No Notes

too cold, too windy...

It was really blowing last night, Pastor Tim opted to take the night off, so I went home and got some much needed rest.

Take care,

Rand

Friday Night Notes

Christians... annoyed with the preaching of the Word...

Weather wise... it could hardly be better for mid-January in Canada.  Pastor Tim and I preached the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ to modest crowds for roughly three hours, in -5 degrees Celsius temperatures.  Compared to the -20s that kept us away from street preaching last month, -5C is downright balmy!

The market was quiet tonight.  Both Pastor Tim and I would go through stretches where we had no one to preach to.  Still, Pastor Tim reported having distributed a great number of Gospel tracts tonight; a feat I wish I could boast, but things were real quiet for me tonight.

Despite the lower volume of people, I was quite saddened by the beating our Bible signs took.  I picked those signs up off the ground 4-5 times, after being kicked to the ground by ungodly souls.  Pastor Tim was still able to find a silver lining in this:

"Well, they are reading the signs and are paying close enough attention to them to be offended!" he concluded.

A sad thing occurred tonight when Pastor Tim was preaching the Gospel.  A couple walked by and it was clear from the man's demeanor that he was no fan of Pastor Tim's evangelism.  This occurs several times on any given night of evangelism, but what made this particular event quite sad is that I knew the couple, we use to attend the same church assembly years ago.  I hadn't seen the man in over a decade so I called to him, wanting to talk to him, just to touch base.  He obliged, but I could tell that my old friend wasn't too comfortable talking to me while I held my Bible sign in one hand, and Gospel tracts in the other.  We didn't talk long... I conversation had a number of uncomfortable silences.  I felt so sad for the man.  I use to think like him, but the grace of God worked mightily in my life; I no longer fear the reproach of the Gospel.  I gladly bear it.  I wish he had also.

I saw Mike again tonight... and he stayed true to his word.  He said "hello" and thanked me for my service.  He took of Gospel tract and continued on with his friends.  While I appreciate his kindness, I can tell Mike is in a bad way again.  The Lord have mercy on him.

A lot more took place tonight, but I'm too tired to continue.  It's real late, and it's been an exhausting week.

Brothers and sisters, remember us in your prayers!


Rand

Friday Night Notes

good to be back...

It had a been a long time... but Pastor Tim and I finally made it out for open-air Gospel preaching tonight.  After weeks of super-cold weather, we got a break as it was just a little under freezing tonight.  A perfect night for winter street preaching.

There was a pretty steady flow of people walking the streets of the market, so there were no shortage of sinners to minister to.  There were a number of saints around tonight as we got a few words of encouragement from brothers and sisters who appreciated our efforts.  It's nice to be reminded that the Lord is still saving and sanctifying a people for Himself!

I gave out a fair number of Gospel Tracts tonight and had a couple of one-on-one conversations.  The first one was heart-warming, the other was sad.

First conversation: a young man comes up to me from behind, and studied my face carefully before saying: "It is you!"  I didn't recognize the man, for which I felt really bad.  He identified himself as Mike and said: "Years ago, I was really depressed and needed some serious counseling, and you spoke to me right here on this corner!  You even gave me your Bible!"  I still didn't remember the fellow but I was mighty glad to hear remembered me.  He told me he hadn't spent much time in the Bible I gave him, so I encouraged him to do so ASAP.  He told me that he really appreciated the help I gave him and would make it a point to come by and thank me every time he sees me downtown.  It was a really sweet moment.  The Lord be merciful to this gentle, yet lost soul.

Second conversation: a French-Canadian Romanist came by, claiming to be a Christian.  I asked which assembly he worshiped in, and he said "Marie Mediatrice" (Mary the Mediator).  Oh my...  I told the man that there was one mediator between man and God, and that's Jesus Christ, not Mary.  I told him he needed to repent of his Romanism and obey the Gospel, but he didn't have anytime for the Word of God.  He said that we could just agree to love each other and everything would be okay.  I said that that was the Second of the Greatest Commandments, and that he was ignoring the First.  He didn't have any time for that argument either.  He shook my hand, doing his best to keep things at "loving each other"... the Lord give him eyes to see and ears to hear!

With that, I'm off to bed.  Pastor Tim and I have very difficult work to deal with this weekend and I would appreciate the prayers of saints... for wisdom and the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

God bless you, and have a safe weekend...

Rand

Still No Notes

still too cold!!!

It's been below -20 Celsius all week... way too cold for street preaching.  The temperature is suppose to climb back up this weekend.  Hopefully, Pastor Tim and I will be back at it next Friday.

God bless you,

Rand