Friday Night Notes

soldiered through this one...


"And he (king Josiah) brake down the houses of the sodomites, that were by the house of the LORD, where the women wove hangings for the grove." (2 Kings 23:7)

That's the Scripture that came to my mind when I saw the door of the restaurant which is right in front of our preaching spot. You'll notice in the picture I took that there is a sticker of the "homosexual flag", or "rainbow flag". The souls that work in that restaurant have seen and heard our preaching for years now... decades even. Our testimony has been as constant as the Temple was in Old Testament Israel. Yet, you see that human depravity has remained constant over the last 3000 years. How sad... how terribly sad.

It was a difficult night of preaching for me in particular tonight. It's not that the crowds were particularly vile towards me, nor do I have any serious persecution to report. The problem was with my health. The same illness that had plagued me last summer struck again hard this week, making this evangelistic effort physically challenging to say the least. I prayed that the Lord would give me wisdom as to whether I should go out preaching tonight, and when I got the answer, I prayed that He would help me and sustain me, and I am glad to report, He totally did!

The marketplace was quite busy tonight. The warmer weather is well on its way and more and more people are going out to the many restaurants, pubs and bars in the market. It's somewhat heartbreaking to see so many lost souls pursuing sin and vanity, but at the same time, it's good to have the opportunity to preach the Gospel to such vast crowds.

Here are some of the more memorable events of our night of street preaching:


1- My First "One-Word-Answer":

A woman walked up to me as I was offering tracts to those who walked by me. She read my Romans 6:23 Bible sign and then offered the following advice:

"You need to give out your message, which is a good message, in a way that is the least offensive possible."

"No," I replied.


2- A Seeker... Perhaps...

A young woman took one of my Bible tracts and started reading it in front of me. I let her read the material uninterrupted when she looked up to me and said:

"Don't you have anything to say to me?"

"What did you learn from reading my Bible sign and reading that tract you just took?" I asked.

Seeing her hesitation I continued:

"What you have in these is the basic message of the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. You have sinned, and your sin separates you from God. You need to be born-again. You need to repent of your sins and come to God by faith."

I briefly explained to her what the second birth was all about and told her that what God uses to effect the Second Birth is the Scriptures. I encouraged her to read and study the Bible. She thanked me for my time and went on her way. The Lord be merciful to her.


3- My Second "One-Word-Answer":

A young man walked up to me (got a little too close for my comfort), and said:

"What I want you to do is ask yourself... really... do you really think that this is God's will for your life?"

"Yes," I answered.


4- We're Stars!

Students from an evening photography class were our in force in the market, taking shots of everything and anything interesting. Both pastor Tim and I were asked by some of these students if we would mind having our pictures taken, so we played along. The way we see it, these pictures will have the Scriptures in them, and will be shared among many unbelievers. The Lord use those pictures as he sees fit.

One of the students might send the pictures to us by e-mail. If he does, I'll post them.


There were plenty of other highlights and lowlights in our night of evangelism, but I'm too tired to continue right now; my illness has really taken its toll. Please continue to pray for me, dear saints of God, for both spiritual and physical strength. I've been asked to preach the Lord's Day evening service... please pray for me.

God bless you all, dear readers. Have a good weekend, and a glorious Lord's Day.


Rand

Labels: Friday evangelism

Friday Night Notes

pretty grim...


Honestly, I don't know if this is a good thing, but I feel remarkably alright. You see, up until very recently, when I came back home from a tough night of Gospel preaching like the one tonight, it would take me a day or so to get over the heartache of it. Just watching so many souls hate and curse the very concept of God... the hard speech... the foolish mockery, and the just plain folly of ungodly living... it would trouble and depress me. Tonight, however, I'm somehow able to just put it all to rest. I don't know if this is a fluke, or if I'm somehow getting hardened to the constant hardships involved in spiritual warfare. I should pray about this.

It was a strange night of street evangelism...

Some hated us silently, some with bitter and vile words.

I stood amazed at the sheer number of people who silently cursed when they got a glimpse of our Bible signs or heard something of our preaching. Most of these would, amongst their curses, take the name of the Lord in vain. Amazing. It never ceases to amaze me just how much the people of my city hate the Gospel, and/or anything that has to do with God.

As far as the more vocal cursings and mockeries pastor Tim and I endured tonight, I'll spare you the details, dear readers.

Some showed us mercy, others, empathy.

