Friday Night Notes

the misery of a fallen world...


Another Friday night, another night of street preaching in the downtown marketplace. There were some challenges to our preaching tonight, but the Lord helped us and by the end of the night, thousands of lost sinners heard something of the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord use our efforts as He sees fit, and may He be glorified.

I must admit that I felt pretty annoyed at how so many ignored or mocked us tonight, but almost all stood and enjoyed an ungodly spectacle just a few yards away from our preaching spot. That's right, no time for the Gospel of Jesus, but plenty of time to watch a group of teenagers play tribal style music on drums. Lord have mercy...

Despite the noise of that heathenism, pastor Tim and I pressed on with our preaching. Wasn't too long into our night of evangelism that a young man walked up to me and said:

"Hey! you remember me? I spoke to you last week."

It was the man who wanted to debate me on the so-called "gnostic epistles". I had a feeling that dealing with this young man was going to be a sad exercise and it totally was. The man had no time for the Faith that is from the Lord Jesus Christ, he just wanted to have an academic discussion on the evolution of world religions. I kept telling him that while religion has and is evolving (always for the worse), the Faith that is from the Lord doesn't change, for God doesn't change. I told him that the Bible was the Word of God, and that he needed to be born-again to understand that fact. The young man seemed puzzled by my words and I was very much prepared to explain everything to him, but the poor soul wanted no part of that. He thanked me for my time and left. The Lord work in his heart, and give him no rest in his unbelief.

Soon after, a drunk street beggar walked by me with a beer can in his hand and claimed that he and God were "tight". Oh dear...

I also spoke to three men who took an interest in the John 3:36 sign I was carrying. Two of the men were total mockers and scoffers, but one of them seemed to be affected by the words of that verse. I explained more fully what it meant to "have life," and what it meant to be under "the wrath of God," and to my surprise, the man agreed with what I was saying. I hope this will be the beginning of something good for the lost soul.

Moments later a young lady walked towards me and seeing my sign, professed to be a believer. She even said she was preparing to go to Bible college in the Fall. A quick scan of her appearance however, didn't exactly inspire me with much confidence in her profession of faith. She had facial piercings, she smoked, and she had just stepped out of a pub. I came close to just saying: "No!" I didn't because I just wasn't sure enough. In my own personal Christian experience, in the early days, I was in pretty bad shape, so I gave her the benefit of the doubt... but I sure wish I would have made my doubt known to her. Anyway, we spoke for a few minutes and then she took off to go buy a lunch for a street beggar who was sitting on a nearby street corner. I have no idea why she would do this, there are three missions within walking distance that feed and clothes these guys... perhaps she thought that that was the way to win them over to Christ?

Shortly after this conversation, pastor Tim and I made our way home. As we walked with our Bible signs on hand, one man said: "Good for you, I don't believe like you, but you guys sure have guts!" Another man, who worked the door of a night club mocked us by inviting us in his house of sin; this is the second week he's done this. Kind of reminds me of the following section of John Bunyan's The Pilgrim's Progress, when Christian and Faithful walk through the town of Vanity Fair:

"One trader mockingly said unto them, “What will you buy?” But they, looking gravely upon him, said, “We buy the truth.” At that the pilgrims were taunted and mocked and some even threatened to strike them."

After all this, pastor Tim and I prayed and thanked the Lord for carrying us through another Friday night, and then I made my way home.

That's the notes for this week. Time for some well-earned rest.

God bless you all, dear readers...


Rand

Labels: Friday evangelism