Friday Night Notes

winter is definitely coming...


On top of the regular clothes I wore to work today, I had to add all of the gear in this picture for tonight street evangelism. There was snow on the ground, and a frigid wind blowing through town (I can still hear it through my bedroom window as I write this post). Tonight was a foretaste of the winter that is yet to come. Street evangelism is, on many different levels, a test of will. By God's grace, I'll carry-on through yet another cold Canadian winter, preaching the Gospel of Jesus in the heart of my city.

The Open-Air Campaigners have stopped their Friday night evangelism for the winter, so I took their spot tonight and handed out some Bible tracts. It's a good spot! In front of me, and behind me were the main entrances of the two busiest shopping malls in town. Traffic is constant. Hundreds and hundreds of people walking by my Bible sign as I offered tracts with my other hand. After an hour of that however, the wind really started picking up some I retreated to my usual preaching spot (it offered more cover), and preached for another hour.

During my time between the shopping malls, I had a short conversation with an old friend of mine, a Pentecostal woman came by and offered kind words (she told me she prayed and would continue to pray for me), and endured the sometimes hard, sometimes embarrassed faces of sinners as they walked by me. Two women, in particular, come to mind. The first stared at me with hateful eyes as she walked by me; after she passed me and was well behind me (oh... how cowardly!), she yelled out:

"Why don't you volunteer your time to help those who actually need help!"

"I am," I replied, "you need help..."

She was too far away to hear what the rest of what I had to say which was: "... you just don't realize it."

Another woman walked towards me, carrying in her arms a bag full of booze. She was obviously under conviction. She started to come towards me, and then retreated. She did that two or three times. Finally, she tucked the bag as tightly into her coat as she could, then quickly came to pick up a tract from me. I never said a word. I felt the Holy Spirit was doing the work just fine without me.

During my hour of preaching, I spoke a couple of men who were visiting the city from Toronto. Both showed respect and even a measure of admiration for my efforts. They told me that while they both liked to have "a good time", they did reverence and take the Lord seriously. So I asked them if they were born-again...

"Uh... no," they both replied.

"Jesus said in the Bible that if you're not born-again in this life, you won't be in Heaven in the next life," I continued.

"That right?" one of them said.

"Absolutely," I answered.

"So how does someone get born-again?" the other inquired.

"Well, God has to make you spiritually alive... that's what it means to be born-again. God uses His Word, the Bible, to give spiritual life to men. So reading and hearing God's Word is extremely important," I answered.

By this point, it was clear that the men didn't have much appetite to get real serious about these spiritual matters. So they both shook my hand and gave me a "goodnight". One of the men took a tract from me; here's hoping it will have a stronger impact in the future.

Finally, Scotty came by and shook my hand. Scott is a panhandler/alcoholic who has taken a liking to pastor Tim and I. We got to know him over the years and have shared the Gospel with him quite often. He is still spiritually lost as lost could be, and in dire need of salvation. Would you join me in praying for this fellow, that the Lord would use this friendship to get Scott out of the kingdom of Satan, where he is currently enslaved?

That's the report for tonight, dear readers. Remember Pastor Tim in your prayers: he has been working crazy hours the last few weeks, so I've been without a partner for awhile now.

Special thanks to all the kind words I've received the last few weeks... you all know who you are. God bless you, dear brothers and sisters.


Rand

Labels: Friday evangelism

Friday Night Notes

a gentler, softer Christianity...


It's getting colder and colder out there, but I dressed up and took my place in the marketplace to preach the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. It was just me again tonight; Pastor Tim was just too tired to come out (he's been working full time, 6-days a week, on a major painting job). So minutes after I left his house to make my way downtown, the good preacher was probably sound asleep!

It was another relatively quiet night of preaching. The traffic of people was steady but only small groups would walk by. Nothing like the constant flow of thousands of people walking passed our Bible signs every hour. There will probably be an increase in souls in the market in the coming weeks, as people will be going out for Christmas parties.

