Friday Night Notes

let it snow...


Not as chilly as last week, but it did snow during our street preaching effort. Pastor Tim and I were both at our posts in the marketplace of our city, preaching the Gospel of Jesus, giving out Bible literature and holding up Bible signs. Like last week, the market wasn't terribly busy, but there was a rather steady flow of people walking the streets; enough to provide us with a constant audience. The Lord use our effort to both save and harden, as He sees fit.

I left work late tonight (high performance liquid chromatograph wouldn't behave... pardon the geek-speak). When I got to pastor Tim's house, he was already dressed up and on his way downtown. So I dropped off my work gear, grabbed a Bible sign and a stack of Bible tracts, and followed. We evangelized the market for a good three hours; we both handed out a fair number of tracts and had a few conversations with sinners.

I had a short conversation with Justin, a guitar-playing panhandler. He's a regular on Friday nights. When I got close to the area where he played the guitar (if you want to call it that... he's absolutely awful...), Justin begged me not to preach the Gospel near him, since he was trying to "earn some cash". I told him that I would show him more respect than he showed me a few weeks ago (he had set up right across the street from where I was preaching the Gospel, and started his awful hollering). He feigned ignorance, but I could see right through his act. I hope that this conversation will move Justin to be a tad more respectful toward us in the future.

A short time later, I walked by the doorman of one of the most wicked dance clubs in the market. The man read my Bible sign (John 3:16) and said he agreed with the statement. He also said he went to church every Sunday. Oh my...

"Fat good it's doing you!" I replied.

"What?" the man replied. "So what then... what am I suppose to do to be right then?"

"You have to practice and follow the Word of God, my friend," I said.

"So like, I have to follow the 10 commandments and stuff? I do that," the man said.

(I couldn't help but think of the rich young ruler at this point...)

"So, you're telling me you are following God's commandments but you are a doorman to a house of drunkenness and sin!" I replied.

The man protested, justifying his employment as a way to earn "a little extra cash". I told him there were plenty of other jobs he could be doing, and knowing full well that I was right, he quickly said: "Well, goodnight!" How accurate the Lord's statement: one cannot serve God and mammon (Matthew 6:24).

After a few rounds of open-air preaching, I made my way back home. On the bus, I left a Bible tract on the seat right behind me and was quite pleased to see a man pick it up. He studied it carefully and I think he stuck it in his pocket. Praise God!

That's all I got for tonight. It's real late now, and I need to get some rest... been quite a week.

God bless you all, dear readers.


Rand

Labels: Friday evangelism