And after some days, when Felix came with his wife Drusilla, who was Jewish, he sent for Paul and heard him concerning the faith in Christ. Now as he reasoned about righteousness, self-control, and the judgment to come, Felix was afraid and answered, "Go away for now; when I have a convenient time I will call for you." Acts 24:24-25
Okay, one more post on when people do not want to hear. As Christians we speak the gospel to nonbelievers evangelistically. And we speak the Word to believers, offering biblical counsel. In both cases we should not be surprised when people do not want to listen. We have not always listened, have we?
When nonbelievers do not want to hear the gospel, let us remember how many times we may have had the same reaction before we were born again by the Holy Spirit. Let us not take offense. We are not being rejected but Christ is being rejected. Let us pray that what the person has heard will continue to convict them and that the Holy Spirit will convert them. Let us also pray that the Lord will send another person to proclaim the gospel from whom they may more readily receive.
When believers do not receive biblical counsel, let us remember the times when we rejected sound biblical counsel. Let us ask the Lord to show us whether our counsel was truly biblical, or just our subjective opinions. Let us pray that if the counsel was indeed biblical, that the Holy Spirit will work in the person’s heart to receive His words, not ours! And let us pray the Lord will send another person with sound biblical counsel from whom they more readily receive.
What is important is the gospel and biblical counsel—not the evangelist nor the counselor.