New Arrival

'case you were wondering...

This is why I haven't been going out street preaching for the last few weeks! My wife was actually 13 days overdue. A few cases of false labour... a lung infection... and an induction later... we have a healthy, 8 lbs 15 oz baby boy.

Mother is doing well, and Dad... well... Dad is happy.

Very happy.


Rand

Ps: Isn't he handsome?!?

Labels: Personal

No Notes

still waiting...

For a second week in a row, there will be no Friday Night Notes, since I was again, unable to go street preaching tonight.

My wife is now past her due date, and there are already a few complications; nothing too serious, but my presence is required at home for probably the next few weeks.

I'll keep you all posted, dear readers.

Rand

No Notes

who gets sick in August???

There are no Friday Night Notes tonight since I have a terrible cough (and I mean TERRIBLE), and pastor Tim is away at a revival conference in Pennsylvania.

Keep an eye on this blog for the next few days... Lord willing, there will be some exciting news soon!

Later,

Rand

Friday Night Notes

seriously... no rain...

This was the first Friday night of evangelism in some time now where there was no trace of rain. That was nice. Only problem (weather wise) was that it was unusually cold tonight; by 10pm, I was starting to shiver.

While we did have a number of conversations with sinners tonight, I'm afraid that the weather wasn't the only thing that was cold in the marketplace; hearts were frozen cold to the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. There was a fair bit of mockery and scorn, but I thank the Lord that none of it turned to violence or even, the threat of violence.

One of the saddest moments for me in tonight's evangelistic endeavour was when a man stopped by my John 3:36 and read it out loud, in a mocking tone of course, and dozens of people gathered round to get in a good laugh at my expense. It's not that they hurt my feelings, or that I felt humiliated in any way... rather, I saw the whole event as such a powerfully sad commentary on the spiritual, moral and ethical state of my city. In short, I live amongst an ungodly, sin-hardened, and ill-mannered people. Lord, have mercy!

Pastor Tim had a long conversation with a group of Muslims, but he said he didn't get to far with them. He tried to explain to them that without a sacrifice for sin, their hope of peace with God is dead; a sacrifice that Islam doesn't have. The old "well God will forgive if the person is really, really sorry". Imagine using that one in an earthly court of law...

"I know I stole from the store, your honour, but I'm really sorry about it, so case dismissed, right?"

I had a long enough conversation with a liberal "Christian". He asked me why I was preaching the Gospel and shared with me that it would seem more logical to him for me to be doing that kind of work in some "Third-World country". In my mind I said: "What!?!?" Out loud however, I said:

"Dear sir, I don't think most so-called Third-World countries need evangelists as much as this country does. The way things are going, Canada is going to need some African evangelists and missionaries!"

It became clear, very very quickly that the man had no time for Bible doctrine and teaching. To him, the Bible was a book made by ancient man, for ancient man. When I made it clear I disagreed, we shook hands and he left. The Lord open his eyes to the Truth, God's Word is Truth.

Moments later, as I was handing out Bible tracts, a man rejected my offer and claimed he didn't worry about sin, because he was a Jew. Again, in my mind I said: "What!?!?" Out loud, I said:

"Okay, my Jewish friend, what is tonight?"

"Ah... it's sabbath..." he answered slowly.

"What are you doing in the market after sundown?" I continued.

The man wouldn't answer since, very obviously, I had exposed his hypocrisy. Walking away with an uncomfortable smile on his face, I added:

"They say that a Jew isn't necessarily one by flesh, but rather, one that is a Jew in heart."

Had the man stuck around for an extra minute, I would have shared with him the words of the Lord Jesus Christ:

"Bring forth therefore fruits worthy of repentance, and begin not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father: for I say unto you, That God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham." (Luke 3:8)

Minutes after that encounter, I had a good conversation with a photographer who made it clear he didn't have much time for my faith, but that he admired "my guts". He did request a Bible tract, though, so I'm hoping that the Holy Spirit was working in his heart. I guess time will tell.

Pastor Tim and I finished off the evening of street preaching, having distributed a fair number of tracts and having shared the Gospel of Jesus to hundreds, if not thousands of souls. The Lord use our efforts as he sees fit.


Good night, dear readers. Have a safe and holy weekend.

Dear saints of God, have a glorious, restful Lord's Day.


Rand

Labels: Friday evangelism

Friday Night Notes

rain... rain... go away...


It was another shortened night of street evangelism. A mountain of work kept me in the lab 'till 8:30pm, so by the time I made it to the market, it was near 9pm. Add to this another freak, heavy rainfall (there's been a high number of those this summer), and I probably only put in an hour and a half of actual evangelism.

Despite having our customary night of evangelism cut in half, we presented the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ to hundreds of souls. Both pastor Tim and I handed out a good number of Bible tracts, we both had a number of one-on-one conversations with sinners, and countless souls read our Bible signs. Pastor Tim was really pumped-up tonight too. We just finished a week of revival meetings at our home church, and they were a real blessing to him (they were a blessing to me as well, but I had to work all week, so I have to admit that my batteries were quite low by 9 o'clock tonight).

Moments after we started our night of street preaching, Pastor Tim was approached by a man who wanted to know more about creationism (he suggested the man check out http://www.icr.org/). While the two men discussed the Truth of Creationism, I spent some time teaching the doctrine of the Trinity to three Muslims. One of the Muslims seemed quite interested in what I had to say, but another kept cutting me off, doing his best to belittle the teachings of the Bible. The Lord use what I was said as He sees fit.

A little while after this, a man noticed the John 3:36 sign I was holding from across the street. He walked over to my side of the street to comment on my sign, and if memory serves, this is more or less how the conversation went:

"So, what you're saying is that if I don't believe in the Son, then I'm going to Hell?" the man asked pointedly.

"Well, I'm not saying anything, you read what God said, my friend," I replied.

"That's pretty intense for a Friday night, don't you think?" the man continued. "I mean people here are just out to have a good time, and they don't want to be told they are going to Hell just because they don't believe what you believe."

"The Word of God is quite intense, there you quite right," I said. "So intense were the words of Jesus, that wicked men murdered him in order to silence him."

The man then walked away, not wanting to hear anything more from me. The Lord have mercy on him.

Sadly, our night of evangelism wasn't all civil conversations and tract distribution; there was plenty of mockery and scorn. One man slapped one of my tracts from my hand. There were plenty of vile blasphemies against God and I couldn't keep track of the number of times I heard people taking the Lord's Name in vain. I sincerely doubt any of these mockers/blasphemers knew anything about Matthew 12:36-37:

"But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment. For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned."

The Lord have mercy on whom He will have mercy, and harden whom he will harden.


Rand

Labels: Friday evangelism