Friday Night Notes

a much busier night...

Last week I couldn't hand out a Bible track to save my life! This week I was handing them out steady from 7:30pm to 10:30pm. I think I gave out 3-4 tracts last week; I probably handed out 10-12 times that amount in the first half of our street preaching endeavour. It's hard to figure... just how different things can be from one week to the next.

Pastor Tim was still recuperating from the lung infection that had stricken him a couple of weeks ago, so preaching duties were handled by "Your's Truly" for another week. Pastor Tim did come out with me, but limited his activities to Gospel tract distribution, and speaking with any soul willing to hear something of the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.

I preached the Gospel for at least 2/3 of the total time we spent evangelizing. It was quite a task. I don't know if any of you have tried to preaching for that long... it's quite wearying. I had a few souls come with questions. Like the two young men who wanted to know how I defined "faith" (a word that comes up often in my preaching). I gave the young men the Biblical definition of faith, as written in Hebrews 11:1: "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things unseen." Then I explained how the faith of Jesus Christ was a gift from God and should they receive it, this faith would radically change their lives. I encouraged the men to read the Bible, that it was able to make them wise unto salvation.

A few scorners and mockers put in their usual jabs. One man claiming that God was "dead" (to which I answered: "We'll see about that..."), and a woman later pridefully asserted that she didn't, nor would ever believe the Scriptures (to which I answered: "Oh... I guarantee you... you will... one day, you will). Despite this folly, I thanked and continue to thank the Lord my God that for a number of weeks/months now, no one has threatened us with any violence, nor has anyone aggressively tried to obstruct our preaching. I'm not being melodramatic, pastor Tim and I have, on a number of occasions, have found ourselves in some pretty nasty situations.

When 9:30pm rolled around, pastor Tim and I were certain that the streets of the market would empty out. That was the start time for the Olympic hockey matchup between Team Canada and Team Slovakia; yes, hockey is a really big deal in the Great White North. While there were more people in bars and pubs to watch the game than on the streets, we were pleasantly surprised to find that there were plenty of souls still around that we could share the Gospel with. So we kept going for another hour. Ever so often, we'd here the people in the pubs cheer, so we knew Team Canada was fairing rather well (they ended up winning 3-2).

Before calling it a night, I had a chance to preach and offer tracts to men that work in the same building I work in. I don't know the men very well, but no doubt, they knew who I was. They did their best to ignore my preaching and turned down my offer of Gospel tracts. As they walked away, I could see them mumbling and gossiping amongst themselves. The Lord have mercy on them.

With that, dear readers, I close this edition of the Friday Night Notes. I need some sleep. I will preaching the evening service this coming Lord's Day, so please pray for me, dear saints of God.

Have a blessed weekend everyone,


Rand

Labels: Friday evangelism

Friday Night Notes

that was a whole lot of preaching...


It was a mild night, weather wise, in the marketplace tonight. That's a good thing. Another good thing is that I got my partner in street preaching back... well... sort of. Pastor Tim was back with me tonight but his virus/infection kept him from preaching, so I got all the preaching duty and he gave out Gospel tracts. The Lord rewarded his zeal to return to the evangelistic endeavour: he gave out an insane number of tracts!

Tract distribution most certainly wasn't my forte tonight. In the first two hours (TWO HOURS!!!), I probably only gave out 2 tracts. However, the Lord helped me preach for long stretches and that, with minimum disruption. I did get a lit cigarette thrown at me, had obscenities yelled at me a number of times, and one man threatened to destroy one of our Bible signs; but all that is par for the course when your a Gospel street preacher. Like I often say to my wife:

"How in the world did I get into this business?" (heh heh!)

Twice tonight I was given the chance to preach to large groups of young people. It's always interesting to see how different people behave in a group. In both cases, 80-90% of the people mocked, and insulted me; but there was a 10-20% who very obviously were grieved at how their peers treated me and my faith. I often pray that the Lord would use such moments to open the eyes of these few souls.

"Enter ye in at the straight gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and MANY there be which go in thereat: because straight is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and FEW there be that find it." (Matthew 7:13-14, emphasis mine)

Our third hour of evangelism was by far the best. I finally started handing out tracts in good number, I had a couple of one-on-one conversations with sinners (no signs of repentance to report I'm afraid), pastor Tim had a nice conversation with an off-duty police officer who professed faith in Christ, and a high number of people stopped and read our Bible signs. I hope and pray that the Lord will use all this to save some of our audience tonight. May He be glorified by our efforts.

On our way home, twice we had cars drive by and the occupants yelled out obscenities at us. I thought that was quite remarkable since pastor Tim's house is just a couple of blocks away from the market. Anyway, I decided to have a little fun with the situations. On both occasions, when the f-bombs were hurled at us, I turned to pastor Tim and said:

"I think they were talking to you."

