Ultimate No

 

Ministry Update March 20, 2016

No!

I was going to call this update No!; but I decided on Ultimate No after witnessing downtown Friday night. Before I talk about Friday night though, I’ll start off telling you about witnessing at MSU last Wednesday. I started off handing out tracts that a friend gave me that he bought at the Shepherds Conference. I had 200 of them with me, but I only gave out 100. Many students said no thank you when I offered them a tract and others just said no. 

 

The professor that tells me he worships a different Jesus told me no, I don’t take those. I really wish that he’d stop sometime and talk to me because I’m quite curious about the Jesus he worships. His Jesus can’t be the Jesus of the Bible because Jesus commanded us to share the Gospel with others. The One True Jesus, the Jesus of the Bible would never encourage us to say no, I don’t take those. Jesus would want us to hand out tracts because it is an effective way to proclaim the glorious Gospel.

Then when I brought a message a bicyclist buzzed me and mouthed off something. Then he came back by walking his bike this time, but still mocking God. I warned him that one day he won’t be laughing. One day he will no longer mock Almighty God. One day will be Judgment Day (Romans 2:16) and it will be too late. I pleaded with other students to not follow this young man on the broad road to destruction (Matthew 7:13-14).

Aaron preached after me, so I went back to handing out tracts. One young lady and later a young man politely say no thank you. Others said no, but a few students took tracts. I tried to hand tracts to a couple walking by and he said no, then turned around after he was past me and said NOT A CHANCE! Unless he repents and puts his trust in Jesus (Acts 20:21), he will regret that he didn’t take advantage of the chance to hear God’s truth. If he dies in his sins, it will be too late (John 8:24). He will no longer get a chance to spurn God. He will have no more chances to mock God. He will suffer the torments of Hell for all of eternity (Revelation 14:11).

Friday Night

Then on Friday night Aaron, Erica, Diana, Elise, Serenity and I were joined by a couple of kids from their church. We started off singing hymns and unlike last week, I don’t think the songs offended anyone this time around. It was a cold and damp night, but the truth in the old hymns went forth as well as the Gospel being proclaimed.

Two Free Hugs

When I brought a message a guy walked over from the bar across the street and sat down near me. He listened to the message – he heard that I was preaching against alcohol, drugs and sexual immorality. Then after a while, he stood up, walked over to me, shook my hand and hugged me and thanked me for preaching truth. The worst part was the stench of alcohol that I could smell on his breath. May God convict him and truly convert him.

Then a guy that plays the guitar downtown for money went up and talked to Aaron while he was preaching. After that he walked up to me and apologized for all of the times that he’s cussed us out and said that he wasn’t going to do that anymore. He said that he didn’t agree with us, but that he wasn’t going to oppose us like he’s done in the past. He gave me a hug (that was my second hug of the night and I didn’t even have a free hugs sign). Then he told me that he’s going to make a sign and stand next to us that says basically believe what you want to believe.

More No

While Aaron was preaching, I had more people saying no to the Gospel tracts. Some people said no thank you.  One guy laughingly said no. Then a little while later a guy walked by us, I stuck out a tract and asked him if he had gotten one of these and he just stuck his hand up, in other words he was emphatically saying no! He was telling me to stop, that he didn’t want any part of it.

Ultimate No

But the saddest no of the night was the ultimate no. You see, we found out that an atheist who has stood next to us for years, mocking us and mocking God, died last year. We didn’t know that he was gone until someone told us Friday night. Did we whoop it up and scream and praise God? No, we cried. We wept for this man who used to hold handmade cardboard signs as he stood next to us saying f this guy. He used to cuss us out. He’d laugh and make fun of us. Other people would come over to see what all the excitement was about and many times they would join him in mocking us. Many times they would take their picture with him holding his sign.

But we did not laugh when we heard the news. We were heartbroken because we know where he’s at this very moment. We now know that he has been suffering the torments of Hell for many months. There is no joy. There is no “see, I told you so.” No, there is only mourning and weeping because that young man heard the Gospel many times. We pleaded with him to get right with God. We pleaded with him to surrender his life to Jesus.

But instead, he continued saying no, no, no! No to God. No – God was going to rule his life. Now he knows that God is in charge. The Atheist is no longer an Atheist. He now knows that God is real. He now knows the suffering and torments of Hell will never end. The Atheist now knows that there are no second chances for him. He now knows that he said no to God one time too many. He now knows that he has spoken the ultimate no and he can never take it back. He can never undo it.

Don’t join this young man in Hell after you die. Even though he mocked us and cussed us out, he was still a likeable guy. I guess you could say that he had charisma. But none of that will do him any good. The God of the universe cannot be bribed. You reject Him your whole life and you will end up in the same place as this young man. Don’t continue saying no until you say your ultimate no.

If you die in your sins, then you too will suffer in agony in the torments of Hell forever and ever. But you don’t have to continue down the broad road to Hell. You can repent and put your faith in Jesus. Oh, this is not a game. Do this today. Turn from your sins and turn to Jesus. Confess and forsake your sins. Repent and surrender your life to Jesus. Today is the day of salvation. Call upon the name of the Lord and be saved.

Turning No to Yes

 

Then Kelly, Steven, Aaron, Justin and I handed out tracts at the St. Patrick’s Day Parade. (Justin’s wife and another friend joined us toward the end of the route). We had a blessed time handing out around 3,400 Gospel tracts. It was fun. People are generally in a good mood at parades and the vast majority say yes to tracts instead of no. A few people said no, but mostly we heard yes. May God bless and multiply the tracts (may the people that received them show them to others) and may God convict and convert lost souls, all for His honor and glory.

(These updates are provided to encourage fellow believers to share their faith in Jesus Christ with this lost and dying world. Time is short. People die every day. Don’t let them die without hearing the glorious Gospel of our Lord).