We Were Listening
Ministry Update October 28, 2018
Jeff and I witnessed at the 36th Annual Bean Festival in Mountain View, Arkansas. Mountain View is a town of about 2,700 people, but there were probably between 5,000 and 6,000 people attending this year. They hand out beans and cornbread. Then they have an outhouse race and thankfully they weren’t functioning outhouses. The last message I brought was concerning men and women’s sinfulness and God’s Holiness. I pleaded with people to repent and trust Jesus. Then I asked the question “Is anybody listening?” If so, you should stop dead in your tracks and pay attention. Bless a lady’s heart, she walked over and said “We were listening right over there.”
This lady appeared to be a believer and she walked up to me, so I turned the amplifier off. She wanted to know what ministry we are with. I told her that I’m from Springfield, MO and I looked over at Jeff and he said that he’s from Bull Shoals, AR. She then gave us some gas money and that’s when she also said “We were listening right over there.” Right over there was across the blocked off street where we were witnessing. I’m here to tell you that a little encouragement goes a long way. I thank God for sending this lady to encourage Jeff and I.
I’m Calling The Police
You see earlier in the afternoon we were preaching on the backside of the event while a lot of people were still attending the outhouse race a block or two away. Several people tried to discourage us. As soon as Jeff started open-air preaching a guy came running up to him threatening to call the police and told him that he couldn’t preach there. We were on a public sidewalk and the Supreme Court has ruled on three different occasions that low amplification is covered under free speech. Then another woman also told him he had to quit.
Soon after a professing Christian told him he had to stop and that she was going to call the police. Sadly, she also said “This isn’t the time or the place for preaching.” Jeff rightly called her to repent and trust Jesus. If you are a professing Christian and you believe that preaching is only for Sundays then you most likely are a false convert. Jesus Himself told us to go into ALL the world and preach the Gospel. So how can Bean Fest in Mountain View, Arkansas be a wrong time and place to witness? Personally, I love hearing the precious name of Jesus lifted up in the open-air.
Before we started open-air preaching, a Seventh Day Adventist handed me a tract (I didn’t know what it was, but Jeff recognized it immediately). Then when he was bringing his first message, two Mormon’s walked by across the street. Jeff spoke to them directly. During all of this, several people stopped to listen to the Gospel. (So yes, some people were listening). We also received many thumbs up, people waving and others saying Amen as they heard the preaching.
One Catholic and Two Mormons
When I brought a message after Jeff’s first one, he spoke to a Catholic woman who believes she’s a Christian. Jeff tried to point out some of the heresies of Roman Catholicism. The two Mormon guys came back around behind us and Jeff talked to both of them for a while. Then when I was about finished with my message a woman politely asked us to not open-air preach where we were preaching and because she asked so nicely, we decided to move to a different spot.
Jeff preached at the next spot and he tried to engage several people as they walked by. He’d ask “Sir, if you die tonight, where would you go?” A family walked by us and the teenager was wearing a cross. Jeff asked him if he could quote John 3:16. The young man started it off and his mom finished it up. The parents walked on, but the teenager and his younger brother stayed and talked to Jeff. So, Jeff showed them John 3:17-19 in the Bible and talked to them about it.
The teenager said they had to go, they were heading to a rodeo. The teenager rides bulls! Jeff and I both thought that was amazing. Neither one of us have any desire to ride bulls, but we had a great time handing out tracts and open-air preaching at the Bean Festival this year. May God bless the tracts, the conversations and the preaching. Several people were listening and may God convict lost souls and draw them to Himself.
The Hand off
Polly and I witnessed downtown Friday night. Some people walked by dressed up for the Rocky Horror Picture Show at the Gillioz Theatre. Most of them took tracts. Three people were walking toward me, two guys with a girl in between them. She looked up as they neared me, so I handed her a tract. The guy closest to me said “Can I have one too?” Of course, I said yes. He took it and walked another eight or 10 steps to the curb. When he realized what it was and several skateboarders rolled by right at that exact moment.
The guy with the tract stuck his arm out, held out the tract and one of the skaters grabbed it. It was great to see the hand off right in front of us. We also had a guy with a Great Britain accent say something as he walked by, but I couldn’t understand him. Toward the end of the message a large group of women walked by with several of them mocking God. One really kept it up, but I just ignored them all and kept bringing the message.
Crazy Man
There was one encourager at Missouri State University on Wednesday along with three mockers. The first guy walked by and said “Crazy man.” I agreed with him that what I’m saying sounds foolish to the world. I couldn’t hear what the third guy said. The second guy skated by (not Quinn the skateboarding atheist) and he yelled for me to shut up. Lord willing, that’s not going to happen.
You must hear truth before you believe it. Also, faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. How can unbelievers believe in Jesus if they don’t know Him? If they don’t know that they have sinned against a Holy God and that He punishes sin? How can the Holy Spirit convict lost souls if they don’t know they are lost? Oh, how can they repent and surrender their lives to Jesus if they haven’t heard the Gospel? How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher (Romans 10:14)?
Thanks But No Thanks
Thanks for the suggestion young man, but no thank you. As long as I have breath in me, Lord willing, I will cry out for lost souls to repent and believe the Gospel. Jesus is the only Savior. There is no other. Jesus said unless you repent you will all likewise perish. I’m pleading with people to recognize that they have sinned against God; that the punishment for their rebellion is eternity in Hell. Also, that God sent His only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. Jesus is the sinless Son of God who suffered, bled and died in the place of guilty sinners.
The Lord never sinned, not one time, yet He endured physical pain and God’s wrath over sinful men and women. Then He rose from the grave three days later. God offers eternal life to each and every person who repents from their sin and puts their faith in Jesus. How could I possess the words of eternal life and not share this glorious truth with others? Crazy man?
If you mean crazy for Jesus Christ my Lord and Savior, then guilty as charged. I am crazy for Jesus. He took the punishment that I deserved and gave me His righteousness. Look like a crazy man to the world? Absolutely! How about you? Are you saved? Do you have eternal life or are you still dead in your trespasses and sins? Are you willing to look foolish or crazy to the rest of the world because of your faith in Jesus?