Friday Night Notes

up and down kind of night...

Tonight's evangelistic effort wasn't as smooth and easy going as the last two weeks, but still, things went rather well. We faced some oppositions from the usual suspects (drunks, sodomites, revelers), but nothing too grievous. The Gospel went out into the streets of the ByWard Market tonight, and that, for a good three hours.

I kind of liked the "point form", rapid fire style I adopted last week in composing my Friday Night Notes. It helps put everything together quickly, and I have to tell you, by the time I get around to writing these words, quick is good. You see, by the time I make it home from our evangelistic effort, it's about 11:30pm. By the time I eat my dinner (yes, I leave my work and immediately go downtown), it's easily 12:30am. By the time I finish jotting these words down, it's usually beyond 2am.

So, without further ado, here is my evangelism report for this week:

- a sodomite walked up to me as I was preaching the Gospel and claimed to know everything about what I was preaching, and that it didn't "do anything for him". He made it clear he didn't want to hear anything from me (or a dear brother who was next to me when he began he diatribe), and he was going to tell me why he was justified in his way of life. My brother-in-the-Lord walked away, and I began preaching the Gospel to those who were walking by. Obviously annoyed at no one paying attention to him, the sodomite left. The Lord have mercy on him.

- a short old lady interrupted my preaching to make sure I knew that "all the evil in the world, like wars and strife, was all caused by religion". Her voice quaked as she made her point... it was clear that she hated me and the Gospel with such passion, she couldn't calmly state her point. She was packing some serious venom and she was going to let me have it! I calmly replied: "must be difficult... being so mean and miserable." She walked away. Again, the Lord have mercy.

- a quick shout-out to Krew and Stevie, two unbelievers who have shown us kindness and friendship over the years in the marketplace. Pastor Tim and I have and will pray for these men who, despite not being in the household of faith, have chosen to be our friends. The Lord bless them with spiritual life!

- Marshall and Julie, two saints who visited our fellowship on a number of occasions until they moved out of town came by to say hello tonight. They were in town for a family function and came out to check up on us. It's always nice to see some friendly faces when labouring in enemy territory.

-I had a long conversation with a nominal Muslim who was quite ignorant of Biblical Christianity. In his mind, true Chrisitanity was Romanism. Well, I spent some time correcting that erroneous view. He was surprised someone like me actually existed. It was a good Q and A session. I tried to deal with the subject of Islam and how Christianity differed from it, but before I could really get into it, a friend of the young man came by and took him away.

- Had another long conversation with a man named Claude who professed to have faith in Christ. I didn't and still don't know what to make of this man; he was either a very ignorant believer, or a religious/superstitious unbeliever. The man definitely had no love for Romanism, and had seen the errors of cults like the "latter-day saints" and Scientology, but despite having attended some Baptist churches, the man had no idea what the Second Birth was. I gave the man a Gospel message and asked him to come to church on the Lord's Day. I also encouraged him to spend much time in God's Word. I hope he will take my advice.

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And that's all that is coming to mind for now. I'm extremely tired and need to go to bed.

Have a great weekend everyone. Remember me in your prayers; I will be preaching the evening service at church on the Lord's Day, and next week is Canada Day (where we will be presenting the Gospel in the open air all day long!).

God bless you!


Rand

Labels: Friday evangelism

Friday Night Notes

I could get use to this...

Another Friday night of evangelism done in the market, and I'm quite pleased to report that it was another smooth operation. Just like last week, downtown was buzzing with activity. Our audience was large and continually on the move. I handed out lots of Bible tracts, and had the chance to speak to a few souls concerning the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

The notes will be rapid-fire style tonight... because I'm really, really tired.

- Spoke to a Christian couple tonight. They said that what I was doing was good and that they had, in the past done similar work. I never know what to say in such instances. If something is good, and was practiced in the past... why did they quit?

- Saw my old friend Brent again tonight. I see him often in the market and he always comes by to encourage me with kind words. I like him. I really do, but there is something fishy about his profession of faith. I need the Holy Spirit to help me deal with this man.

- Police cruiser drove right up to me tonight... and I mean right up to me! The officer made the sidewalk right next to my preaching spot, his personal parking spot. At first, I thought he was coming to deal with me (I have to admit... I was worried there for a minute), but he got out of his car real fast and entered into one of the pubs across the street. Pastor Tim said he came out with a man in handcuffs a few minutes later.

- It never ceases to amaze me: when I offer people a Bible tract, those who hate the Gospel usually respond with an "O my God" or "Jesus Christ".

- So Red Rose (the tea company) is having some contest in which they will sponsor someone to go to Africa, in order to work with a relief agency called OneXOne. I know this because I met one of the Top 10 finalists tonight. Her name was Melanie Coffey and she asked me to check out the Red Rose website (www.redrosetea.ca) and if I wanted, to vote for her on the "Reach out with Red Rose" page. She took one of my tracts, and she was pretty sweet: she got my vote.

- There a new street musician sharing the street with us. His voice is awful and his guitar playing isn't much better; and to make matters worse, he really doesn't care much for us or our message. The Lord be merciful to him. The last two musicians who shared our street with us... well... one is dead (overdose) and the other is going down fast (various addictions).


Sorry everyone, it's all I got in me tonight. Its been quite a week, and I'm dead tired. I'm off to bed.

God bless you all, dear readers. Be safe this weekend. Enjoy the Lord's Day.


