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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, July 13, 2013
demented conversations...

Just me tonight.  Pastor Tim was away, Brother Rod was too busy... so the marketplace had to settle for one lone preacher.

The market was nowhere near as busy as I thought it would be.  Don't get me wrong, there were no shortage of sinners to preach the Gospel to, but not the dense crowds that usually roam the streets on a clear summer night.  Overall, I'd have to say that it's been a quiet year for the market so far.  With the exception of Canada Day, I haven't seen the kind of volume we usually see in the summertime.

Still, I shared the Gospel with several souls tonight.  I did some preaching, and handed Gospel literature on a busy street corner, Bible sign firmly in hand.  Many read the big John 3:16 sign I held, some took a Gospel tract, and a few spoke up and asked questions.

All in all, the conversations were difficult.  I spoke with some sort of social worker who took exception to our opposition (actually, it's the Bible's opposition) to homosexuality.  I did my best to explain that God saves homosexual, but she would have none of it.  As far as she was concerned, God either accepted homosexuals, or she had no time for Him.  I said: "goodnight."

I spoke for a long time to a romanist named Michel and a professing Christian named Mark.  Michel has very little biblical/theological knowledge, but it was clear he had some natural fear of God.  He believes the Bible is God's Word, so when I answered his questions with Scripture, he accepted what I said.  When Mark joined our conversation, things went off on a tangent as Mark decided to share with us much of his life story.  His story contained lots of incredible circumstances and amazing outcomes.  He claimed to have suffered greatly, sometimes because of sin, but mostly because of his good "Christian" character.  For well over 45 minutes, Michel and I listened to Mark's testimony.  I didn't believe much of Mark's testimony I'm afraid; I couldn't prove he was lying, so I listened without rejecting his claims, but too many parts of his story sounded fishy.  Michel on the other hand, bought all of it.

When Mark finally took a breath, I took charge of the conversation and warned Michel that he had heard much tonight by way of the Gospel.  Enough to get him seeking after God.  I encouraged him to read the Scriptures and come to church on the Lord's Day.  I doubt we'll be seeing him on the Lord's Day, but there's no doubt in my mind that he will be thinking about what I said tonight for so time to come.  Mark took a Gospel tract and told me he might visit our church on the Lord's Day, and in his case, I think it might just happen.  If it does, I'll have to talk to him about his "testimony".

I also dealt with a young man who has just started working in the restaurant across the street from our preaching spot.  The poor lad is hooked on drugs, is involved with the worse kind of people and is afflicted with a mental disability.  I encouraged him to seek God through the Bible, that it was able to make him wise unto salvation.  He agreed, and said he was quite pleased to have met me.  He took a Gospel tract but I don't think he'll be seeking God any time soon.  He just didn't seem earnest enough.  Still, who knows?

It was 11pm by the time I left the market, and I was pretty annoyed with myself.  I felt I wasted to much time with Mark, and also felt I had done him a disservice by not calling him out on his questionable account.  It's so difficult to make an accurate judgment on someone when you don't have all the facts; the last thing you want to do in such circumstances is insult the person with a false accusation.  I'm still annoyed...

With that, I'm turning in for the night.  Have a blessed weekend, dear readers.


Rand