General

What If They Were On Fire?
Ministry Update February 26, 2023

Friday night was one of those great nights of witnessing. It was Spirit filled and there just isn’t anyway to write this up nearly as good as the night really went. But Joshua, Lydia, Michael, Anand and I had a wonderful time witnessing. We prayed before we started that God would bless us with at least one good conversation and really prayed that He would give us many on that cold night. (The week before we didn’t have any conversations). Thank the Lord, He answered our prayer with many conversations and the line of the night was “What if they were on fire?”

 

Joshua and Lydia crossed the street after we prayed and I was going to bring a message. Before I even got started, Michael got there the same time a homeless guy Chris stopped to talk to them. Since I was going to open-air preach in their direction, I waited until they were done witnessing. Chris wanted to know what truth is and Joshua pointed him to Jesus – who is truth. It was great to watch them from across the street because all three of them – Joshua, Lydia and Michael all got to share truth with Chris. I think Lydia also gave Chris a blessing bag from their church.

Conversation With Another Homeless Person

I brought a message after Chris left and shortly right after that Tyler stopped to talk to my three friends. Tyler said that the Lord is working on him and again, all three of them shared the Gospel with Tyler. He listened respectfully and Tyler and Chris both took Gospel tracts. I had one drive by mocker while this was going on. He yelled something about not shoving my religion down other people’s throats. But the mocker wasn’t seeing the beautiful display of witnessing that I got to see across the street from me.

By the time I finished open-air preaching, Anand showed up and he quickly got into a conversation with a gentleman across the street from where Joshua, Lydia and Michael were witnessing at. The gentleman said that he believed in a higher power so Anand told him that you have to believe in more than a higher power. You have to believe in Jesus. Anand talked to him about the need for repentance and belief in Jesus. Then Anand joined the rest of us and told us about his encounter with the gentleman. While he was relaying his conversation with the gentleman to us, Joshua handed tracts to several people. They politely took the tracts, but didn’t seem to want to visit. They went straight toward the scooters you can rent that were directly behind us.

Anand Asks The Question “What If They Were On Fire?”

Joshua was telling us that they didn’t seem like they wanted to talk and frankly I agreed with him. But praise God, Anand said the line of the night and we are convinced it came from God. He said, “What if they were on fire?” Joshua immediately walked around the rest of us and went right up to the people before they got on the scooters. It turns out that they are from Mongolia. One guy really listened to Joshua and not only did he listen, but he seemed genuinely convicted over his sins.

As soon as they left, a couple of homeless people stopped by. Their names are Jackie and Zachariah. We tried to find something for Jackie to eat, but we didn’t have anything.  Michael gave Zachariah some money so they could get something to eat. Michael had a good conversation with Zachariah and I think Joshua may have talked to him too. Then two more of their friends showed up, Nancy and Ryan.

Used To Go To The Same Church

By the time it was done, Joshua had a really good conversation with Nancy and I also shared some truth with her. Nancy was getting a little side tracked because she felt like she knew me. I felt the same way. But Joshua did a great job when she’d look at me and say I know you. Joshua just told her that I’ve been coming out here for years and he directed her right back to the Gospel. I loved it. It was great. But after we finished witnessing to Nancy, her and I figured out that we used to go to the same church. I wonder what happened in her life that she ended up out on the streets?

Michael ended up having a good conversation with Ryan and after they left, Michael said Ryan was much more receptive this time around. Evidently Michael and Joshua had talked to him in the past. Lydia also had sleeping bag in her car, so she ran and got it and gave it to Nancy. Joshua prayed for all four of them before they left and he prayed a great prayer for God to save all of them and that God would help them with any addiction problems they are facing.

Says That He’s Saved But Can’t Say How

After the four homeless people left us, the five us were just standing around talking about what an amazing night of conversations it had been. Just one right after another. After a few minutes, I turned around and there were two young men standing right behind me. I handed both of them tracts and asked them, “Who is Jesus?” The one young man named Trent said that Jesus is his Lord and Savior. I said that’s great and asked him how he came to faith. He replied about a year ago. Again, I asked him how God reached him and sadly, the young man couldn’t really answer. He just said that he started going to church. I told him that I wasn’t making fun of him, but you don’t just go to bed one night and wake up the next day a Christian.

So I shared the Gospel with him and he seemed to nod his head, but I’m not sure that he really gets it. I was also trying to see if he reads his Bible every day and he said that he doesn’t. Then he admitted that he doesn’t have a Bible. I told him that I normally hand out New Testaments but that I had a full Bible in my car if he had time for me to run and get it.  He said that he did. So I encouraged him to talk to my friends while I ran to get the Bible. When I got back, Joshua was sharing truth with him and I handed him the Bible and witnessed some more to him too.

While this was going on, Anand was witnessing to Trent’s friend named Garrett. When we finished witnessing, they both shook our hands and Trent said something to the effect that he thinks God put him on that corner to talk to us. Trent also asked me why we all come out on the streets and witness. (This fit right along with my message tonight Why Share The Gospel?). I told Trent that we once walked in darkness but that we’ve seen the Light. Jesus is the Light. We love God because He first loved us and we are so grateful that God saved sinners like us that we want to share the Good News with others. It really was one of those special nights of witnessing and we thank and praise God for it. We hope and pray that God will save lost souls. The best line of the night still was “What if they were on fire?” This should be the motto for our evangelism group.

Jesus Isn’t Real

It rained the whole time that I witnessed at MSU on Wednesday. One girl yelled “Hail Satan” as she walked by. Later on, I was talking about how Jesus is the only Savior and student turned around and said “God isn’t real.” I told him that it’s interesting that atheists are anti-God. So they affirm that there is a God by their hatred toward God. There is no tooth fairy, but I’m not anti-tooth fairy, there just isn’t one. Even though I didn’t have any takers on tracts in the rain, that’s what I like about open-air preaching. The students may not want to hear the Gospel, but they can’t unhear the truth. Since faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God, they need to hear it. May God convict and convert lost souls.

(These updates are given to encourage Christians to share the Gospel with others)