Good To Be Back Home

Good To Be Back Home

It’s good to be back home and out witnessing again in downtown Springfield, MO. Aaron and I missed the previous two Fridays and we thank Kelly for coming out both those nights. We were back in our usual witnessing spot and our fellow neighbors didn’t let us down. Several Hail Satan’s were shouted out by people walking by, motorcyclists tried to drown out the preaching and singing with their loud stereos and some people stated that we weren’t witnessing the right way. But we had some encouragers too. 

Erica, Diana, Elise, Serenity, Aaron and I started the night off singing hymns. we noticed a couple of people tapping their fingers on their steering wheels and one sang with us to Leaning On The Everlasting Arms. That’s why we love the old hymns. They hold God’s truth and many people remember singing them when they were younger.

Would Jesus Stand On A Box And Use An Amplifier?

While I was on the box, a young man on a bicycle rode up and told me that I was sharing Christ the wrong way. He wanted to know if Jesus would stand on a box and use an amplifier? (I’m not Jesus, so I do stand on a box using an amplifier). I asked him if he knew the Bible and he said yes. Then I replied Jesus said what you hear whispered in the ear, proclaim from the rooftop. I pointed to the building behind me and said if I could get up there, I would. Then I asked him if he thought it would be loud if I preached from up there. He said it probably would be loud.

But after a quick back and forth exchange, I could tell that he wasn’t really interested in talking, so I went back to preaching. Aaron asked him several questions and the young ma gave wrong answers to all three questions about Christianity. This is what mainly compels me to go out street witnessing. There are so many people here in the Midwest that grew up in church or had a religious experience, but have never truly repented and surrendered their lives to Jesus. They don’t really understand the glorious Gospel.

More Questioning

Aaron went next and while he was preaching, a young couple asked me several questions. They were asking the same types of questions as the young man on the bicycle earlier, but they were very humble and seemed sincere. I enjoyed visiting with Christine and Kern. Christine asked me to show her in the Bible what I was saying to the young man earlier. So I showed her several passages about witnessing and how Matthew 7 doesn’t say don’t judge, it says don’t be a hypocrite. I also showed her John 7:24 where Jesus did say that we are to judge with righteous judgment. But even so, just pointing out sin, doesn’t mean we are judging. I also told them that we are not sinless perfectionist. God does call us to be holy because He is Holy.

We had a great conversation. While Aaron was preaching, a police car right in front of him turned on their lights and sirens. I thought, oh boy, here we go again. But instead, the officer sped on down the street. Our city now has an unconstitutional city ordinance against amplifiers and any time we will probably get hassled. But we were left alone Friday night.

Silently Questioning

Right before Aaron finished up preaching, two guys stopped to listen. They thought that we were part of the sinless perfection guys that hold signs sometimes across the street. When they realized that we weren’t part of that group and that Aaron was preaching the Gospel, they actually shook his hand instead of chewing him out.

We finished the night singing hymns again. This time a couple of guys walked by and one of them being a smart aleck held his lighter up in the air like people do at a rock concert. Then some girls drove by yelling something out the window, but I couldn’t make out what they were saying. Sadly, right after them another car full of girls drove by and one girl had her head out the window and hurled right in front of us. Diana and I looked at each other Diana said she’ll probably be back out next weekend doing the same thing. I used to be one of those people and yes, she probably will continue drinking. Lord help us.

He Doesn’t Have A Permit

Earlier in the week I went to MSU and witnessed during my lunch hour. It was really cold and the wind was biting. I brought a message and mostly saw apathetic students. The one exception being a student that walked right by and said “Have a blessed day.” I replied “God bless you.” That was really the only interaction until I walked back to my car.

Right before I got there a security officer yelled at me that they had a complaint against me. I heard what he said, but couldn’t comprehend it, so I asked him what was he saying. He answered back the same thing.  The security officer said yeah a student complained that I was there without a permit. Then he said, but we know that you always get one, so we didn’t even come over and check with you. I said you are right, I do have a permit and I showed it to him. How cowardly of the God mocker to call campus security instead of being man enough to confront me face to face.

(These updates are given to encourage Christians to share their faith in Jesus Christ with others)