I Have Planted, Apollos Watered, But God Gave The Increase

One afternoon I swung off the M1 motorway around Beenleigh, looking to fuel up my car. I didn't end up going to a service station but I did end up leading a man to Christ. A man who, that same morning, had already been presented with the Gospel!

What I have learnt over the years is that, when we are in the Spirit, what we think are our ideas are actually God's ideas! This is an exciting realm in God. Our hearts plan our ways, but the Lord directs our steps! (Prov 16:9). I saw this profoundly demonstrated with what took place on this particular weekday afternoon.

Driving home from Bible School I saw what I thought was a Shell service station just off the motorway. I had, in my car, a Coles Express discount fuel voucher that can only be used at Shell service stations. And Shell service stations are like hen's teeth where I live so I thought I'd take the opportunity to fuel up and save a couple of dollars in the process. As I came off the exit ramp and approached the service station, I saw it wasn't a Shell service station. In fact, it was nothing like it. Shell service stations are branded yellow and this one, from memory, was a BP service station and branded green! The fuel seemed expensive so, chuckling and wondering how I'd managed to see yellow instead of green, I kept driving, looking for a way to get back onto the motorway. It turned out to be more complicated than you'd think.

I found myself on a service road running parallel to the motorway. As I drove along, off to my left I noticed a creek and what looked like a jetty of some sort. Immediately the fisherman in me became interested. I'm always on the lookout for places to fish or get bait and it occurred to me that there might be baitfish hanging around the jetty. I have a castnet I use to get live mullet or herring. So – the next thing I knew – I was trying now to find my way to the creek instead of the motorway.

Within a few minutes I'd found my way to a carpark alongside the creek. As I drove in, I noticed one other car parked there. I hopped out and headed for the jetty. Walking onto the jetty, I saw a man fishing. As I approached him, I somehow just knew inside that this was a Divinely orchestrated mission. What had started as a mission to get fuel had turned into a mission to find baitfish and had now just turned again ... into a mission to save a soul. 

For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. Rom 8:14

The man looked in his mid-fifties or older. "How's it going?" I asked.

"Not bad," he offered.

I walked around the jetty, peering into the water with my Polaroid sunglasses. Polaroids let you see straight into the water and spot schools of fish that people without Polaroids can't see.

"You come across many baitfish around here?" I asked the man after a few minutes.

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure they do," he replied.

We introduced ourselves and continued on with a bit of small talk for a little while and I wondered when the opportunity would arise to talk about Jesus. It came when G_____ mentioned he was battling cancer. That was the open door.

"You know there is a Name greater than cancer," I said. Or something to that effect. "Jesus Christ is still the healer today, you know. The Name of Jesus is greater than cancer or any other disease."

As I soon as I started talking about Jesus, G_____'s eyes went really wide. He said, "Look at this!" He fumbled around in his shorts' pocket and pulled out a gospel tract! "I was fishing on another jetty this morning and I met a fellow who gave me this!"

I started laughing. "This is your day, G____. You've gotta know that God is knocking on your door!"

So there on the jetty, on a lovely sunny afternoon, I led G_____ through the plan of salvation and asked if he would like to receive Jesus Christ as His Lord and Saviour. G_____ was in his fishing clothes and I was dressed in corporate attire. It didn't matter. G_____ had a foreordained appointment to meet Jesus. That's all that mattered! 

We started praying and mid-way through our prayer, G_____ hooks up!! I couldn't believe it. But as an understanding fisherman, I said, "You better land this and we'll finish praying in a minute." It seemed like it could be a decent fish by the way it fought but it turned out to be just a catfish. After returning it to the water, we picked up where we left off and G_____ was born again. Glory to God! I then explained to my new brother that his salvation included healing from cancer so we agreed together in prayer for his complete healing, believing that he would enjoy many more years with his family.

We exchanged contact details and I asked if I could look at the gospel tract G_____ had received. There was an email address and I explained to G_____ how rapt this other brother would be to hear what had just happened. I copied down the email address, wished G_____ well and headed off. I was actually working that afternoon so I went to my office with a big grin on my face and shared the story with my colleagues. (One of those colleagues, who heard the story, would himself receive Jesus in the coming weeks. But's that another story...)

Later that night I emailed the brother whose email was on the tract. I encouraged him that he had been used of the Master that morning and that already there was a harvest! He was blessed to hear the news. We would later catch up and form a lasting friendship based on our fellowship in the Gospel.

I have planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase. 1 Cor 3:6

In the weeks that followed, I visited G_____ and his wife at home and stocked them up with some resources and again laid hands on G_____ for his complete healing. I encouraged him to get along to a local church and he mentioned he had one in mind. I still have a chuckle when I think that it all started with me mistaking a green BP service station for a yellow Shell service station. That's gotta be the Holy Spirit. All glory to Jesus!

I will finish with a few words by Watchman Nee. I read these words today and they inspired me to write this blog tonight.

For us who are God's children the most soul-destroying thing is to turn our gaze inward. Introspection is a deadly disease ... stop doing it! Learn to walk in the Spirit. Do you feel moved to preach Christ to a soul? Do you stay and examine yourself whether this urge is from you or from God. While you are asking your questions, the opportunity will be gone! Act, and you will be liberated. Watchman Nee (1965), A Table In The Wilderness - Daily Meditations from the Ministry of Watchman Nee.

More testimonies to come, glory to God! Stay tuned. Including: a lost traveller finds the ultimate Destination, an impromptu lunch with some serious Muslims, and a father-son reconciliation with eternal consequence.