I Ask God To Forgive Me
Ministry Update March 5, 2017
We were very blessed to have ten of us out witnessing Friday night. We sang hymns to start the night and then four of us brought messages, including Steven with his first message on the box. He’s quotes Bible verses in the past, but Friday night he quoted three Scripture verses and expounded on them. Praise God!
I started us off with a message and just had a few drive by and walk by hecklers. F you seemed to be the most quoted words of mockers for the night. Steven went after me and we appreciated his boldness to get up there and share God’s truth. Then his dad Kelly went next and he drew a mocker with a handwritten message. I couldn’t read it and I’m sure that was probably for the best. Kelly was preaching on the reality of Hell and the young man kept getting hung up on evil in the world and why God allows is it when God could stop it.
Ironically, the young man is blaming God and not us. There is evil because we live in a fallen world and we are sinful creatures. The main difference is some of us are sinners saved by grace (and those of us who are saved realize that salvation doesn’t give us a license to sin) and others are still unrepentant, unregenerated sinners who are lost and on the broad road to destruction.
I Feel Like He Is Judging Me
Then Aaron closed us out with the message he brought. He hadn’t preached long and a car drove by with the passenger flipping him off with his hand out of the window of the car. Right after that, Nick came over from across the street where he’d been drinking. He stood right in front of the preacher so Aaron stopped and asked if he had a question. He said no, but after a minute or two he came over to me and said that he felt like Aaron was judging him. I told Nick that he wasn’t judging him, but if he felt judged, God was the one judging him.
Can You Still Be A Christian And Live Contrary To God?
We talked for about 30 minutes and had a good conversation. Nick told me that he’s a Christian, even though he still lives contrary to God. I walked him through several verses, including the apostle Paul’s conversion on the road to Damascus (Acts 9:1-22). I explained that Paul went from killing Christians to sharing the same Gospel that he was formerly trying to stamp out. Then I asked Nick if that was a dramatic change in Paul and he admitted that it was. I asked him why he hadn’t had that same type of conversion and he didn’t know why. All he knew was that yes, he was a sinner like everyone else, but he said “I ask God to forgive me.” Just because he asks, he is certain that God forgives him.
I talked to Nick about repentance and faith in Jesus. He also admitted that he wanted Jesus to save him from Hell, but he really didn’t want Jesus to be Lord of his life. Aaron finished up preaching and then he came over and joined in the conversation. I previously had told Nick that I was a false convert and Aaron told him that he had been one too. He explained to Nick that godly sorrow works repentance to salvation (2 Corinthians 7:10) and that what Nick described about his life didn’t bear fruit of that. Aaron and I both tried to get Nick to see that God does not hear the prayers of unrepentant sinners (John 9:31).
Don’t Want To Give Up Drinking
We kept trying to get Nick to see that those of us who are saved long to do the will of God (John 9:31; Matthew 7:21). Not perfectly, but we now hate the sin we once loved. It grieves us when we sin against God. We no longer justify our sins; it breaks our heart when we sin against God. By the time we finished talking to Nick, he admitted that he didn’t want to give up drinking and other sins to be born again. I looked at him and said so you love your sins and he said yes. Aaron asked him if we could pray for him and he let us.
Right before we prayed, he said that he was heading over to the Outland Ballroom to drink. We prayed with him and Aaron shared that Jesus said what shall it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his own soul. Then I prayed for him that God would wrestle with his conscience and convict him over his sins and that Nick would truly cry out for God to save him. That he would have godly sorrow over his sins instead of justifying them. We had a great conversation with Nick. Aaron and I both gave him tracts and invited him to our churches. Oh, may God truly convict Nick and convert him. May the Lord draw him to Himself. We pray that Nick will be born again and join us street witnessing some day and call out for others to repent and trust Jesus.
Are You Bringing Jesus Back To America?
On Wednesday, Aaron and I witnessed at MSU. We both had a couple of mockers, but I had one young man who came up to me and shook my hand while I was preaching. He has done this before. It’s always encouraging when a student does this because most students think we are crazy so it takes courage to come up to an open-air preacher and encourage them. Others around you are seeing what you are doing. May God bless this young man.
Then shortly thereafter a young lady that I believe is from India stopped a few feet from and just stood there listening. I stopped and asked her if she had a question and she shook her head no, and said that she didn’t. But before I started preaching again, she asked me if I was preaching about Jesus. I told her yes I am. She wiped a tear from her eye and said “Are bringing Jesus back to America?” I said yes and she smiled real big. I can’t tell you how heartwarming that question was. People from other countries can readily see how badly we need Jesus in our country. Oh, if we could only get Americans to see this too. Lord help us.
(I am thankful for the hundreds and hundreds of evangelistic friends that I know around the country who go out every week to college campuses, abortion clinics and other areas in their local cities to share the glorious Gospel. These updates are provided to encourage other Christians to go out and share the Gospel. Hand out tracts. Get into one on one conversations. If you don’t know an answer, get their phone number and tell them you will get back with them. None of us have all the answers. We are not all knowing and all powerful, God is and He is the one that tells us to go into all the world and share the Gospel with every creature. Are you going? Are you sharing your faith in Jesus as you go about your daily routine?}