-------

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


Rand

Labels: Friday evangelism

Friday Night Notes

flying solo...

A very quiet night of street evangelism tonight. I don't know if the Olympic Opening Ceremonies kept people glued to their television sets, but by 9pm, the streets were mostly empty. Good thing I showed up with my Bible sign early: I was able to preach to the dinner time crowd. Had I showed up at the usual 8pm, it would have been a truly lonely night.

Pastor Tim was unable to make it out tonight, being struck with a nasty cold. So I held the fort (aka preaching spot) for about three hours in the marketplace tonight, proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus Christ and handing out Gospel tracts. Not much by way of response, I'm afraid. A few souls cursed at me, others mocked me, but the overwhelming majority just sighed and rolled their eyes at me.

I did have a short conversation with an off-duty police officer. Nothing too elaborate, he just wanted to know what I was up to and gladly took a tract. Also had a few words with a street beggar pastor Tim has befriended. Again, nothing much was said, but I hope the words I did share with this lost soul would be used of the Holy Spirit to bring him life and light. Other than that, not too much to report. I did answer a fool who mockingly yelled "praise God!" from across the street...

"If wish you truly did, my friend... I wish you truly did."

My answer seemed to shame the man and his entourage which accelerated its pace to get away from me as quickly as possible. The Lord have mercy on the overwhelming majority of my fellow Canadians who know nothing of giving God the glory due to His name (Psalm 29:2), who instead curse and revile Him at every opportunity. Oh, what misery!

The Lord use my efforts as He sees fit tonight, and may He be glorified and magnified in me, now and forever.

The Lord bless you dear readers, and give you a safe and quiet weekend.


Rand

Labels: Friday evangelism

Friday Night Notes

urgent need for prayer and fasting...


Just prior to going out for my customary night of street evangelism, I watched a short video on YouTube in which Paul Washer speaks on fasting, weeping and preaching the Word of God. What a blessing brother Paul's teachings have been to me! In the video, the good preacher states: "... the judgment of God is not going to fall, it has fallen! And we need, and all of our fellow humanity must realize our dire need that we are in. But again, that come back to preaching, and the informing of the people. The Law of God must be rediscovered in the Temple!" I can verify brother Paul's assessment that God's judgment has indeed fallen on the land. Oh, it's not famine, war or plagues. It's worse. It's a complete void of the knowledge and fear of God.

I must admit that having the words of Paul Washer fresh in my mind, I was under severe conviction. When I looked upon the faces of those I attempted to minister to, I realized that I had never seriously prayed for my fellow man. Never seriously fasted. Never seriously wept. One can get so hardened, so used to the misery of an extreme sin-culture, that all urgency to call out to God for His salvation has been dulled down. The reality is: things aren't getting bad. Things are bad. Extremely bad. Now is the time for prayer, fasting, and yes, serious weeping. The Holy Spirit save me from my carnal callousness.

There were a lot of souls to preach to tonight due to the start of Winterlude, an annual winter festival in my city. Despite the larger crowds pastor Tim and I gave out very few tracts and only had a couple of one-on-one conversations. The only conversations I had were with a kind saint who thanked me for my efforts, and the other was with an old wicked soul I have dealt with on several occasions in the past (he mocks me with all manner of blasphemies and mockeries, but he usually has a friend with him who genuinely listens to me).

We lost about 45 minutes of preaching time during our three hours of evangelism due to very loud fireworks, which was part of the Winterlude festivities. The bangs were so loud, car alarms actually went off all over the place in the market. Preaching was essentially impossible. So pastor Tim and I both stood on separate street corners with our Bible signs and offered tracts to any who wanted to receive one. It didn't take me too long to start getting cold from just standing around in the frigid wind offering Gospel literature, but the Lord helped me and I was able to carry on.

After the 45 minutes of noise and flashes of light, both pastor Tim and I went back to preaching the Gospel. Our efforts, during that last hour, were met only by mockery and scorn. The hostility demonstrated to us when preaching repentance and faith in Christ never ceases to amaze me. From exasperated sighs, to threatening glares, crude mockeries to all manner of blasphemies, we bore it all tonight; and that, without complaint or the slightest inkling of retaliation. I thank the Lord for His work in my life... I slowly (very slowly) learning to be longsuffering toward my fellow man.

That's all I've got for tonight dear readers. It's been a busy week, and it's time for some rest. Remember Pastor Tim and I in your prayers, dear saints.

Have a blessed weekend everyone,


Rand

Labels: Friday evangelism