Labor Of Love

Labor Of Love

Ministry Update July 21, 2019

My wife and I were on vacation this week, but on Saturday July 13, 2019, I had the privilege of witnessing with Brady, his wife Trish, Shane, Gerald, his wife and son and a young lady that was with their group. We did street evangelism at Bricktown in Oklahoma City and it was a real labor of love. It was a joy and honor to labor for the Lord with these evangelists in Oklahoma City.

We started witnessing around 7:30 pm and there were some Black Hebrew Israelites shouting their cultic views on the same spot that Brady has been witnessing at for 10 years. So he set up directly across from them and shared the Gospel, with them and everyone else around. The Black Hebrew Israelites immediately started calling him “White Devil” and “Edomite.” These two slurs appeared to be their favorite way of attacking true followers of Jesus Christ. As annoying as they are, they did draw a crowd and for the most part, Brady ignored them and preached to the crowd.

As the crowd gathered, the rest of us handed out Gospel tracts and New Testaments. Gerald ended up in a long conversation with a man who wanted a Bible before he left. Gerald’s wife talked to a couple of young girls. As crazy as the interaction was with the Black Hebrew Israelites, they did draw a crowd and people stood around to see what was going on.

Where’s the Scripture?

One funny thing was that the whole time Brady was literally reading from the Bible and quoting Bible verses from memory, the Black Hebrew Israelites kept screaming “where’s the Scripture?” Maybe if they had quit yelling long enough, they could have actually heard the Scriptures. After Brady finished up, we were going to move to another spot. But I told Brady that I’d like to bring a short message and he encouraged me to go ahead.

The Black Hebrew Israelites kept saying that Brady was just quoting Paul and not Jesus. They also kept asking, “What is the Law?” and “What is sin?” So I read from Matthew 5 where Jesus says lusting is the same as adultery of the heart and anger is the same thing as murder. So I brought a message how Jesus didn’t abolish the law, but actually held it to a higher standard. He also said unrepentant sinners go to Hell. Even though I was reading the Bible to refute the Black Hebrew Israelites, I followed Brady’s lead and mainly just preached to the crowd that had gathered. Before long the Black Hebrew Israelites packed up and left. That was great because we could actually hear Shane when he preached after me.

I went back to handing out tracts after I finished my message. That’s when a fellow believer came over and shook my hand and told me “those were encouraging words.” He liked the fact that we were sharing the Gospel even with the Black Hebrew Israelites trying to distract and discourage us. That cultic group even cried out “Satanic” when I was quoting Jesus straight from the Bible. There was Satanic action going on, but it was clearly on their part. The encourager agreed with that assessment. He also shared his testimony with me. I handed him a tract and encouraged him to read it and pass it onto someone else.

How Is A Person Saved?

One time I handed out tracts to two or three teenagers out of a group of five. One of them stopped and asked what I had just handed him. I told him that it was a Gospel tract that tells you about Jesus. All five guys stopped, so I asked them if they knew Jesus. They said they did. So I asked them to tell me about Him. One young man said that He came back from the dead (yes He did). Another said that He died for our sins. So then I asked them if that means everyone is saved, that there is universal salvation. They agreed that not everyone is saved.

So then I asked them how is a person saved. Sadly, none of them could tell me. So I shared the Gospel with them. When they were getting ready to leave, I said, “Now who didn’t get one of these?” And a couple of them raised their hand, so I gave them both tracts. I encouraged all of them to please read it. They assured me that they would and all of them shook my hand before they left. This was a very encouraging encounter.

Right about the time we were getting ready to move, Trish came up to Brady and said, “this guy is hungry.” Brady replied that he was getting ready to preach at another spot. (Normally we have people wait until we are finished preaching to buy them some food). But I felt compelled to feed the man, so I told Brady and Trish that I would get him something to eat. His name is Daniel and we walked over to Sonic, with him carrying his case of beer (or what was left of it). When we got to Sonic, there was line all the way to the door, so it took us 35 to 45 minutes to get through the line.

He Would Say Some Religious Sounding Things

Daniel would say some religious sounding things and I just chatted with him at first. Then he asked me how I became a Christian, so I told him that God convicted me while I was reading the Bible – Matthew 7:21-23. I explained that Jesus said not everyone who calls Him Lord is going to Heaven, that Jesus said true believers do the will of God the Father. Jesus also said that He’s going to say to the false converts, “Depart from Me you worker of Lawlessness, I never knew you.” I gently explained to Daniel that getting drunk is not doing the will of God the Father and also told him that we can’t clean ourselves up in order for God to save us. We must repent and surrender our lives to Jesus, then He cleans us up after we are saved.

Daniel then confessed another sin to me and I pointed out that sin is rebellion against God. Jesus said unless you repent, you will perish. That we are to repent and put our trust in Jesus. Then Daniel told me that he is a work in progress. I said that’s probably true, but what if you die tonight? God forbid, but if you die in your sins, you will go to Hell. I gave him an A. W. Pink tract Is Christ Your Lord? Daniel told me that he would read it. Since we stood in line so long together and talked the whole time, I left him alone to eat his Coney dog. He told me that he would come back over to where we were witnessing after he ate.

A Couple Encouraged Brady

When I got back to Brady and his group, Brady was nearing the end of his message in front of the movie theater. There was a couple there and the man was very excited to see Brady open-air preaching. They introduced themselves to Brady and thanked him for sharing the Gospel. The man even found Brady on Facebook and shared where he had recorded part of Brady’s message. I thanked them for encouraging Brady. We get a lot of mockers doing street ministry and it is nice to have an encourager every now and then.

About that time, Daniel showed up and told me that he read the tract. I asked him to read it again the next day. (Of course I didn’t say when you are sober, but that’s what I meant). I again pleaded with him to repent and trust Jesus. Brady and I took a couple of pictures together and Daniel piped up and said he wanted to take a picture with me. Over all we handed out 50 New Testaments and hundreds of tracts. May God bless these, the conversations and the messages. It truly was a labor of love to share the Gospel with Brady and his group. May God continue to bless him, his family and his friends that go out witnessing with him. Most of all, may our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ be glorified overall.

(These updates are given to encourage Christians to share the Gospel with this lost and dying world)