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Hold fast the form of sound words, which thou hast heard of me, in faith and love which is in Christ Jesus (2 Timothy 1:13)

Friday Night Notes

Saturday, February 26, 2011
judging... who's judging???


Just like last week, the weather seemed pretty friendly when Pastor Tim and I first went downtown for our customary night of evangelism, but things got downright nasty about an hour into our venture. A frigid north wind blew through town, bringing the temperature down to -17 Celsius. We nonetheless preached the Gospel to hundreds of souls walking the streets of the marketplace; some shopping, most going to bars and pubs.

When we first got to our usual preaching spot, Pastor Tim and I watched a street beggar panhandling for spare change. He claimed to need money to buy himself a warm meal; that was the story he told everyone that walked by him (drove me crazy to see him dupe some of the people). Moments later, a young lady brought the panhandler a warm meal from one of the market's restaurants; she walked away quickly thinking she had done a real good deed. She hadn't turned the corner and the panhandler took the food, walked across the street, got rid of the meal, and went back to his begging, using the same routine. We just shook our heads and stood amazed at the wickedness.

During my first half hour of preaching, a man named Gilles and his wife Denise, a French couple came by to speak to me. Gilles professed to be a believer, but he admitted he wasn't attending any local assemblies (and hadn't been for some time). He claimed that all the churches he had been to "judged others too much". He shared with me some of his theological/doctrinal views and it became quite clear that Gilles was a theological/doctrinal mess; no doubt, not having a church family to help him grow in the faith hurt his spiritual maturity. I tried to share some sound words with him, but I felt like I wasn't making much head way. I gave Gilles a tract and invited him to come to our Lord's Day meetings (I figured that would help him). He took the literature, thanked me and went on his way.

Just a couple of minutes later, Gilles drove by in his car and stopped in front of me. He rolled down his window and asked me what time we held our Lord's Day meetings at. I gave him the information and he took off. Please pray that Gilles and Denise will make it to church service this Lord's Day, that the may be blessed with some Christian fellowship and sound teaching.

About an hour later, as I was offering Bible tracts to anyone who walked by me, a young man approached me to thank me for my service. He said he really appreciated what I was doing for the cause of Christ and really wanted to encourage me to continue. Kind words are few and far between on the streets of the market for us preachers, so I have to tell you that this young man's encouragement was truly refreshing. I was really surprised to learn that this dear soul was actually attending a local Anglican church, and not a more fundamental church. I will pray that the Lord will get him out of that compromising church and move him into a more faithful house of worship.

The last one-on-one conversation I had was far less sweet. Another panhandler, this one had a guitar to attract donations, came by and ordered me to leave so that he could take my spot and make money. After sizing him up, I chose to stay put. He got really annoyed at me and asked me why I was being "a jerk" and wasn't letting him beg on my "prime real estate". I replied that I wasn't moving because he hadn't asked kindly. The man then said:

"You know what? You're right, man. I'm sorry, I've had a bad day. Could you please go hand out your literature somewhere else? I would like to make money right here."

I knew that it took a lot for the man to humble himself like that, so I moved a few yards away and let him have my spot. He thanked me as I moved away. I thought that my kindness would get me some favour in the man's eye, but there is an old French Canadian expression that sums up what actually happened: "Nourrit un cochon, il reviendra enmerder ton perron" (translation: feed a pig, and he will come back and poop on your porch). Not even two minutes after surrendering my spot (which gave me cover from the frigid wind), the man began to berate me with all manner of obscenity, claiming that I was a judgmental hypocrite. I was only able to silence him for a couple of seconds by asking him if he was judging me (the look on his face was priceless). The Lord have mercy on him.

That's all I have for tonight, dear readers. I will be preaching the evening service this Lord's Day, so I covet your prayers, dear saints.

God bless you all!


Rand

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Friday Night Notes

Saturday, February 19, 2011
good to have a sense of humour...


What a strange, and yet, kind of fun night of street preaching. When Pastor Tim and I got to our preaching spot in the marketplace, the temperature was well above freezing (a rare occurrence in early February in Canada). Crowds of people walked the streets, enjoying the milder weather; we had lots of souls to preach to. However, by the time we headed home 3 hours later, the temperature was well below freezing!

When our night of evangelism started, we were handing out lots of Bible tracts. In my first half-hour of preaching, I surely preached the Gospel to hundreds of souls. We had a few one-on-one conversations also: from souls who wanted to know what denomination we were part of, to those who were simply curious about the Gospel in general. There were a few unprofitable conversations, but the Lord was good to us, in that these wicked souls didn't waste too much of our time.

