Friday Night Notes

hearts harder than the frozen ground...

It had been a long time. I was out street preaching last week, but mass evangelism on a Saturday afternoon in the marketplace is NOTHING compared to the Friday night experience; and I hadn't been out on a Friday night for a least a month. Mockery, insults and even some violence... all of it was present tonight.

That being said, the intensity of the adversity was quite manageable due to the small crowd that was out and about tonight. The unbelieving were probably still recovering from their Christmas binge. Still though, we definitely shared the Gospel with hundreds of people tonight.

Here are some of tonight's highlights:


(1) Three African-American men stopped by and read my John 3:16 sign, and nodded their heads in agreement. So I asked:

"Are you fellows Christians?"

"Oh yes... yes," they replied.

Now that's the answer I expected, but wanting to be certain, I asked more precisely:

"Are you gentlemen born-again?"

"Uh... no... we don't think so..." they replied.

"Okay guys," I calmly began, "Jesus said, in the Bible, that if a man isn't born-again, he isn't going to Heaven. So this is kind of important right?"

"Perhaps, we need to be taught of you," one of the men suggested.

"You don't need me, my friend," I replied. "Just read your Bible! It's that simple."

I gave them all a Bible tract and invited them to church on the Lord's Day. I hope and pray they'll show up.


(2) Poor brother Laz. Was he ever insulted by this foolish woman, but to his credit, he took it like a child of God. He was reviled, but he reviled not again.

"You know what you need?" the woman said in an extremely patronizing voice, "you need to read books, and get educated."

You know us Christians, we sure are a dumb bunch!


(3) On our way back home tonight, we walked by a dance club with our Gospel signs. We were going to just walk by without a fuss, but then what does my pastor hear from a young man standing in line to go in the dance club?

"Amen."

"What???" my pastor exclaimed.

Unable to let that one pass, my pastor turned around, walked up to the young man and inquired:

"Did you just say 'amen'?"

"Yes," the young man answered.

"You say 'amen' to the Gospel in line to this hell hole?" he continued.

"I don't come here to drink," the young man protested, "I just come to be with my friends and listen to the music."

"That hellish music??? Oh my..." my pastor replied exasperated.

We all just walked away, saddened at the fact that this poor young man, though he most definitely thought himself to be a Christian, was clearly serving the devil. Let us pray that the Lord will give him no rest tonight, 'till he realize that he cannot serve to masters.


And that's all the notes for tonight. Time for some sleep. Remember me in your prayers, dear saints, as I will be preaching the Lord's Day morning service this Sunday (a rare occurrence). Have a blessed weekend, especially the Lord's Day.


Rand

Labels: Friday evangelism