After a day of driving around southern California on a nostalgia trek to see all the houses I lived in, I thought I would stop at the mission inn in Riverside. I didn't realize there would be a huge festival going on. So I picked a corner and commenced reading Luke 1 and 2 and preaching the gospel for 2.5 hours. I was encouraged by so many people and even prayed for by several. A few other street evangelists stopped and chatted and prayed. One guy introduced me to his wife and then called his mom over and introduced us. By the end of the night I even shared the corner with another gospel preacher.
It was a huge festival and a huge blessing to preach the coming of King Jesus.
P.S. A tablet is the bomb for nighttime scripture reading outdoors.
I know I'm not supposed to fear men. I know, God has not given me a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. But, I was a bit fearful, going down to the trail after dark, and not knowing who I might encounter. But tonight's encounter proved a couple of things to me. 1) God is good and very gracious, and 2) Every individual (even every group dynamic) is different.
Four early twenties men went on the trail for the second time this evening, so I grabbed my flashlight and went down to the greenbelt trail.
These four men (one of them French), were very cordial and patient with me as we bantered back and forth about life, and forgiveness and the Good News. They listened as I explained what it meant to be 'born-again', and why that was Good News. One of them even shined the spotlight of his phone on me while we spoke.
Last night I spent about an hour and a half on the corner of 4th and Bellevue Way in Bellevue Washington, preaching to the upscale, jet setters, and Microsofties. Anyways, for street corner preaching, it was good experience. I had a few good responses, mostly from kids... bless their hearts. I did have a few people just break out laughing (I think it was at me.)
Video to come...
The main value of the video is the audio, sorry about the camera angle, but I'm uncomfortable setting the camera up too far away from me, and I also don't feel comfortable pointing the camera at my audience.
Here's the message I had planned on delivering, but the LORD had something else in mind...
I’m not about to cast stones in your direction, I’m here to throw out a life-line. I have a burden on my heart to share a few thoughts with you. It’s with your best interest in mind, that I'd like to give you some good news. You are highly valued by God, you are of immense worth to Him. I care about you and I’m greatly concerned for you, for your eternal soul, so I'd like to express God's great love for you that was demonstrated by Jesus Christ on the cross, when He died for us even while we were yet sinners.
Let me start with a little story that illustrates my point. Imagine you’re on a cruise ship. You’re cruising through the beautiful waters of the Caribbean. It’s a beautiful day. The sun’s shining. A gentle breeze is blowing, keeping the temperature at a very pleasant 84 degrees. Earlier, you ate a delicious meal. You’re thinking about going for a walk on deck and that, you hope to hit a few golf balls off the deck into the ocean, then in the evening you plan on doing a little gambling in the ship’s casino. The water is calm and blue. All you can see is ocean and blue sky except for a few puffy white clouds. Without warning though, a fire starts in the electrical room. Almost instantly, the fire spreads to the engine room, and reaches the fuel tank and causes an explosion that blows a hole in the hull. Quickly, the ship begins to sink. Hurriedly you run to the evacuation area, where there are porters directing people into lifeboats. But you think to yourself, I can swim. The water is warm, and calm. And you decide “I’ll jump in and save myself.” As you dive off the deck and do a perfect swan dive, you hear the porter yell, no, the waters are shark infested. The instant you hit the water, you’re gobbled up by the man-eating sharks.
I’m here to direct you into the life-boat of Jesus Christ. Don’t try to save yourself, receive salvation, get into the life-boat of Jesus Christ. I’m here to warn you, avoid the shark infested waters of God’s wrath and anger and judgement.” The Bible does describe a fiery hell, eternal condemnation for those who know not God and obey not the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Bible warns in the book of Jude, that Lord will come with ten thousands of his saints, to execute judgment upon all, and to convict all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have committed in ungodliness. But you may not want to hear about all that, I understand. If I tell you it’s wrong to lie, its wrong to steal, its wrong to commit sexual immorality, look at porn, it’s evil to use God’s Name in vain, and you feel condemned by anything I say, I understand, believe me. If you feel judged by anything I say, I understand. If you feel guilty for lying, stealing, fornicating, lusting, lewdness, drunkenness, gossip, dishonoring or disrespecting your parents, I understand. If you would accuse me judging, and your conscience feels guilty, I understand.
The true and living God of the Bible actually says its a good thing to have a guilty conscience and NOT IGNORE IT. The Bible says godly sorrow works repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world works death.” If you have a guilty conscience, that’s a good thing, because it means you haven’t gone so deep into sin and your heart is not so hardened that you no longer feel bad when you think about the wrongs you’ve committed. 2 Timothy 4:2 says there are those who have had their conscience seared [as] with a hot iron;” There are those who are self-deluded, who can tell a lie and believe their own lie. There are those who can steal, and it doesn’t bother them. There are some who can hate others, without regard to the value and dignity of another human being. There are those who can gaze upon the opposite sex with a lustful eye and not feel bad afterwards. If that’s not you though, keep listening.
