How many times should a man hear the Gospel before making a decision for Christ

Ever heard it said that a person needs to hear the Gospel a certain number of times before they give their lives to Christ? Do you believe that it is true? It is something that I have heard quite often of late and I have even said it myself in the past. I have heard figures explaining that to reach the heart of a man it will take anything between seven to eighteen times before they decide to make a commitment and it has been on my mind for a while now. So here are my thoughts.

Studying scripture, I can’t find anywhere in the New Testament where Jesus, Paul, Phillip the evangelist or any of the apostles preached the Gospel seven to eighteen times in order for someone to accept Christ. I agree that there would have been people who left having heard the message of salvation but who decided not to believe it, maybe as many as twenty times over.

My point is that the Gospels say that many people’s hearts were changed immediately, the very first time they heard the message. The Holy Spirit convicted them of their sin, and the people realised that they needed a saviour and the important fact that there is only one who could rescue them. I don’t believe that it is any different today. For example, when Reinhard Bonnke holds a crusade in Africa sometimes with crowds of over a million people, many have never even heard the gospel, but when it is preached many thousands come to Christ and huge numbers are healed in Jesus name.

It is very common to have statistics like this today. Having looked closely at the examples we have in scripture, plus the examples of evangelists preaching both today and in the past, my opinion is that the statistics suggested don’t quite measure up. How many people were used in the test and over what period?

My old Pastor, a gifted evangelist, would typically retort that such figures were ‘Baloney’, and ask what would the preachers of the Gospel today in the underground church in China say?  The truth is, many thousands of people are converted every day in Asia, Africa, Argentina! God’s Kingdom is growing!

I have been very fortunate to spend time with some proven evangelists over the years and have noticed they all have one thing in common – whether they give the Gospel on a one to one basis or are preaching to a crowd they all do the same thing. What is their secret? What do they do that most people don’t do? The answer is simply that they expect people to make a decision! 

They don’t give the message thinking “I wonder how many times these people have heard the gospel? Perhaps they will have heard it enough times today.” They just believe that the Gospel will do its work.

Key Point: Always expect a decision when you share the Gospel

Daniel Cousins, one of the most gifted evangelists I have ever seen at work, wrote this recently.

“At a conference some years ago the speaker before me said, and I quote, “It takes eighteen times for a man to hear the Gospel before he can make a decision”. I followed him and thanked him for his remarks as said that “Whenever I preach I presume that it is the nineteenth and it’s time for a decision.”

This is the faith that the evangelist has and it is a faith that we should all have!

I am not talking about positive visualization here, like the golfer who is 100 yards from the green and makes a picture in his mind of a perfectly chipped shot bouncing on the green with the ball rolling into the hole before actually making his golf stroke. We must have expectancy, believe the word of God, believe in the power of the Gospel and that through what we share that the Holy Spirit will then do His work.

As one of my favourite scriptures says:

“For I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ, for it the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes” .Romans 1: 16

It is God who gives the increase. What we must do, is to obey the commands of Jesus and go and tell people what Jesus did for them at Calvary.

“Go into all the world and preach the Gospel to all creation.” Mark 16:15.

If we obey, many people will realise that they have a serious problem that can only be solved through accepting Jesus. When they accept this and understand the truth, the good news that you have to tell them really will be good news!

Expect a decision when you share the Gospel; God’s word does not return to Him void. It will always accomplish its purpose.