Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!

Ministry Update December 16, 2018

I looked at the bell tower at MSU on Wednesday and it reminded me of the Christmas Song: I Heard The Bells On Christmas Day. Well, it wasn’t Christmas day and the bells didn’t toll like they normally do on Wednesdays. It was finals week so instead of bringing a message, I handed out Gospel tracts and said Merry Christmas! several hundred times. Merry Christmas! After saying this, sometimes students would take a tract, even after they initially were shaking their head no and getting ready to refuse one. But Merry Christmas! seemed to disarm some of the students. Others still said no to the tracts, but I still said Merry Christmas to them anyway. 

Since the students had finals that day, I wasn’t sure what the foot traffic pattern would be like. I brought 250 Christmas tracts from my church – Crossway Baptist Church and started 15 minutes early since I wasn’t sure how it would go. Starting at a different spot worked out surprisingly well, because praise God, 100 tracts were handed out before I got to my normal witnessing spot. Once there, I gave out another 150 tracts in the next 30 minutes. Originally, I really thought 200 tracts would be more than enough. But thankfully a lady at church at the last second on Sunday suggested I take the extra 50 and I’m glad that I had them.

Blessings

It was also a blessing to have Sean talk to me for a minute or two. He’s been a great encourager over the years, so as he started to walk away, I told him good luck on your finals. To my surprise he told me that he’s graduated and now working at the university. Then later on the young lady that drew the cross picture for me also walked by and I had the chance to visit with her briefly. If that wasn’t enough, another blessing for the day was two different times, guys that I recognized, students that I’m positive have cussed me out in the past, both took tracts! Praise God. May the Lord bless the tracts, save lost souls and may He encourage students to visit Crossway Baptist Church.

Tough But Encouraging Night

Friday night was 40 degrees, but there was a strong wind and it spit rain on Thomas and I. Not really sure why this was the case, but it was a tough night handing out tracts. More people refused tracts than took them. Thomas gave out more than I did, but we did hand out some tracts. Before we started the night witnessing, Thomas shared with me a praise that happened at his work. Several co-workers were saying the f-word left and right and it was grieving Thomas. So he boldly started praising Jesus, handed the guys Gospel tracts and they immediately stopped cussing.

After Thomas and I visited for a few minutes, I started us off with a message. The funny thing was one white truck with four doors and full of people kept driving by and mocking me. They did this three different times. They just kept driving by and mocking the message. One other guy walked by and threw his arms high in the air mocking too. Then Thomas went after me and he praised Jesus, called people to repent (Acts 17:30) and pleaded with people to trust Jesus. I can’t tell you how encouraging his words were to hear. I especially loved when he asked why wouldn’t you come to God.

Homeless Man Cussing Thomas

Ironically, the homeless couple that were a half a block away, didn’t pay any attention to us handing out tracts or my message. But something about Thomas’ message set the guy off. He kept cussing Thomas out, using the f-word, screaming that Thomas didn’t know God (as if a person cussing and upset about hearing Jesus’ precious name being lifted up would somehow know God). I just encouraged Thomas to ignore him and keep testifying to our great Lord and Savior. Not only did Thomas do so, but toward the end he turned toward the homeless guy and pleaded with him directly to repent and trust our Lord.

We also witnessed a near crash in front of us (which is typical) and three different cars drove the wrong way down the one-way street in front of us. But thankfully no one crashed. At the very end of the night, Thomas and I were standing there talking when a couple were walking behind him. Since Thomas couldn’t see them coming, I suggested that he hand them tracts. Thomas spun around, looked at the guy and said, “Are you a good person?” To which the guy replied, “I think I’m a good person.” Then Thomas said, here read this and handed him and the young lady with him both Are You A Good Person tracts. May God bless the Gospel tracts, the messages and may He draw lost souls to Himself as only the Lord can do.

(These updates are given to encourage Christians to share the glorious Gospel of Jesus Christ our Lord)