Friday Night Notes
Friday, June 04, 2010
finally back!!!
It's been three weeks since I was last out preaching the Gospel, so you can well imagine, I was pretty rusty at first. It was good to get back into it... it just doesn't feel right anymore when I go long stretches with no or little evangelism. The Lord really helped me tonight: He helped me preach, He kept people away that would ordinarily have caused problems, and He brought a number of brothers and sisters who showed me much kindness.
There was a bit of ridicule and persecution, but considering the large crowds, I honestly thought it was going to be a lot worse. The Open-Air Campaigners (another group of evangelists) were out in full force tonight; they had Gospel presentations and were handing our tracts. Perhaps the high number of Christians labouring in the market tonight quieted our adversaries? I don't know. What I do know is that the Gospel was preached unhindered tonight.
Pastor Tim and I met two Middle-Eastern men tonight whom the Lord had saved out of Islam. We had a great conversation with them. Both of them said they planned on visiting our assembly in the near future (I hope they do, they were a real encouragement to us). They were both extremely impressed with our evangelism technique and the literature we were handing out. On several occasions, they asked us if they could help us in any way. It felt good to talk to souls that both understood what we were doing, and cared enough to want to contribute. The Lord bless these young men.
The closest I got to trouble tonight is when a couple of young men, with enough piercings in their faces that pin cushions were envious, walked up to me to make it clear they thought I was stupid. They should have stopped there, because, when they continued to speak their ignorance was made abundantly clear. "The Bible says that God's first living creation was man..." one of them said. Oh dear. Suffice it to say, when I answered their folly, they walked away in a far more quiet way than when they first came.
The dumbest statement of the night though went to an elderly man who, upon hearing me preach on being prepared to answer to God, said: "I believe in a merciful God." I reminded the man that the Bible spoke of both mercy and severity (Romans 11:22), but the man clearly couldn't have cared less about what the Bible taught. The Lord, indeed, have mercy upon him.
As we were leaving the market tonight, I noticed a drunkard, sitting on the ground begging for spare change pointing at us and mocking us at a distance. The following verse immediately came to mind:
"They that sit in the gate speak against me; and I was the song of the drunkards." (Psalm 69:12)
That's the notes for tonight, dear readers. Busy weekend ahead. Good night, and have a blessed Lord's Day.
Rand
Labels: Friday evangelism
11:59 PM
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Hi Rand
Good to see you back. I had nothing to read on Saturday mornings! You will not be rusty for long!
I had a good laugh with your words:
"with enough piercings in their faces that pin cushions were envious". I see more and more of them in Quebec City too.
Yesterday evening, I had a conversation with a couple. They were from Hawkesbury, Ontario. The man told me that he was a good friend of your father and that he often went fishing with him. His name is Piché.
May the Lord bless you, your wife and your children! Is not "Ab" supposed to have children as numerous as the sand of the see?