One of these unprofitable conversations was with a very drunk, very deranged Native panhandler. When he first showed up, he threatened me and ordered me to leave the marketplace. I refused and carried on with my evangelism. This annoyed the man somewhat and he did his best to get in my way, literally getting in my face, yelling all sorts of nonsense. That's when Pastor Tim showed up. The good preacher did his best to disarm the man with kind and diplomatic words, but the man didn't have much time to "make friends". Seeing that he was nonetheless outnumbered 2:1, the man eventually left us alone, cursing and blaspheming. The Lord have mercy.

I witnessed something pretty cool as Pastor Tim was preaching the Gospel across the street from where I was offering Bible tracts. In his preaching, Pastor Tim said something like: "the most important question you can ask yourselves in this life is 'what will happen to me when I die?' or 'where will I spend eternity?'" That statement obviously shook a man who was walking by me. It was clear from his facial expression, that those words resonated with him. The man had passed me and was a few yards away when he turned around, walked towards me and asked me for a tract. I was quite happy to hand him one!

Moments later, a woman walked by me and made it quite clear that she wanted a Bible tract. It was pretty funny, she said something like: "Oh dear! I have so much sin, I have to take whatever help I can get!" The woman did look like rebellion had done a substantial amount of damage in her life, but the good thing was that she realized that the messes she was in was due to her own sin. This is an important first step. Hopefully, she will read that tract tonight, and the Lord will cause her to take other steps towards faith in Christ.

Funniest moment of the night: while Pastor Tim and I were dealing with the rough Native man, a sudden gust of wind blew through the marketplace. It was so strong, it blew down our Bible signs. In minutes the temperature dropped below freezing and the wind brought in a snow storm! Shocked at what they were seeing out the window, two shop owners came out of their stores to witness this dramatic change in the weather. One of the merchants saw me handing out Bible tracts, pointed at me and said: "It's probably all his fault!" (the joke being that the "Bible-boy" had called down this nasty weather). About an hour later, the same merchant came out of his store to lock it up for the night. He had a look at me with a big smile; I think he wondered whether I was offended at his joke or not. To show that I indeed had a sense of humour, I said: "You know, when you were out last time, I thought of just heading home since clearly, Hell has frozen over!" (he laughed and laughed).

That's all I got for tonight, dear readers. I have a busy day tomorrow, so I'm off to bed now.

God bless you all, dear saints.


Rand

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12:51 AM
  • At 9:08 AM, Blogger Twinklemoose said…

    I love you!
    TM

     
  • At 2:34 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    That is sooooo sweet!!!! I appreciate your ministry and you both. A highlight of my life was meeting y'all in WPB a few years ago. I wish it was a longer time of fellowship.

    God bless you!

     
  • At 4:33 PM, Anonymous LarryHu said…

    Twinklemoose loves you, as well does the Lord.

    We prayed for you all. Thankful the Father hears and cares.

    May you continue in this LOVE and keep caring for those lost and undone without Christ.

     
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    Friday Night Notes

    Saturday, February 12, 2011
    Poor Pete...


    Another night of street evangelism in the books! Pastor Tim and I were at our usual post for three hours, preaching the Gospel and handing out Bible tracts to whomever would receive them (sadly, not many did). It wasn't overly cold (-10 Celsius), but cold enough that by the third hour, my toes were quite frozen. Spring can't come too soon!

    I was almost done my first 30 minutes of preaching when a police cruiser showed up and parked right across our preaching spot. I had a quick look at the officer in the car to see if he was setting his sights on me, and that's when I got a pleasant surprise: the officer was my old friend, Peter.

    Peter and I worked together at the Civic Hospital years and years ago, before he became a police officer. So, when he got out of the car, I called out to him and he recognized me right away. Just like old times, he thought I was nuts to be street preaching the Gospel on a street corner, but he wasn't ashamed to be seen with me (I give him full marks for that, I've seen professing Christians shy away from being anywhere near us evangelists). Last I heard of Peter, he had gotten married, had a couple of kids and a very promising future within the police force. The update I got from old Pete was somewhat less than rosy: his wife left him, his mother died last year, his father had a nervous breakdown, and one of his wife's new boyfriends filed a complaint against Peter, prompting a year-long investigation by his department (the case concluded that Peter was innocent of the charges set against him).

