Thank you so much covering us in prayer last night; the Lord did some amazing work! We actually got invited into 1/2 of the houses the we went to (keep in mind that gaining entrance isn’t really something we aspire to, but such was the favor the Lord granted us in the eyes of our neighbors, and they kept asking us to come in). The Spirit appeared to be orchestrating all of our encounters last night, in ways that seemed almost supernatural, and this was most evident in the first house we visited.
When we arrived at the neighborhood across the canal from church to begin our work, instead of beginning in the typical way of knocking on the doors on the street, we ended up wandering up some alleyway and knocking on a guy’s basement door. Don’t ask me how we ended up there, in retrospect it seems like a silly decision – and from a human perspective this was definitely the wrong door! Andy, the resident, who has been having trouble recently with thieves trying to break in on that side of his house, didn’t hear us knocking, but did hear some commotion at the basement door, and he thought the thieves were returning. He popped out of a side door, giving us a bit of a start. When he realized who we were and what our intentions were, I think he felt bad, because he invited us into his home to sit and chat with him. Andy was extremely hospitable, but his hospitality was overshadowed by his hunger to understand the Christian religion. He admittedly had very little knowledge of the bible, for example we had to explain to him the difference between the Old and New Testaments. Most of what he did know came from attending the occasional catholic service with some of his friends, and he was curious about what he had seen! He wanted to know about baptism and communion, he asked about the resurrection, the Trinity, mormonism, catholicism, and we got to talk about the cults and how they differ from Christianity. Sara and Torin did an awesome job explaining some deep theological concepts. We talked to him about the protoevangelium, the Passover, the exile, the sacrificial system (and how they all point to Christ). We read John 6, 1 Cor 15 and 2 Peter 3. We talked about hell and the consequences of rejecting Christ and many other things. By the time we bade our goodbyes, an hour had passed. At our farewell, back in the alleyway, we prayed with him, and Andy embraced Torin and myself as we left. Please be praying that Andy’s hunger to know about God will deepen into a desire to know God and that he would be saved.
Please also be praying for:
Juanita and son – who were initially hostile to Christianity (they understood it to be an oppressive to-do list, but softened when we explained that Christ came to grant us forgiveness for our legal transgressions and that repentance is loving Christ), that they would hold fast to the gospel they heard and be saved.
Demi, Gina, Jerod and Emma – that they will be saved/deepen in their repentance and that they will come to church this Sunday.
With love from your little brother in Christ,
7. Change the text under “Street Evangelism” to read:
Christ died for me, what choice do I have but to declare the gospel!?!? This great commision practice is something that I have endeavored to do on a weekly basis since 2014. Sadly I fail far to often in that endeavour, but the the Lord continues to be faithful and I am pleased to be able to be His tool to seek and save the lost. And also to play a small role in the training up of future evangelists, as he answers my prayers from Matthew 9:38. Please take a minute to read the great things the Lord can do through His harvest workers…and then get out there and spread the good news!