A young Asian lady came to speak to me early in my night of evangelism. She professed to be a believer and said she was currently attending the church I was married in. At first I thought: "Ah! a sister-in-the-Lord". Sadly, things went South pretty quick when we started talking. She asked me the classic question: "do you really think that your method of evangelism works?" After that, she tried her best to explain to me how young people today didn't want to hear anything about sin, so she felt it was profitable to stop using that word and changing it to something like "misbehaviour" or "wrongdoing". I tried really hard not to sigh. After explaining to the young lady that not only did I preach on sin, but that I clearly stated what acts are to be classified as sin. She didn't have much time for me after that.

As I watched the young lady walk away, I felt such sadness for the myriad of other professors such as her. Absolutely ignorant of the true Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, yet claiming to have hold on it. She further showed her lack of wisdom by giving money to a panhandler a few yards away from where I was preaching: more money for the booze and drug habit. The Lord help both these souls.

Moments later a man walked by me, and as he laughed and mocked me, he asked:

"Do you really believe in God?"

"I do," I replied, "and you will to... sooner or later, you will."

I truly hope, for his sakes, it will be soon (in this life, of course).

I gave out just a few Bible tracts, but I had some real favorable responses from those who did receive them. The Lord use these "seeds" to save His people from their sins. To Him be honour, glory and majesty, now and forever, amen.

Remember me in your prayers this weekend, dear saints. Lord willing, I will be preaching the evening service at church service this Lord's Day evening.

God bless you, dear readers...


Rand

Labels: Friday evangelism

No Notes

family day trip...

There will be no "Friday Night Notes" tonight. Pastor Tim has been working too many hours and was too tired to go out street preaching and I was away all day and evening on a family car (van) trip.

It was nice to have a couple of days off this week and spend quality time with my family. We took a few trips, went on nature hikes (you all like the picture of the American Kestrel I took?) and watched kid-shows together; it was great!

Lord-willing, I'll be back at my post next week, preaching the Word of Truth in the market.

God bless you all. Have a glorious Lord's Day!


Rand

Friday Night Notes

cold... wet... empty...


I honestly can't remember the last time the marketplace was that empty on a Friday night. Granted, it was cold, and it rained on and off all night long, but normally, such conditions don't deter "night life" revelers in my city.

I went through long stretches tonight where there wasn't a single soul to minister to. At one point, I decided to leave my usual street preaching spot and seek out the lost on other streets. The only place I found any serious numbers of souls were at the downtown bus stops. So I walked from bus shelter to bus shelter with my Bible sign in one hand, and some Gospel tracts in the other. In the end, I didn't preach the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ to a lot of people, but I did share the Gospel with significantly more souls than I would have, had I stayed home!

I only stayed out for about 2 hours due to a combination of poor weather, working late and a meeting with Pastor Tim regarding some church business. I went out by myself tonight since Pastor Tim had a number of studies and church documents to work on. I wasn't all alone for long however since the Lord sent Eli and John, two Christian brothers we got to know a couple of years ago, to encourage me. It was good to see these brothers, though it was a bit disappointing to learn that neither of them did any mass evangelism anymore. I hope the Lord will cause that to change.

There were few more Christians tonight that came by to offer me some support. There were also a few mockers. I remember a young homosexual who seeing me standing on a street corner with my Bible sign said:

"Wouldn't it suck if you lived your whole life this way only to find out it was all for nothing?"

Being a mocker and a coward, the young man quickly walked away before I could give him an answer. My answer probably would've been something like this:

"I don't know, when I consider my beautiful family, my fulfilling job, my Christian family and local church... I can't say any of it really "sucks". It's all pretty good actually. Now, if you are referring to the hardships of street evangelism, well yeah, it would suck if it were 'all for nothing'. Thing is, I know it isn't."

That 's all I really have to report tonight. Like I said, it was pretty quiet. I did give out a good number of Gospel Tracts to people in the bus shelters; please pray that these seeds would find good ground.

The Lord use tonight evangelistic effort as He sees fit, and may He be magnified now and forever. Amen.


Rand

Labels: Friday evangelism