by Pastor Jack Hyles (1926-2001)
I WON HIM UP A TREE
Recently I was out soul winning. I knocked on a door of a certain house and no one answered. Someone shouted in a male voice, "I'm up here.'" I looked around and couldn't see anyone.
"Up here," he shouted.
I looked up and sure enough the man of the house was up a tree. He had some kind of shears pruning the limbs of the tree and was out on a limb. I told him who I was and he said he would come down.
"Never mind," I replied, "I will come up where you are." So, the best I could, I climbed the tree, crawled out on a limb beside the one he was on, and began to talk with him. I finally asked him if he knew when he died he would go to Heaven. He said he didn't and I asked him if he would like to know. He said he would. I began to read the Scripture to him and suddenly I thought of Zacchaeus. I asked him if he ever heard of a fellow in the Bible who was saved up a tree. He said, "No," so I turned to Luke 19 and told him how Zacchaeus was saved up in the sycamore tree. He thought that was the funniest thing. I explained to him that as God saved Zacchaeus while he was up a tree, God would save him though he was out on a limb. I told him the plan of salvation, and we bowed our heads (I did not shut my eyes) as he prayed the sinner's prayer.
I thought, I have won folks to Christ in every conceivable place; on airplanes, in bus stations, in airports, in grocery stores, in drug stores, in barber shops, in shine parlors, in motel lobbies, but never had I won someone to Christ up a tree. Why not go "out on a limb" and go soul winning!
