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A number of years ago, in a Baptist
church in Crystal Palace in southern London, the
Sunday morning service was closing and a stranger
stood up at the back, raised his hand,
he said, excuse me, pastor, can I share
a little testimony?
The pastor looked at his watch, he said,
you've got three minutes.
And this man proceeded.
He said, I've just moved into this area.
I used to live in another part of
London.
I came from Sydney in Australia.
And just a few months back, I was
visiting some relatives.
And I was walking down George Street, you
know where George Street is in Sydney, it
runs from the business hub out to the
rocks, the colonial area.
And he said, a strange little white haired
man stepped out of a shop doorway, put
a pamphlet in my hand, and he said,
excuse me, sir, are you saved?
If you die tonight, are you going to
heaven?
He said, I was astounded by those words.
Nobody had ever told me that.
I thanked him courteously.
And all the way on British Airlines, back
to Heathrow, this puzzled me.
I called a friend who lived in this
new area where I'm living now.
And thank God he was a Christian.
He led me to Christ.
And I'm a Christian and I want to
fellowship here.
And Baptists love testimonies like that.
Everyone applauded and welcomed him into the fellowship.
That Baptist pastor flew to Adelaide in Australia
the next week.
And 10 days later, in the middle of
a three day series in a Baptist church
in Adelaide, a woman came to him for
counseling.
He wanted to establish where she stood with
Christ.
And she said, I used to live in
Sydney.
And just a couple of months back, I
was visiting friends in Sydney, doing some last
minute shopping down George Street.
And a strange little white haired man, elderly
man, stepped out of a shop doorway, offered
me a pamphlet and said, excuse me, ma
'am, are you saved?
If you die tonight, are you going to
heaven?
She said, I was disturbed by those words.
When I got back to Adelaide, I knew
this Baptist church was on the next block
from me.
And I sought out the pastor and he
led me to Christ.
So, sir, I'm telling you that I am
a Christian.
Now, this London pastor was now very puzzled.
Twice within a fortnight, he'd heard the same
testimony.
He then flew to preach in the Mount
Pleasant Baptist church in Perth.
And when his teaching series was over, the
senior elder of that church took him out
for a meal.
And he said, mate, how'd you get saved?
He said, I grew up in this church
from the age of 15 through boys brigade.
Never made a commitment to Jesus, just hopped
on the bandwagon like everybody else.
And because of my business ability, grew up
to a place of influence.
I was on a business outing in Sydney
just three years ago.
And an obnoxious, spiteful little man stepped out
of a shop doorway, offered me a religious
pamphlet, cheap junk, and accosted me with a
question.
Excuse me, sir, are you saved?
If you die tonight, are you going to
heaven?
He said, I tried to tell him I
was a Baptist elder.
He wouldn't listen to me.
He said, I was seething with anger all
the way home on Qantas to Perth.
He said, I told my pastor thinking he
would sympathize with me and my pastor agreed.
He had been disturbed for years knowing that
I didn't have a relationship with Jesus and
he was right.
And my pastor led me to Jesus just
three years ago.
Now this London preacher flew back to the
UK and was speaking at the Keswick convention
in the Lake District.
And he threw in these three testimonies.
At the close of his teaching session, four
elderly pastors came up and said, we got
saved between 25 and 35 years ago, respectively,
through that little man on George street, giving
us a tract and asking us that question.
He then flew the following week to a
similar Keswick convention in the Caribbean to missionaries.
And he shared the testimonies.
At the close of his teaching session, three
missionaries came up and said, we got saved
between 15 and 25 years ago, respectively, through
that little man's testimony and asking us that
same question on George street in Sydney.
Coming back to London, he stopped outside Atlanta,
Georgia to speak at a naval chaplains convention.
And when he's three days of revving these
naval chaplains up, over a thousand of them
in soul winning, the chaplain general took him
out for a meal.
And he said, how'd you become a Christian?
He said, well, it was miraculous.
I was a rating on a United States
battleship and I lived a retrograde life.
We were doing exercises in the South Pacific
and we docked in Sydney Harbor for replenishment.
We hit King's cross with a vengeance.
I got blind drunk.
I got on the wrong bus, got off
in George street.
As I got off the bus, I thought
it was a ghost.
