Friday Night Notes

good to be back...

It had a been a long time... but Pastor Tim and I finally made it out for open-air Gospel preaching tonight.  After weeks of super-cold weather, we got a break as it was just a little under freezing tonight.  A perfect night for winter street preaching.

There was a pretty steady flow of people walking the streets of the market, so there were no shortage of sinners to minister to.  There were a number of saints around tonight as we got a few words of encouragement from brothers and sisters who appreciated our efforts.  It's nice to be reminded that the Lord is still saving and sanctifying a people for Himself!

I gave out a fair number of Gospel Tracts tonight and had a couple of one-on-one conversations.  The first one was heart-warming, the other was sad.

First conversation: a young man comes up to me from behind, and studied my face carefully before saying: "It is you!"  I didn't recognize the man, for which I felt really bad.  He identified himself as Mike and said: "Years ago, I was really depressed and needed some serious counseling, and you spoke to me right here on this corner!  You even gave me your Bible!"  I still didn't remember the fellow but I was mighty glad to hear remembered me.  He told me he hadn't spent much time in the Bible I gave him, so I encouraged him to do so ASAP.  He told me that he really appreciated the help I gave him and would make it a point to come by and thank me every time he sees me downtown.  It was a really sweet moment.  The Lord be merciful to this gentle, yet lost soul.

Second conversation: a French-Canadian Romanist came by, claiming to be a Christian.  I asked which assembly he worshiped in, and he said "Marie Mediatrice" (Mary the Mediator).  Oh my...  I told the man that there was one mediator between man and God, and that's Jesus Christ, not Mary.  I told him he needed to repent of his Romanism and obey the Gospel, but he didn't have anytime for the Word of God.  He said that we could just agree to love each other and everything would be okay.  I said that that was the Second of the Greatest Commandments, and that he was ignoring the First.  He didn't have any time for that argument either.  He shook my hand, doing his best to keep things at "loving each other"... the Lord give him eyes to see and ears to hear!

With that, I'm off to bed.  Pastor Tim and I have very difficult work to deal with this weekend and I would appreciate the prayers of saints... for wisdom and the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

God bless you, and have a safe weekend...

Rand