Unworthy

Unworthy

Ministry Update July 1, 2018

Praise God we had seven laborers witnessing downtown. Unfortunately, it was a slow night. There weren’t a lot of people downtown. But Kelly, Steven, Conner, Pastor Joshua, Rich, Dave and I still had a good time witnessing. We handed out a few tracts and had a few mockers. But Pastor Joshua had the best conversation of the night when he discussed with a teenager and his friends that knowing about Jesus is not the same as knowing Jesus and the teen said that he is unworthy to be saved. 

Rich led us off open-air preaching Friday night. He had some people stop and record while he was preaching. The rest of us handed out tracts to the handful of people walking by. Conner went next and while he was open-air preaching, Pastor Joshua handed out tracts to a large group of teenagers. He pointed out that he couldn’t talk to all of them at once so he asked for one of the to answer a few questions. Pastor Joshua started off asking if he knew the Gospel and the young man did. He replied that it’s repentance and faith in Jesus.

Unworthy To Be Saved

They continued talking and the young man admitted that he didn’t know Jesus. This is a great reminder of why street evangelism is so important. The young man goes to a solid Bible believing, Bible preaching church. He could recite the Gospel, but he confessed that he doesn’t know Jesus. Pastor Joshua kept talking to him and the teenager also admitted that he doesn’t feel worthy to be saved. (This is not the typical response, usually, people think they are alright just the way they are). Pastor Joshua explained that Jesus didn’t come for the righteous, He came to save sinners, to call sinners to repentance. Jesus came because we are unworthy. Pastor Joshua said all the teenagers were attentive to the witnessing encounter and they all took tracts. May God convict and convert these young men.

Then Steven quoted a Bible verse and Kelly preached next and he drew some hecklers across the street. Three of them actually stopped to listen and heckle him. Unfortunately, Kelly had technical difficulties and by the time he borrowed Conner’s amplifier, the mockers walked away. I ran across the street and told them that he’s just having technical difficulties and that he’d start preaching again shortly. They didn’t stick around, but Kelly started his message again anyway.

Doing Alright Until You Said I’m Going To Hell

Some of our group had to leave, but I went ahead and brought a message after Kelly. A few people were walking right toward me while I was talking about how those who are not followers of Christ Jesus are cursed and they have eternal damnation waiting for them if they die in their sins. Since the people were walking right in front of me, I stopped open-air preaching and asked them how they were doing. One guy spoke up and said that he was doing alright until I said that he’s going to Hell.

I replied that if Jesus is not his Lord and Savior, then he is headed for Hell. I invited him and his friends to stick around and hear about Jesus and how He is the only Savior, but they kept walking to their car. So I turned around and told him that we’ve all sinned against God and that’s why we need to be saved, we need to be rescued. We hope and pray that God will even save the mockers.

As I was about to finish up, Erica and Shelly stopped by. Kelly told them we were about to sing some more hymns and we did. Erica led us in a couple of hymns. One woman gave a thumbs up as she drove by. Another lady liked it too as she walked by. Kelly told her that she should have joined us, but I think we were finishing up right as she walked by. May God use the truth of the hymns to convict lost souls and to encourage fellow believers.

Thumbs Up

On Wednesday, Polly and I witnessed at Planned Parenthood. Surprisingly, we didn’t have any mockers and two drivers gave a thumbs up as they went by. Sadly, there were around six cars at Planned Parenthood. Nobody going in or out said a word. This grieves me tremendously. We are only there during a lunch hour and there are generally a lot of people inside. Where are the Christians? Can you imagine how many clients Planned Parenthood sees the other days, all day long? May God give a burden to Christians in Springfield and all around our country over the little babies being murdered in the womb. May God raise up men and women who willing to stand in front of these death pits and plead with people to spare the lives of unborn children.

Do You Care If I Have Eternal Life?

On Saturday, Conner and I witnessed at the Jehovah’s Witness Convention in Springfield, MO. Rich was there with another group. The other group preached in front of the building. Conner and I were witnessing toward the parking garage.  I don’t know how many tracts Conner handed out, but I only gave out two. One man must have only been going in to check out the convention because he took the tract without hesitation. The woman that took one didn’t know what it was. When she realized that it was a Gospel tract she tried to give it back to me. I told her that she could go ahead and keep it and I didn’t take it back from her.

Conner kept asking people “How do I inherit eternal life?” Not only could they not answer him, they generally just kept on walking past. So then he’d say “Don’t you care if I have eternal life?” By their silence, it appears they really don’t. Since they only believe 144,000 people are going to Heaven and none of them think they are part of the 144,000, I guess they really don’t care about your eternal soul.

People Are Unconscious In Hell?

They also don’t believe in an eternal Hell. I looked it up online while we were out there and Jehovah’s Witnesses think that people are unconscious in Hell and they are burned up – annihilated. This just further confirms that they aren’t worried about your eternity. (In fact these two beliefs make me wonder why they work so hard at going door to door. If they aren’t going to Heaven and they think Hell is temporary, why bother witnessing?)

I asked the people walking by if I was in a bad accident about 15 miles from Springfield and I’m bleeding out and only have three minutes to live and they come up on the accident, how can I get to Heaven? They of course didn’t answer me because they have a works-based religion. So three minutes doesn’t give you enough time to do any works. One guy responded that he’d get me help. I said “Sir, I won’t make it. I’ll be dead in three minutes.” As usual, he just walked on by.

Jehovah’s Witnesses Sneaking Out The Back

While this was going on, Rich figured out that they were directing people to go out the back of the building to go to lunch. The ironic part is, their conference was about being courageous. Rich preached back there and came and got Conner and I. We went to the back of the building and Conner preached about the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37). What loving your neighbor was really about and how we should be telling people about eternal life and how they can obtain it through Christ alone.

Then I brought a message about the rich man and Lazarus. Since Jehovah’s Witnesses don’t believe Hell is eternal, I read Luke 16:19-31 out loud. I pointed out that this is not a parable. Jesus never used proper names in parables. Also, please note the rich man was not unconscious. An unconscious person doesn’t talk. Same goes for feeling pain; an unconscious person doesn’t feel torments. Conner noticed some of the crowd seemed to be listening, but sadly they’d turn around and laugh at the truth. May God draw lost souls out of this cult and grant them repentance and faith in Jesus – the true Jesus, the Son of the living God.

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