Does Good Deed Mean You Are A Good Person?

Does Good Deed Mean You Are A Good Person?

Ministry Update March 18, 2018

A couple were standing a few feet away from me while I was getting ready to open-air preach and I was waiting on Thomas. The woman wanted to go back and get her jacket. He said their friends were about to reach them, so she didn’t have time to get it. Then he took off his jacket and gave it to her. She kept saying no, but then she relented. I had some Are You A Good Person Tracts so I walked over to the guy and said that was a good deed that you did giving her your jacket, but are you a good person? To which he replied that he didn’t know about that. Then I handed him the tract and suggested that he check it out and see if he is a good person. About that time their friends showed up and they went on their way. 

That was kind of a fun way to start the night. When Thomas got there, I brought a message about people saying I don’t know where I’m going after I die. Unlike last week, this week Thomas had a hard time getting into conversations. A couple of teenagers sat across the street from me and one hollered something. So I asked him where he’d go if he dies to tonight. He said probably Hell. When asked if that concerned him, he said no. So I tried to explain to him what the Bible says about Hell. I guess he didn’t want to hear it because they both got up and walked away.

Marijuana Savior

Then a woman pulled up and stopped right in front of me. I turned off the amplifier and walked over to her vehicle. She said that she didn’t want me to preach to her but she wondered if I had seen her friend tonight. He was just diagnosed with brain cancer today. As she tried to find a picture of him on her phone, she told me that they are atheists. Her small son in the back told me his name, but I can’t remember what he said. About that time she showed me a picture. I told her that I hadn’t seen him.

Then I asked her if he had a Bible. She said no, I told you we are atheists. I said would he take a Bible and she said no, I told you I didn’t want you to preach to me. I said ma’am, I’m not preaching to. You told me that your friend was just diagnosed with brain cancer and I’m asking you if he has a Bible. I’m offering you hope here. That my message tonight is about how we are all going to die someday and you said that he was just diagnosed today.

Then she said something totally bizarre, that he isn’t interested in religion, that he wants to move to Colorado so he can smoke marijuana and get healed. I was stunned, so I replied so he is going to trust in marijuana to save him instead of Jesus? Again she admonished me for preaching to her. I said, ma’am there is no hope in marijuana, there is only hope in Jesus. She said marijuana helps her back pain and that she too trusts in it. Stupefied, I again said marijuana cannot save you. There is no eternal hope in it. She then tried to tell me that it will keep them alive. I said it won’t keep you alive forever. Then she finally admitted of course not, but prior to this she kept insisting that it will help them live long lives.

Poster Child For Not Doing Drugs

I tried to explain that only Jesus saves and that marijuana will not save them. They have eternal souls and that they should worry about that. Then she claimed that Jesus had sex with his sister. I said He absolutely did not. Then she started rambling about Adam and Eve, but she kept calling Adam – Jesus. Because God made Eve out of Adam’s rib, that made her his sister, therefore Jesus had sex with His sister. Frankly, I think this woman could be a poster child for Not Doing Drugs! Absolutely crazy. At that point I told her to have a good night and I went back to my message. She rolled her window down and let out a couple of f you’s before she peeled away. It was one of the strangest encounters that I’ve had in a while.

Opposite Of Last Week

Last week was a wonderful blessed night of witnessing. This night was looking like the opposite. That’s about the time Thomas came back from handing out tracts and said he was having a hard time getting into conversations tonight. I mentioned to him that some nights are really fun and exciting (like last week) and other times you go home feeling like not much happened. But we discussed how God is glorified either way, just by lifting up the precious name of Jesus. Then Thomas said something about one of these times he wants to bring a message, so I asked him if he was ready tonight. Surprisingly he said yes. So I let him borrow my amplifier and he read some from the book of Ezekiel and then shared the Gospel and made much of the sweetness of Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior.

Thomas did a great job open-air preaching – breaking the sound barrier for the first time. He even had a heckler. A guy walked by with a woman beside him and he called Thomas a p____. Then they crossed the street, the man looked right at me and said that guy is one too. I just said have a good night sir. I can’t remember what Thomas said originally, but he handled it very well. Then about that time the Gillioz Theatre let out and many people filed out of the building. Thanks be to God that He prompted Thomas to open-air preach that night. Many people heard how we are sinners and Christ is the only Savior. That He is the rock they should trust in.

Thumbs Up

A family walked by us across the street while Thomas was telling how sweet the name of Jesus is to those of us who believe. The dad gave a thumbs up as he walked by. His wife and son then passed by us. But the little girl in pigtails that brought up the rear, smiled over at us and also gave a thumbs up. As they walked away from us and toward the square, the little girl kept looking back, smiling and listening to Thomas tell about Jesus. It was a precious way to end the night, especially a night that seemed kind of blah. It was a real blessing to have Thomas get his feet wet in open-air preaching. May it be the first of many such times of open proclamation of the glorious Gospel.

No Interaction At Planned Parenthood

My wife and I witnessed at Planned Parenthood on Wednesday during the lunch hour. The weather was really nice. Sadly, there were people there the whole time we were there, but we had no interactions. As people walked in and out and while they were inside, I pleaded with the women to not murder their unborn children. Kept pleading with them to go to The Pregnancy Care Center where they would do an ultrasound and they could see their little boy or little girl and hear the heartbeat. But not a single response – good or bad.

But the truth went forth and people at the drive through of the restaurant on the West side heard the Gospel. One car even pulled over after they received their food to listen to part of the message. Likewise, there were others at the shopping center on the East side of Planned Parenthood who also heard parts of the message. A woman that pulled out of the shopping center waved at Polly when she drove by, but that was about it. We are still praying that God will shut this awful place down, here in Springfield and around the country. May God wake our nation up to this great evil of our time.

(These updates are provided to encourage Christians to share their faith in our Lord Jesus with others.)