I Don’t Know Jesus And Don’t Know If I Ever Will
Ministry Update October 15, 2017
Before Kelly and Steven joined me downtown Friday night, I handed out tracts. A lesbian couple walked by holding hands, but I just smiled and offered them a tract. The young woman closest to me took a tract. I figured getting God’s truth in her hand was better than bashing her over the head with warnings that no homosexual shall inherit the kingdom of God (1 Corinthians 6:9-10). One guy told me that he’d received my literature before, but he still took a tract and thanked me for being there. Another man was quite supportive and thanked me for sharing the Gospel out on the streets.
I went ahead and started my message before Steven and Kelly got there. Shortly after they showed up, Jody walked up and talked to Kelly. He said that he’s a believer and he was excited to see us out sharing the Gospel. Before he left, he stopped and shook my hand and said he had to get to work. Then a group of young men stopped in front of me and they talked to Kelly. They were college students out praying with people, so they prayed for our witnessing before they moved on.
Michael Stops His Bike Ride To Talk
Then Michael was riding his bicycle by us and Kelly reached over and offered him a tract. He stopped his bike and walked up and started talking to Kelly. When asked if he knew where he’d go after he dies, he admitted that he doesn’t know. Kelly shared the Gospel with him. After I finished my message, Steven quoted Scripture and then it was time for Kelly to preach. So I went over and started witnessing to Michael.
Before that, when I was finishing up the message, a young man stopped and talked to Steven and said he goes to Crossway Baptist Church (the same church I belong to). He said that I was witnessing the wrong way. (Kelly and I discussed Friday night how street evangelism seems to be two steps forward and one step back at our churches – Crossway and Macedonia Baptist Church). Even though Steven is just in middle school, he told the young man that we preach to draw people over.
Steven was too kind to point this out to him, but he stopped to tell Steven how we are witnessing the wrong way at the exact same time Kelly was having a great conversation with Michael. It’s actually frustrating and makes me sad that after all these years we fight these same tiresome complaints. But by God’s grace, the Lord was demonstrating how open-air preaching is effective in drawing people to us to have one to one conversations.
Don’t Know Jesus
When I talked to Michael, I reaffirmed what Kelly told him, that Jesus is the only Savior and we both quoted him John 14:6. That’s when Michael told me that he prays to God and believes God answers his prayers, but he continued, “I don’t know Jesus and don’t know if I ever will.” At that point I reiterated that Jesus is the only Savior and I asked him if he has a Bible and he said yes. I encouraged him to read it. After explaining that there’s no other book like it, no other book has so many prophecies that have come true (over 300 concerning Jesus alone!).
I encouraged Michael to read the New Testament and read it humbly, asking God to reveal His truth to him and to see if what we were telling him was correct. I also gently pointed out that John 9:31 says that God does not hear sinners, so without Jesus Christ the Sinless one being our Lord and Savior, God doesn’t listen to the prayers of unrepentant sinners. Surprisingly, Michael shook my hand and thanked us for talking to him.
Typical Drive By Mockers
During the night we had the typical drive by and walk by mockers. We heard fu, h___ yeah along with many other mocking words. I pleaded with one young man that was mocking as he walked by to repent and trust Jesus, but he continued mocking as he walked away and I couldn’t hear what he was saying. Kelly did a great job just saying God bless you and things like that to the ones who mocked him.
We handed out a few more tracts after we finished preaching. We were just talking amongst ourselves when two guys walked by us. I handed both of them tracts and the second guy stopped and wanted to know what they were. I said they are Gospel tracts. He said, “Cool, did you see my shirt?” To which I replied, “No I didn’t.” Then he stood where I could clearly see it and the shirt read “I stand for the flag and kneel at the cross.” To which I said “Amen.” The young man smiled and walked off. It was a pleasant way to end the night.
One Sincere Smile
On Wednesday I witnessed at MSU during the lunch hour. It really didn’t rain, it was just damp and looked like it could rain. Mostly I just saw apathy as the students walked by. The young man that described himself as a gay atheist a few weeks ago, rode by me on his skateboard. He rode back by again, stopped for a minute, then rode by me a third time and didn’t say a word. Since he previously said there’s nothing that I can say to change his mind, I was glad that he just rode on. I believe in law to the proud and grace to the humble.
But amid all the apathy and the one silent mocker, there was a student who walked by, looked back over at me and smiled what appeared to be a sincere smile. Not mockingly, but a genuine smile. It was a nice encouragement for a day full of apathy. Apathetic students are hard to take. Encouragers are of course wonderful, but even vocal mockers are better than apathetic students. With the vocal mockers, you figure they really are listening because they are riled up over the message. But students that are just apathetic are hard to figure out. Do they really not care? Are they really not listening? I really don’t know.