Friday Night Notes

so much folly, so little Truth...


Another rainy Friday where I was certain our night of evangelism would be canceled, only to have it saved by the Lord's hand! It literally stopped raining at 7pm, the time when I usually make my way downtown to preach the Gospel alongside pastor Tim. So we went out for our customary three hours of street preaching, completely free from rainfall; and as I am writing this post, about an hour after our evangelistic effort, it is raining cats and dogs. I believe it is safe to assume that the Lord wanted his two "market preachers" out tonight.

The market was a relatively quiet place; no doubt many souls decided to stay in after all the rain that had fallen throughout the day. Still though, pastor Tim and I preached to hundreds of souls, we distributed a fair number of Bible tracts and had a number of one-on-one conversations with sinners. Not all the conversations were what I would call "profitable", actually many of them were so frustrating, it was difficult not to get aggravated with the people we were dealing with. Here are a few examples of conversations we had tonight:


"I just called... to say..."

This was a first for me. I thought I had done it all as far as street evangelism was concerned, but I stand corrected. A middle-aged couple stood across the street from where I was preaching from for a few minutes, they were listening to what I had to say, but it was clear that they both thought I was an idiot. The woman eventually pulled her cellphone out and dialed a number and gave the phone to her partner. The man walked towards me and handed me the cellphone and said mockingly:

"My son, from Calgary, needs to 'get saved', can you talk to him?"

Now I knew right away that all this was a setup to make a spectacle of the idiot preacher, but I didn't let pride get in the way... I did my duty... with zeal... LOL! I don't think any of these poor souls foresaw how all this was going to turn out. I took the cellphone and gave the lad on the other side of the country the Gospel message of his life! I answered intelligently all his foolish questions and contentions, and it quickly became clear to the man in front of me that his plans to humiliate the street preacher was seriously back-firing. At this point, the man wanted his cellphone back really bad. The moment I gave it back to him, he scooted off.

The Lord have mercy on this spiritually lost family.


The "I-agree-with-everything-you-say-but..." tree hugger:

You will not find a more quaky/crazy group of people than these "eco" types. The young fellow I dealt with tonight, shortly after my phone evangelism, was one of these, but with a twist. You see, for some strange reason, the young man tried real hard to find common ground between what I was preaching with his "granola", "eco", "peace-and-love" philosophy. I would tell him of his need to repent, and he would answer that everyone should repent of how we are trashing the planet. I would tell him that he needed to follow the teachings of the Bible, and he would rationalize the teachings of Scripture away with carnal and vain philosophy. For about 10 minutes we exchanged our views which were obviously contradictory, but the young man affirmed that we were on the same "mission" (kind of sounded like the professions of some Romanists on this blog).

"No," I told the young man, "you and I are not talking the same language my friend. You see, you're trying to make the world a better place through carnal means such as being sweet to your neighbour, picking up trash, and promoting some sort of benevolent socialism. That totally isn't what I'm about. I'm not trying to make this fallen world a better place... it will never be a good place... that is, not until the Lord Jesus Christ returns. Then, and only then will the Earth get cleaned up, men will live in peace with their neighbours, and the Lord will rule over all in righteousness. What I'm about tonight? I'm preaching the Gospel of Life so that God's sheep could be saved out of the ways of this evil and perverse world."

I could tell that this profession blew the young man's mind. I honestly think he made an attempt to understand what I was saying, but I doubt, as he left, that he really understood what I was saying. The Lord draw this young man to the Gospel tract I gave him. May He give him eyes to see and ears to hear.


"The homeless Christian"

A young man walked up to me, just as I was beginning my last half hour of preaching. He was carrying a large plastic bag. We spoke for a minute or two and in this exchange I found out that the young man knew something of the Scriptures (he knew a few Bible verses by heart), and the bag he was carrying contained pretty much all his belongings. When I asked him why he was carrying that bag around, he told me he was homeless, having been tossed out of the homeless mission. Right there I knew this soul had big problems; to be tossed out of the mission, one has to be pretty bad.

"Why are you homeless, my friend?" I politely asked.

"Because I'm being persecuted for my faith," the young man replied with a snippy attitude.

"Okay, but that doesn't really answer my question," I replied. "Let me ask you this instead: do you have a job, do you work?"

Well there, I touched a nerve. The young man just started walking away, grumbling angrily. I believe he called me a Pharisee and then quoted Matthew 6:24 supposing that this justified his jobless/homeless lifestyle. So I quoted 2 Thessalonians 3:10, but not surprisingly, the young man had no time for this verse.

Again, the Lord have mercy on this most miserable of souls. I don't know, ultimately what is keeping this soul on the streets. It could be substance abuse, it could be mental illness, it can even be his own pure folly. I hope the Lord will convict him of his sin and error, and grant him repentance.


In between these one-on-one conversations, we were often mocked and insulted by ungodly men and women, young and old, noble and lowly. Truly, we Gospel preachers are seen of the world, in general, as the scum of the Earth. It really is something to behold the actions and the words that are cast in our teeth. No matter, the Lord was glorified in the market tonight, and in His sight, we are precious. Praise His Holy Name.

God bless you all, my dear faithful readers. I'm going to rest now, and slowly prepare for the Lord's Day. Have a great weekend.


Rand

Ps: If you haven't done any evangelism this week... GO! Right now! Not later! Now! Go out and give out Bible literature. Go to your neighbours' homes and tell them of your faith. Go to the nearest busy street corner, or the nearest park and proclaim the Gospel. Put up a Bible verse in BIG BOLD letters on your front yard. Whatever! Just do something! The Great Commission wasn't given to a select group of Christians, it's for all believers. Mr. Genor gave out 10 tracts a day all his Christian life and the Lord blessed his ministry by saving countless souls WITHOUT HIM EVEN KNOWING IT!!! GO!!!

Labels: Friday evangelism