A great minister stood before a fashionable audience and pleaded with them about their souls. He magnified the blood of Jesus, and told of the glory of salvation. He spoke of divine fellowship as a reality, and seemingly moved his audience; but at the close of that stirring message he dismissed the congregation without offering an opportunity for men to seek the Savior.
At the end of the message a layman met the minister and said, “Doctor, I heard you preach. I was greatly moved by your sermon, but if you will permit me I would like to offer this criticism. I am a business man at the head of a large concern. We send out many salesmen. If one of my salesmen went into a perspective customer’s place of business, talked as convincingly for one hour as you did, about the fine qualities of our goods, and then walked out without trying to get an order, we would discharge him at once.
That minister, relating the incident, said, “I was rebuked. That layman was right. I was pleading for a verdict. I sought an announcement of it. I was selling goods and did not try to get an order.”
(Excerpts from “Answered prayers and soul-winning incidents – published in 1940)
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