love the way Eugene Peterson paraphrases it. Bad guys have it in for the good guys, obsessed with doing them in. Is that true? Jesus said, for those who live and preach and deliver the truth of the gospel, it will produce, and sometimes it will become open, hatred. And all you're doing is trying to live a godly life. You're the one that fills the coffee pot up. You're the one that stays late. You're the one who's kind. And they hate you. But they know where you stand. Your very presence exposes that guilty conscience in their hearts. Jesus put it this way in John 3, and this is the judgment. The light has come into the world, and people love the darkness rather than the light, because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light. By the way, Jesus called you the light of the world, just as we call him the light of the world. Hates the light, does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. Have you ever thought about the fact that the very first criminal act in human history, the murder of Abel by his brother Cain, was for this very reason. It wasn't just one offering, it was a life. John provides this insight into the motive of Cain in 1 John 3. John writes, we should not be like Cain, who was of the evil one and murdered his brother, John says, and why did he murder him? Because his own deeds were evil. And his brothers were righteous. Cain hated Abel because he knew in his heart and guilty conscience that Abel was right. And Abel's lifestyle was a daily convicting reminder of his own ungodliness, and Cain had to get rid of that reminder. Is there some way we can move you to another floor? Another cubicle. So how do you respond to a world that hates you? Well, let me put it this way: number five, unbelief and hatred that persist should not develop in us hostility, but pity. The disciples were challenged on this very issue. Studied in Luke chapter 9, a Samaritan village refused to allow Jesus and his disciples to spend the night in the village. They had learned from the disciples that Jesus was going to Jerusalem. The Samaritans and Jews hated one another. So because you're going to Jerusalem, you can't spend the night here in our village. They basically told Jesus and his disciples to get lost. And James and John said to the Lord, Why don't we call down fire and consume them? Now, how's that for an evangelistic strategy? It reminds me of Pokemon, you know, my grandsons have talked. Me, you got this fireball, and nothing can stop it. Let's use a little bit of that power. Let's let's you don't follow Jesus, we're gonna toast you. I mean, that could be effective. Think about the next village. Please come on in. Uh this is in our dispensation a gospel of patience and warning and love for the lost. That we deliver to them the truth that fire is coming later. Which is why it ought to produce in us pity, not hostility. Number six, witnessing isn't so much about technique, it's about simple trust in the supernatural work of God. It's about understanding, as we were challenged earlier, with just taking your neighborhood, that traffic pattern where God has placed you and viewing it as a divine appointment. That person that doesn't like you is your appointment from God. One more reminder, witnessing to others comes with no guarantee except the affirmation and approval of Jesus Christ. Is that enough for us? Is that enough? The Bible says in Romans 10, 15, how beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news. Jesus said in Matthew chapter 10, whoever acknowledges me before my father, I will acknowledge before my father in heaven. Now, that isn't a threat. I've heard it used that way, that you're not going to get into heaven if you miss that opportunity to be a witness. It's a promise of being honored if you are a witness. A special honor. Paul even referred to his own crown related to the gospel that he delivered to others. With that, let me give you a legacy of light from a man I mentioned, him according to my notes, briefly, about 17 years ago, and I've done more digging and studying, and I want to focus on him with the time we have remaining. His name was Frank Jenner, and he made a commitment to tell somebody about Jesus Christ every day. That was his commitment he made. Wasn't able to do it every day, but that was his commitment to Christ as God gave him opportunity. He lived in Sydney, Australia, and after he retired from the Royal Australian Navy in 1937, he spent nearly every day during his retirement years witnessing, and he went to a busy shopping district, downtown Sydney, where hundreds of people came to shop, and he chose one particularly busy street named George Street. And there he spent the next three decades plus passing out little pamphlets. And as he passed out the pamphlets to people, he would ask them the same question. If you died tonight, do you know if you'd go to heaven? Or nearly 40 years. Not one person, not one, ever responded to his witness and came to faith. Sometimes people would stop and talk for a while. Sometimes people would refuse the pamphlet. Sometimes people would accept it, but keep walking. I would have never heard of Frank Jenner or be able to give you this legacy of his light had it not been for some really unusual circumstances arranged by the Lord to inspire us all. It all begins with a pastor named Francis Dixon. He pastored Lansdowne Baptist Church in England, Dorset, England. His youth pastor had come to faith in Christ after meeting Peter Jenner, downtown Sydney on George Street. Soon after hearing that testimony, Pastor Dixon met two British sailors who also told them that they had come to faith after being given some literature by this white-haired man on George Street. Then a new believer in Dixon's church gave his testimony in the church service, and he said this. Well, Pastor Dixon flew sometime later to Adelaide, Australia, the next week or so. He was scheduled to speak at a Bible conference, and a woman came up to him with some questions, and he asked her, Where do you stand with the Lord? And she said, Well, I was an unbeliever all my life until a few months ago. I was visiting some friends in Sydney, Australia, and we were shopping on George Street, and a white-haired man asked me if I'd died that night, if I'd go to heaven, and I walked away, but knew I didn't have an answer. That bothered me. And when I came back home, I saw that a pastor of an evangelical