    I was dumbfounded. All I could muster was a "dear me, Peter!"

    I thought of offering him some admonishment from the Scriptures, but chose not to; Peter knows exactly what I'm about, and he and I had had a number of arguments in the past over the Bible. I figured if he wanted the Gospel, he'd ask. He didn't. I did give him a Bible tract and wrote my phone number on the cover. I told him to call me if he ever needed to talk. We shook hands and Peter was off.

    I spent a good part of the night thinking about my poor friend. The Bible says that "the way of the wicked is as darkness; they know not at what they stumble" (Proverbs 4:19). Now don't get me wrong, Peter isn't any worse a man than any other, but he definitely isn't converted, and he has little time for the Lord or the things of the Lord. So he's trying to make his way through life in darkness, with no Guide, no Light to show him the Way. Oh, that the Lord would show him saving mercy!

    After my time with Pete, I had a couple of short one-on-one conversations with sinners, as did Pastor Tim. Nothing much to report, the souls we spoke to were favorable to the Gospel but no evidence of repentance. The Lord use our words and the Gospel literature as He sees fit.

    Twice tonight a couple of transvestites walked by our preaching spot. The first time, I was preaching and they interrupted me with vile mockery. I ignored them and continued to preach. The second time they walked by, Pastor Tim was preaching and when they interrupted him, the fearless preacher looked at the "men" and said: "You two are perverts! Absolute perverts!" The sodomites didn't stick around to hear more, they walked away yelling obscenities. What folly!

    During our final stretch, a man came up to me and said: "Good job, buddy. Keep up the good work." He was probably a believer, but he didn't stick around long enough for me to get acquainted with him. Perhaps the Lord will have us meet again in the future.

    That's all for tonight, dear readers.

    Dear saints, remember my friend Peter in your prayers...

    God bless you all!


    Rand

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    Friday Night Notes

    Saturday, February 05, 2011
    Heaven is here???


    It's been a very difficult (and sometimes, frustrating) week, so I was really steeling myself for a nasty night of evangelism. When I got to Pastor Tim's house, more bad news: the good preacher wiped out at an ice rink this week and hurt his ribs. I was therefore going out preaching by myself. We prayed for a few minutes, asking the Lord to help me and guide me, and I am pleased to report that that prayer was answered affirmatively.

    All and all, it was a pretty smooth night of evangelism with little by way of opposition, mockery and persecution. Other than a deranged young man who claimed Heaven was on presently on Earth, those who weren't interested in the Gospel left me well alone. That was a refreshing change!

    The young man definitely had problems... if you know what I mean. He frequently pointed out cliches and slogans which he had written on a binder and claimed that he had made all these wonderful things happen and that's why Heaven was now on Earth. For example, one of his slogans: "Drug Free, You're Free!" Now that he had written it, and claimed it for himself, he was going to usher in a heavenly state. Done deal! Oh dear... I kept my answers to the man short and sweet, all the while praying that the Lord would deliver me from this unstable soul who on two different occasions, tried to take my Bible sign away. After about 10 minutes, the young man grew tired of me, and walked away. Praise God.

    I spent a good hour at the entrance of a downtown mall, Bible sign in hand and handing out Bible tracts. Hundreds if not thousands of souls read my Romans 6:23 sign and a few stopped by to take a tract. The Lord use His Word to save, or to harden, as He sees fit.

    I spoke to a drug addict about the Bible power to change lives. I told him that the Lord, through the Scriptures, has and does save men and women from all manner of sin. The poor soul didn't buy it. He claimed that all religions were the ultimately the same and that God was "a force" rather than a person. He also confessed that he loved drugs and had no desire whatsoever to give it up. The Lord be merciful unto him...

    That's all I have for tonight. Like I already mentioned, it's been quite a week. I'm going to get some rest now. Remember Pastor Tim and I in your prayers, dear saints.

    Also, remember Larry Hu (an occasional commenter on this blog) this weekend. He will be doing some evangelism in the general vicinity of the Super Bowl this weekend, if I understood his e-mail correctly. That's quite the ministry!

    God bless you all!


    Rand

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    2:23 AM
  • At 10:55 PM, Anonymous Larry Hu said…

    Dearest Brother Rand & faithful saints, I deeply thank God for your prayers!
    The Lord answered faithfully with favor from God & man as we were enabled to Proclaim Truth outside Super Bowl 2011.

     
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