Encounter Of The Good Kind
Tyail, Joshua, Michael and I witnessed downtown Friday night. The temperature was above freezing, but it was cold with the 10 mile per hour wind. This was our first night of witnessing on a cold night and it was really cold. I started off with a short message and had a couple of walk by mockers. Because of the cold, Joshua suggested we go caddie corner across the street and stand next to the building to block the wind. We thought that was a great idea, so we all moved over there and that’s when we had the encounter of the good kind.
We handed out a few tracts there and we also visited with each other. I think it was Joshua that commented how there weren’t many people out (and there weren’t). He said maybe it was because it was so cold. I told him that I’ve seen people out on cold nights. Sometimes it doesn’t stop people from going to the bars. It wasn’t a minute later when K. walked around the corner with his dog. K refused tracts, but as he got past us, Joshua yelled out, “Do you believe in God?” The young man stopped and said that he did. So Joshua pressed further and asked, “Would you say that you have God in your heart?” K didn’t understand the question and asked Joshua to repeat it.
That’s when K said that he believes that all religions have God because they all talk about a light. Joshua continued asking more questions to see what K believed because Joshua was trying to get him to see what his world view really is and how it doesn’t make sense without the one true God. Tyail was holding her sign and she had a drive by mocker. She just politely yelled, “God bless you.” Michael also joined in the conversation with Joshua and K and after a while Tyail asked if we wanted to continue the conversation in the Lobby and we all gratefully agreed. We were actually surprised that K agreed to come with us.
Contradictions In The Bible?
Michael and Joshua continued sharing truth with K and Tyail joined in some too. K kept going down the usual rabbit holes that many religions have the same stories, how do you know the Bible is the same as what was originally written, what is truth. We especially like the what is truth question because Jesus is truth and Jesus is the Word. So we know where we truth comes from and we know where to find it. But K kept going down different rabbit holes even though Joshua and Michael did a great job of sharing truth with K and also getting K to tell us what he believes. K stated that the Bible has contradictions, even though he couldn’t provide one example.
Toward the end of our visit, I pointed out that Tyail’s sign says Jesus is the way, the truth and the life. Jesus is truth and truth cannot contradict itself. If truth contradicted itself, it would not be true. I also asked him if we could go back to one of his original comments that all religions have light. I asked K if I could tell him the difference between Christianity and the world religions and he replied sure. I pointed out that all the major world religions have one thing in common and that is their followers are trying to work their way to Heaven. For example, Islam, Jehovah’s Witness, Mormonism are all people trying to work their way to Heaven.
Christianity is God reaching down to us through His Son Jesus Christ. Earlier K was surprised when he said that he thought he was a good person and Joshua acknowledged that he wasn’t a good person. I told K that the four of us Christians in the room know that we aren’t good. That’s why we put our trust in Jesus who is good and Jesus is the only Savior. Jesus took the punishment that we deserve. We deserve Hell, but Jesus took our punishment. The four of us have repented and surrendered our lives to Jesus. K needed to leave, but surprisingly he asked for someone’s phone number in case he had more questions. Michael was sitting closest to him, so Michael gave K his number. We also told him that we were out there most Friday nights witnessing and he’s always welcome to stop and talk. I tried to hand K a Bible, but he said that he had one at home. I encouraged him to read his Bible and see if what we were telling him was right or not. After K left, we all prayed that God would save K. We were also grateful that we all came out, even though it was a cold night. It was only on real encounter, but it was an encounter of the good kind.
(These updates are provided to encourage Christians to share their faith with others. Many people say they believe in God, but do they really believe in the God of the Bible?)