Rand

Labels: Friday evangelism

Friday Night Notes

good night of preaching... terrible week...

Now that was one spectacularly terrible week! Am I ever glad it's coming to an end. Good friends of ours have announced they may be moving several hours away, a total disaster at my workplace and Pearl, a dear sister-in-the-Lord, lost her unborn baby. I must admit, I approached tonight's street preaching endeavour with a really heavy heart, but the Lord refreshed me and helped me by giving me a relatively easy night of evangelism.

Very little cursing and mocking toward us tonight, and a number of saints were in the marketplace tonight, many of them giving us a "thumbs up", or an "Amen!", or a "God bless you!" It was nice to not feel so alone out there.

The few souls that opposed themselves to our preaching didn't stick around very long, or we were actually able to show them their error(s). One young man, for example, walked up to me and claimed that among other things, the Lord would forgive everyone (including the devil), that Charles Manson was the devil (not a devil, but the devil himself), and that the Lord was returning very soon to give the Earth to Africans (because "the last will be first"). I'll admit I let out a long sigh before I answered his strange doctrines. The shocking thing is this: after I made end of my long list of corrections, the young man said:

"Wow... you really know your stuff! I'm not saying I agree with everything you said, but thanks for stating your point of view."

Another man, claiming to be a complete atheist came by and told me he admired my "guts" in preaching the Gospel in the marketplace. We spoke for a few minutes about what he thought of the Bible, and the gist of what he said was this: he thought that following the Bible when it comes to human-to-human interactions was really good and important, but he didn't have anytime for God or anything "super-natural". I told him that he had respect for the Second of the Greatest Commandments, but that he was missing the all important First! I encouraged the young man to read and study God's Word... it could make him wise unto salvation.

Moments later, I spoke to a man named Mike, a nominal Romanist who recognized the problems (both doctrinal and practical) with Romanism, but didn't know what to do or where to go. Pastor Tim often brings with him a booklet which spells out the dangers of Romanism and teaches the reader the real Gospel and what it is to be genuinely saved. So I quickly fetched that booklet from the good preacher and gave it to Mike. I encouraged him to study the booklet carefully and to start seeking God in the Bible. I hope he will.

Finally, I had a sad/funny conversation with a young woman as I was preparing to leave the market for the night. The young lady (which had way too much metal attached to her face) asked me if she asked God to forgive her of her sins, would she be okay? As in, clean slate. Perceiving that the young woman wasn't interested in repentance, but rather, a quick fix, I challenged her with the following question:

"Imagine you are married, and you apologize to your husband for something really bad you did. Now imagine that just two short days later, you did the exact same evil and sinned against your husband. Tell me, what was your apology worth in such an instance?"

The young lady's answer: "I got to go."

Lord have mercy.


With that, I close the notes, dear readers. Have a blessed weekend... the Lord bless you all!

Rand

Labels: Friday evangelism

Friday Night Notes

finally back!!!

Summer weather is here... and so are the summer crowds! Pastor Tim and I preached the Gospel in the streets of the marketplace for nearly three hours, and there were thousands and thousands of souls. Despite the large crowds and the high level of activity all around us, we had a smooth enough night of evangelism, with very little opposition to deal with. Praise God.

It's been three weeks since I was last out preaching the Gospel, so you can well imagine, I was pretty rusty at first. It was good to get back into it... it just doesn't feel right anymore when I go long stretches with no or little evangelism. The Lord really helped me tonight: He helped me preach, He kept people away that would ordinarily have caused problems, and He brought a number of brothers and sisters who showed me much kindness.

There was a bit of ridicule and persecution, but considering the large crowds, I honestly thought it was going to be a lot worse. The Open-Air Campaigners (another group of evangelists) were out in full force tonight; they had Gospel presentations and were handing our tracts. Perhaps the high number of Christians labouring in the market tonight quieted our adversaries? I don't know. What I do know is that the Gospel was preached unhindered tonight.

Pastor Tim and I met two Middle-Eastern men tonight whom the Lord had saved out of Islam. We had a great conversation with them. Both of them said they planned on visiting our assembly in the near future (I hope they do, they were a real encouragement to us). They were both extremely impressed with our evangelism technique and the literature we were handing out. On several occasions, they asked us if they could help us in any way. It felt good to talk to souls that both understood what we were doing, and cared enough to want to contribute. The Lord bless these young men.

The closest I got to trouble tonight is when a couple of young men, with enough piercings in their faces that pin cushions were envious, walked up to me to make it clear they thought I was stupid. They should have stopped there, because, when they continued to speak their ignorance was made abundantly clear. "The Bible says that God's first living creation was man..." one of them said. Oh dear. Suffice it to say, when I answered their folly, they walked away in a far more quiet way than when they first came.

The dumbest statement of the night though went to an elderly man who, upon hearing me preach on being prepared to answer to God, said: "I believe in a merciful God." I reminded the man that the Bible spoke of both mercy and severity (Romans 11:22), but the man clearly couldn't have cared less about what the Bible taught. The Lord, indeed, have mercy upon him.

As we were leaving the market tonight, I noticed a drunkard, sitting on the ground begging for spare change pointing at us and mocking us at a distance. The following verse immediately came to mind:

"They that sit in the gate speak against me; and I was the song of the drunkards." (Psalm 69:12)

That's the notes for tonight, dear readers. Busy weekend ahead. Good night, and have a blessed Lord's Day.


Rand

Labels: Friday evangelism