addiction

Rededicate My Life

Tyail, Joshua and I witnessed downtown Friday night. I brought a message and had a couple of walk by mockers, but they were too far away and I couldn’t make out what they were saying, so I just kept open air preaching. Toward the end of the message, a guy walked up and started talking to Joshua. The guy was homeless and Joshua got the man a sleeping bag and a pair of socks that Joshua had brought with him. While Joshua went to his vehicle to get these things, the man crossed the street and walked up to me and said, “I want to rededicate my life to the Lord.”

I don’t get into debates as to whether or not rededicating your life is biblical or not because I don’t get caught up on terminology. If someone wants to repent and surrender their life to Jesus, I don’t care if they were a false convert or someone who thinks they are rededicating their life or not. Spiritually getting right with Jesus is the main thing. So I suggested the man go ahead and pray and then I’d pray after him. Unfortunately, the guy prayed for his physical needs, but nothing about repentance and not a single word about rededicating his life to Jesus.

Spiritual Needs

I prayed after he finished praying and since he didn’t bring up his spiritual needs at all, I prayed that God would save the man. That God would grant him repentance and faith in Jesus. I also prayed for his physical needs, but mainly focused on his spiritual needs. Joshua joined us while I was praying and Joshua handed him the sleeping bag and a pair of socks. Joshua had witnessed to this man before, so Joshua asked Daniel if he’d been drinking and Daniel admitted that he had been. So then Joshua asked him what happened to him. He asked the question because the last time Joshua witnessed to him, Daniel was sober and reading his Bible. Daniel admitted that he’d been hanging around the wrong people and had fallen back into drinking again.

Tyail joined us by this time (she had been handing out tracts across the street,) all three of us took turns quoting Scripture to Daniel and encouraged him to turn from his sins and turn to Jesus to save him. We pointed out that whom the Son sets free, is free indeed. Tyail quoted Proverbs 20:1, I quoted 1 Corinthians 6:9-11 and Joshua quoted several other verses. Daniel graciously listened. We weren’t picking on him, it was out of love that we were sharing Bible verses and showing him that we are concerned for his eternal soul. About that time Joshua asked Daniel if he was still reading his Bible and Daniel admitted that it had gotten wet, so Joshua gave him another one. Joshua also gave him a plastic bag to keep all these things in. Tyail recommend a place for him to stay the night and Daniel headed off in that direction. We hope and pray that God will truly save Daniel and set him free from the addiction of alcohol.

Handing Out Tracts

Joshua needed to leave after we talked to Daniel, so Tyail and I walked around downtown and handed out tracts. I handed out a few, but Tyail handed out a lot of them. I appreciated her boldness in going up to people that were standing outside of bars and the majority of them took tracts from her. We ended up back at our normal spot and handed out tracts there. After we prayed to end the night, I saw a woman walking my direction about a half a block away so I waited for her to reach me. I handed her a tract and she asked about it, so I told her that it’s a Gospel tract that tells you about Jesus. She smiled really big and said that she knows Jesus. I suggested she hand the tract to someone that needs it and she said that she would. It was a great way to end the night.

Hearty Amen!

I brought a message a MSU on Wednesday and didn’t have any mockers. A couple of students took pictures or recorded briefly as they walked by. But two students stood there for a few minutes and listened to the message. But the highlight was when I mentioned King Jesus and that every knee will bow and tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord, a young lady walked by and gave a Hearty Amen! It’s always encouraging when students aren’t afraid to say Amen in public and a little encouragement goes a long way.

(These updates are provided to encourage Christians to share the Gospel with others)