church, and he led me to Christ. So several times now in a few months, Pastor Dixon met people who had encountered this little white-haired man passing out tracts on George Street. He was intrigued by that. Well, sometime later, he flew to Perth to speak at a church there, and after the meetings, the senior elder of the church took him out for supper, and Pastor Dixon asked this fellow elder how he'd come to faith in Christ. Well, he replied, he'd grown up in the church, had never given his life to Christ. He eventually became a successful businessman and then was elected an elder in his Baptist church, still unconverted. Then he said, three years ago, I was on a business street, business trip, walking down George Street, and the little man with white hair accosted me, gave me a religious pamphlet, and asked me, if you died tonight, are you going to heaven? I tried to tell him I was an elder in a Baptist church. He was not impressed with that. And all the way back home, I seethed in anger. I told my pastor what had happened, thinking my pastor would sympathize with me, but he agreed with the little man. My pastor told me that he had even begun wondering if I was truly a believer. That broke me, humbled me into reality. And my pastor and I prayed as I gave my life to Christ. Pastor Dixon flew back to England, was soon to speak at a Keswick convention. He shared in the meeting about these testimonies of new believers who had been confronted on George Street. And after the meeting, four pastors came up to him that said that they had all come to faith in Christ some 25 to 30 years earlier after receiving a gospel pamphlet from that little man on George Street. It wasn't long before Pastor Dixon traveled to a conference at the Caribbean Islands. I love this guy's schedule, by the way. I'm going to do that soon. He was speaking to a large group of missionaries, and he was so excited about the fruit of this man's testimony, he shared it with the audience. At the close of the session, three missionaries came up and said they had been saved 15 years earlier through the witness of this same man. On his way back to London, he diverted to speak at a naval chaplain's convention in Atlanta, Georgia. And when the chaplain general, the leader, took him out to dinner, the pastor asked him how he'd come to faith in Christ. And the chaplain said, We were doing exercises in Southeast Asia. We docked in Sydney to resupply our ship. I went out with my friends and I got drunk. I ended up on the wrong bus and it dropped me off at George Street. As I got off the bus, this elderly white-haired man came up to me. I thought he was a ghost. He gave me a pamphlet and said, if you died tonight, are you going to heaven? The fear of God hit me. I was shocked, sober. I left him, hurried back to the battleship, sought out my chaplain, and he led me that night to faith in Christ. He started to train me. I soon went into the ministry, and now I am overseeing more than a thousand chaplains, and we are dedicated to winning people to Jesus Christ. Six months later, Pastor Dixon with his amazing frequent flyer miles flew to the northeast corner of India to speak to 5,000 missionaries in a conference. And at the close of the meeting, the host pastor took him out for a meal, and the London pastor asked him how he'd come to faith in Christ. The Indian pastor responded, I was a dedicated Hindu. I had a very privileged position. As a diplomat, I traveled the world. One diplomatic assignment took me to Sydney, Australia. I was doing some last-minute shopping on George Street when a little man with white hair offered me a pamphlet and said, Excuse me, sir, if you died tonight, are you going to heaven? I thanked him and walked on. But what he said disturbed me. When I returned home, I sought out my Hindu priest. He couldn't help me with an answer. He actually recommended that I see a Christian missionary in the region and satisfy my curiosity. That missionary led me to faith in Christ. I quit Hinduism immediately, began to study for the ministry. I left the diplomatic service, and now I am in charge and leading several thousand missionaries, and we are winning thousands of people to Christ. Well, eight months later, Pastor Dixon was invited to speak in Sydney, Australia, and he is determined to meet this little man who handed out tracts. The host pastor knew about him, didn't know anything really spectacular about him, knew his name was Frank Jenner. He did tell him, you know, I don't think Frank goes down to George Street anymore. He's now frail and elderly. He can't get about. But they made arrangements to meet him two nights later. They went to the little apartment, knocked on the door, a frail little man invited them in. Happily served them tea. As they sat together, the London pastor began telling Mr. Jenner all the encounters he had had with Christians, from England to Australia to India, to the Caribbean, to America, who'd come to faith in Christ because he'd given them a track and asked them if they were ready to go to heaven. The old man sat there listening with surprise and joy. And then with tears in his eyes, he said, You know, I made a promise to God that I would try to share Christ with others. I wasn't consistent, I wasn't perfect at it. But when I retired more than 30 years ago, I began going down to George Street. I thought it'd be the best street because hundreds of people came there every day. And then he added this, but I never knew of even one person accepting Christ now for nearly 40 years until tonight. They talked into the evening. They came to the conclusion that Frank had handed out 140,000 tracks. He'd asked 140,000 people, if you died tonight, would you go to heaven? And no one had responded. Two weeks after their visit, Frank Jenner died. May 8, 1977. Just two weeks before he passed away, he had been visited by Pastor Dixon, his other pastor, who had brought him the stunning news of his fruitful ministry. You know, I thought about this. He would have learned it anyway, two weeks later. But he stood before Christ and was rewarded for his witness. His biographer wrote, No one had responded directly to him, but heaven knew about him. And I cannot even imagine the fanfare and the joy of so many people welcoming this man. Beloved, witnessing is not a disposition, it is a decision. Let's decide to make our life George Street. Tell as many people as we can how to go to heaven.