Friday Night Notes

back to work...

After missing several weeks, it was good (so to speak...) to be back street preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ in the marketplace of my city. It's incredible how rusty one can get at it if one takes too long of a break. I was fighting fear for the first half hour... cold sweats and everything! Finally, found my groove after a couple of hours of preaching.

Nothing much has changed in market in the last few weeks. I found it as I left it, filled with sinners with no interest in the Gospel and who are quite prepared to announce just how much they hate the Lord Jesus Christ. Before I even started preaching tonight, a woman saw me walk by with my John 3:36 sign and said:

"Argh! Enough with the whole Jesus stuff!"

I doubt the woman had been exposed to a whole lot of Gospel... I guess that means that any exposure to the Truth is too much for the wicked in my city.

There was no shortage of mockery, no shortage of scorn directed at pastor Tim and I. From the man who claimed that "there was no such thing as God", to the fool who yelled out "judge not lest ye be judged" upon hearing me quote John 3:16... it was another night in which that powers of darkness ruled in the marketplace, with all the evil and demented folly they produce. How frustrating it gets to watch the wicked speak amongst themselves, comforting one another in their wickedness and unbelief, after hearing the Word of God. Reminds me of the following Passage:

"Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD, and against his anointed, saying, 'Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us.'" (Psalm 2:1-3)

There were also some pretty sad conversations tonight. Both pastor Tim and I dealt with souls who had hit rock bottom, and despite knowing the Scriptures, are still lost and have no real desire to call out to the Lord. These souls really saddened me. To be in such a wretched condition, and know the Way, but nevertheless choosing to remain in wretchedness... it boggles the mind. When the Bible says that before conversion, men are spiritually dead, it's no joke. These souls were spiritually blind and dead! The Lord have mercy.

Despite all these hardships, we gave out lots of Bible tracts tonight; far more than our usual amount. I can even remember two souls who read the tracts upon receiving them. I'm always encouraged when people take a tract. One never knows if and when the Lord will you that literature.

There was also another interesting event as our night of evangelism wound down. A young man approached us and asked why we were carrying Bible signs. When we explained to him that we were just concluding a night of street preaching the Gospel, he asked:

"Do you do this often?"

"Every Friday night," I answered.

"How long have you been doing this?" he continued.

"20 years," Pastor Tim answered.

"10 years," I answered.

"Whoa! Hey! I'm a journalism student," the young man said, "I would like to write a story on you guys. Would that be okay?"

Not knowing anything about the young man, pastor Tim and I didn't really know what to answer. Pastor Tim gave the young man one of our church business cards and we asked him to contact us if he was sure he wanted to write something about us. I don't know if the young man was for real, or even if dealing with him would be a good idea. Something to pray about, I guess.

With that, I close this edition of the Friday Night Notes. It was much cooler tonight than the last time I was out street preaching. I guess it will soon be time to get the winter gear out... how time flies.

Have a blessed weekend, dear readers.


Rand

Labels: Friday evangelism