Claiming Bible knowledge is not salvation. I knew the bible for years before conversion.
We had a lesbian, who was not in a current relationship and more towards the male side if you know what I mean, start coming to our church...I allowed her to stay and our church welcomed her with open arms...Her not her SIN, but Her...not one of my folks ever judged her, told her she was living in SIN, scolded her or separated from her...they simply loved her with the Love of Christ.
I could tell the messages were working because I could tell she was being undone by the love of the God shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost.
Her salvation happened at a small connect group meeting in a home, led by, one of my very spiritually mature couples.
She asked they call me to come over as soon as she received Jesus.
She told me that for the 8 weeks she had been attending, she was consistently overwhelmed by a love she had never known.
I was unconditional and so deep that it made her undone. She wanted that love more and more.
She shared with us that night how as a child she had been beaten and sexually abused by men in her mothers life...by 13 she was homeless and working the streets as a prostitute and at 18 was taken in by the "mother" she never had, who got her into porn and taught her all about lesbian love and abuse. At 24 she was strung out on drugs and had been arrested for dealing and was on bail when she attempted suicide. 6 months after that attempt and with no hope, she wondered into our church and told us that she drove by the church for 20 minutes fighting God about going in. She finally said, fine I will go in, and if you are real God, the guy talking better have on a red and white striped shirt...and if says hey we are glad you are here, then I will know you real.
I was planning on wearing a blue shirt that night, but my wife had been worshiping God and praying before service and said, nope, wear the read and white striped shirt, so I did. I was in mid message when the door opened and she walked in and made her way to the front row. I stopped and said, hey, we are glad you are here! and continued.
That woman is 29 today , married with 2 kids, and with her husband runs a ministry that reaches out to teens engaged in porn production and prostitution.