Friday Night Notes

messy night...


It was so warm this evening, that I opted to leave behind a vest I usually take with me for our night of evangelism. The market was teeming with life; thousands of sinners eating, drinking and being merry. The noise level was high and ungodliness abounded. As we made our way to our preaching spot, I marvelled at the desperate state of the people around me: unbelieving, lost and not caring.

We had just finished setting up our Bible signs, barely 2 minutes into our time of evangelism that two sodomites showed up, obviously scheming some mischief against us. Both Pastor Tim and I held our Bible signs tightly and waited to see what folly they would attempt on us. Turns out, they had stickers with foul language on them and they wanted to stick these abominations on our signs. Things were getting pretty tense when providentially, a police cruiser came driving by. We flagged him down, but the two sodomites rushed to the police officer, to state their complaints against us. We just let them have their time, being confident that the police officer was no fool. The police officer dealt with the sad souls for a good 15 minutes, and then directed them away from us. The officer, after speaking to Pastor Tim for a quick minute, came by and said:

"Everything's alright now, have a good night."

I thank the Lord for good police officers. They have been kind protectors more often than adversaries thus far. The Lord bless them.

I had good conversation with a man named William tonight. At first I thought he was a mocker, but then he started asking questions and claimed to be interested in the Gospel. We spoke for about 10 minutes. I explained his need to have a real relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ, and his need of the second birth. He listened and was quite agreeable. I encouraged him to read the Scriptures; that's when he showed me that he had the Scriptures on his iPhone. I hope the Lord will begin/continue a saving work in William.

I spoke to a panhandler who claimed to be a believer, and a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ. I had my doubts but I listened to what he had to say. He told me he appreciated our ministry and bid me farewell. A couple of hours later, after having seen him with a bottle of booze in his hand, and him angrily yelling at other panhandlers, the man came back to our preaching spot. I seized the opportunity:

"My friend, are you born-again?" I inquired.

"Of course I am," the panhandler replied. "I accepted Jesus Christ as my saviour."

"I have a lot of difficulty believing that my friend," I immediately replied. "The Bible says that a man can't serve two masters. Which means you can't serve the bottle and the Lord at the same time. You need the salvation of the Lord."

Well, at first, the man wasn't too happy with my assertions. Regardless, I kept my cool and reasoned with the man. By the end of our conversation, the man said he would pray about all we had talked about. I hope he does, and I hope the Lord will hear him. For his sakes.

The mockery and the insults were very grievous tonight. After an hour and a half, I was beginning to get pretty down at the general response to our evangelism. That's when a frigid wind blew through the marketplace, bringing with it some heavy rain. In less than 10 minutes, we went from a warm July evening, to a damp, cold night (complete with the occasional lightning bolt). At this point I was really, really annoyed I had left my vest behind.

Pastor Tim and I continued handing out tracts and preaching the Gospel for another hour, and then made out way home. As we left, a nearby street musician cursed at us and said:

"You shouldn't be coming over here preaching the Gospel when everyone just wants to get drunk!"

Crude... sad... and probably quite true.

Lord have mercy.


Rand

Labels: Friday evangelism