There were a few bright spots in what was otherwise, a pretty grim night of street preaching. There was a waitress who had come out of one of one of the restaurants near our preaching spot to have a cigarette. After listening to our preaching for a couple of minutes, she offered to get us some coffee/tea to help us keep warm. The Lord show her mercy for her kindness as He had shown the Shunammite woman mercy (2 Kings 4:8-37).

A few other souls came by to show us some sympathy, recognizing that our work was difficult, and righteous. A group of young men who had definitely been in church at some point in their past thanked me for my faithfulness. All and all, I don't think they wanted any part of the Gospel, but somehow they both realized the truth of it, and that my preaching of it was, at the very least, admirable.

Some who were hopelessly lost, came with scornful mockery.

A young Muslim woman walked up to me and said she wanted to know what my preaching was all about. When I explained that I was preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ she stiffened her neck and claimed that she was part of the fastest growing religion in the world, and that somehow signified that her religion was the way to go. Oh dear. To be fair to this Muslim, I've met lots of Romanists that have made similar statements. Again... oh dear....

Moments later I met a man who asked me if what the Bible had to say about artificial intelligence. To this very moment, I have no idea if the man was just mocking me, or if he was actually asking me this question. Artificial intelligence... I would have settled with just plain intelligence.

A lost soul came seeking.

A man named James came by to speak to me when I was preaching the Gospel. He claimed to be a born-again Christian but he admitted that he was struggling with substance abuse and wasn't part of any local church.

"Dear friend," I said, "if you are a born-again Christian, then you have been free from the bondage of sin. If sin still rules in your life, then you really have to examine whether you were ever truly converted."

I then told James to zealously seek God in His word, and to meditate on God's Word day and night; it is, after all, "the incorruptible seed of the new birth." I then encouraged him to find a local church and to seek Christian fellowship and discipleship. I invited him to our meetings on the Lord's Day, and he thanked me profusely for my words and my invitation. He said he would surely come to worship with us. I hope he does.


And now, a tired preacher will be heading for bed. That's the notes for this week, dear readers. It was a difficult night of preaching, but the Lord was glorified, and that's all that matters. Praise, glory, honour, power and majesty by to His Holy Name, now and forever, Amen.

Remember to pray for us, dear saints of God.

God bless you all,


Rand

Labels: Friday evangelism

No Notes

sniff... sniff...

I caught a nasty cold.

'Nuff said...


Rand

Friday Night Notes

apostasy on a grand scale...


After a number of relatively quiet nights of street preaching, the crowds were back tonight; large numbers of young people taking advantage of the mild weather to chase after all manner of sinful conversation. While it was good to have such a large audience to present the Gospel to, the "mass-wickedness" in the marketplace tonight was quite overwhelming.

"They be a whole lot of souls in Hell," pastor Tim at one point remarked.

The blasphemy and the cursing was especially grievous tonight. Blasphemy and cursing directed at us to mock and scorn, and then there was the unclean speech of the wicked which seemed totally natural and common to them. I'm thinking of wearing ear plugs for the rest of the weekend... I just can't bear to hear one more foul word.

Somewhere in the middle of this messy night, I managed to have a somewhat coherent conversation with a man who had literally hit bottom... and I mean BOTTOM. There isn't a sin this man wasn't a slave to, and all these vices were each taking their toll. Despite all the evidence to the contrary, the man still claimed that while he was "having a hard time of late", he was still a "good person" and "God was still with him". I told him that he was lost and needed to be born-again. He downplayed my conclusion, while agreeing that he needed to get his act together. As we continued to talk for awhile, I thought to myself: "If this man were to get serious and start seeking the Lord, what a long, hard road lies before him!" To my carnal eyes, this sort of turn-around would hardly be possible, but I know full well that with God all things are possible (Matthew 19:26). The Lord show René much mercy.

Pastor Tim had a short, but lively discussion with a Muslim woman who had cursed at me minutes before. I wasn't close enough to overhear their discussion, but I don't think she was too impressed with the answers she was getting out of the old preacher. The Lord save this young lady from the false religion of Islam.

Both pastor Tim and I handed out a good number of Bible tracts tonight. When I factor this with the countless souls who heard something of our street preaching, I am comforted. The fact is, we shared the Gospel with thousands of souls, and the Lord, in His time, can work great things in some of the souls we communicated with. The Lord be glorified by our efforts, and His great, sovereign, perfect will be done.

Good night dear readers. Have a good weekend, and a glorious Lord's Day.


Rand

Labels: Friday evangelism