This elderly white haired man jumped in front
of me, pushed a pamphlet in my hand
and said, sailor, are you saved?
If you die tonight, you're going to heaven.
He said, the fear of God hit me
immediately.
I was shocked, sober and ran back to
the battleship, sought out the chaplain.
The chaplain led me to Christ.
And I soon began to prepare for the
ministry under his guidance.
And here I am in charge of over
a thousand chaplains and we're bent on soul
winning today.
That London preacher six months later flew to
do a convention for 5,000 Indian missionaries
in a remote corner of Northeastern India.
And at the end, the Indian missionary in
charge, a humble little man took him home
to his humble little home for a simple
meal.
And he said, how did you as a
Hindu come to Christ?
He said, I was in a very privileged
position.
I worked for the Indian diplomatic mission and
I traveled the world and I am so
glad for the forgiveness of Christ and his
blood covering my sin, because I'd be very
embarrassed if people found out what I got
into.
He said, one bout of diplomatic service took
me to Sydney and I was doing some
last minute shopping laden with parcels of toys
and clothing for my children, walking down George
street.
And this courteous little white haired man stepped
out in front of me, offered me a
pamphlet and said, excuse me, are you saved?
If you die tonight, you're going to heaven.
He said, I thanked him very much, but
this disturbed me.
I got back to my town.
I sought out the Hindu priest and he
couldn't help me, but he gave me some
advice.
He said, just to satisfy your curious mind,
nothing else.
Go and talk to the missionary in the
mission house at the end of the road.
And that was faithful advice.
He said, because that day the missionary led
me to Christ.
I quit Hinduism immediately and then began to
study for the ministry.
I left the diplomatic service and here I
am by God's grace in charge of all
these missionaries and we are winning hundreds of
thousands of people to Christ.
Well, eight months later, that's crystal palace Baptist
pastor was ministering in Sydney, in Guymere, Southern
suburb of Sydney.
And he said to the Baptist minister, do
you know a little man, an elderly little
man who witnesses and hands out tracts on
George street?
And he said, I do.
His name is Mr. Gennore, G E N
O R, but I don't think he does
it anymore.
He's too frail and elderly.
The man said, I want to meet him.
Two nights later, they went around this little
apartment, knocked on the door and this tiny
frail little man opened the door.
He sat them down, made them some tea.
And he was so frail, he was slopping
tea into the sauce as he shook.
And as he sat with them, this London
preacher told him all these accounts over the
previous three years.
This little man sat with tears running down
his cheeks.
He said, my story goes like this.
He said, I was a rating on an
Australian warship and I lived a reprobate life.
And in a crisis, I really hit the
wall.
And one of my colleagues whom I gave
literal hell was there to help me.
He led me to Jesus and the change
in my life was night to day in
24 hours.
And I was so grateful to God.
I promised God that I would share Jesus
in a simple witness with at least 10
people a day.
As God gave me strength.
Sometimes I was ill.
I couldn't do it, but I made up
for it for other times.
I wasn't paranoid about it, but I have
done this for over 40 years.
And in my retirement years, the best place
was on George Street.
There were hundreds of people.
I got lots of rejections, but a lot
of people courteously took the tracks.
And he said in 40 years of doing
this, I've never heard of one single person
coming to Jesus until today.
You know, I would say that has to
be commitment.
That has to be just sheer gratitude and
love for Jesus to do that.
Not hearing of any results.
Margarita did a little count.
That's 146,100 people.
That simple little non-charismatic Baptist man influenced
somehow to Jesus.
And I believe what God was showing that
Baptist minister was the tip of the tip
of the tip of the tip of this
iceberg.
Goodness knows how many more had been arrested
for Christ and were doing huge jobs out
in the mission field.
Mr. Genoa died two weeks later.
And can you imagine the reward he went
home to in heaven?
I doubt if his face would ever have
appeared on Charisma magazine.
I doubt if there would ever been a
write-up with a photograph in Billy Graham's
Decision magazine as beautiful as those magazines are.
Nobody except a little group of Baptists in
Southern Sydney knew about Mr. Genoa, but I'll
tell you his name was famous in heaven.
Heaven knew Mr. Genoa.
And you can imagine the welcome and the
red carpet and the fanfare he went home
to when he arrived in glory.