Post by Jeffrey Olver on Jul 28, 2008 17:13:57 GMT -5
Saturday night, Joel, Caleb and I preached the Gospel in Dallas, Texas.
We started at 7pm at the West End Transfer Station. There were crowds of people everywhere. I started preaching... most just listened. A couple of hecklers said some things, but for the majority of the time they would just keep walking to catch their bus. Joel and Caleb had lots of fruitful one-on-one conversations, gave away tracts and even a Bible.
While I was preaching I noticed a Deaf family was there, so I was able to preach verbally and with Sign Language. They were shocked and amazed. I observed a little girl asking questions to her Daddy(?) throughout the preaching, and he would answer then encourage her to keep watching. This part was filmed, and I'll post it soon.
Caleb then preached so I could rest my voice until it got dark.
9pm we drove to Deep Ellum, the nightlife district of Dallas. We preached at the Curtain Club, a club with an outdoor drinking/smoking area. I stood on the sidewalk across the quiet street and lifted up my voice. Joel and Caleb held the "Trust Jesus" and "Repent and Trust Jesus" signs and answered objections as people approached.
The reaction was like opening the shades in a dark bedroom of people sleeping. They complained and shouted and objected. A man pretending to be mentally handicapped stole our signs twice and gave them to the crowd who actually held them up for us!!! But they always returned them!!! ;D
Joel and Caleb had tons of great conversations, and so did I, and Joel preached too.
A Christian Police officer stopped by just to see what was up, encouraged us to stay safe, but keep preaching. Previously the owner of the club standing on the sidewalk we were preaching from said we could only stand on the curb, not "his" sidewalk. I asked the police officer and he scoffed and said I could stand on the sidewalk as long as I didn't obstruct peope from passing. He gave us his card in case we ran into trouble! God bless him!
I was cursed out, men and women defied God and shook their fists at Him, they cursed and insulted Him. They indulged themselves in deeper sin to show just how much they were going to do what they wanted.
At the end of the night, one by one, many of the loudest mockers approached me. The first words out of their mouths were, “I’m sorry.” They continued with varieties of “I know what I’m doing is wrong,” “it takes a lot of guts to do stand for what’s right,” “I shouldn’t have said those things.”
I asked myself Why? God gave me the answer.
Because they are guilty. Here they are having a good time, the light of Christ shines on their heart and reveals what is there and continues to shine for hours and hours. Until many of them need to do something to alleviate that guilt. There’s got to be something they can do to make themselves feel better, but they don’t want to give up what they’re doing. So they apologize to me and compliment me on my ‘bravery.’ There’s got to be something they can do to soothe their aching conscience – even the DRUNK people! They came out to drown their conscience in booze, but the Word of God cuts painfully through! And in their stupor they repeat themselves, “I’m sorry. I’m sorry. You’re a good guy. You’re doing what’s right. I’m sorry.”
We got to our host home around 3am. I woke up at 5am with a stomach ache I from the day before we preached and didn't go back to sleep until 6am; after I threw up.
Kneeling there, with my face in the last place I wanted it to be at 6 in the morning the Lord ministered to me. This verse flooded into my mind, "I know how to be abased and I know how to abound." Even after painfully wretching, missing my wife and little girl, I was blessed with the peace of knowing I was doing the will of the Lord.
We started at 7pm at the West End Transfer Station. There were crowds of people everywhere. I started preaching... most just listened. A couple of hecklers said some things, but for the majority of the time they would just keep walking to catch their bus. Joel and Caleb had lots of fruitful one-on-one conversations, gave away tracts and even a Bible.
While I was preaching I noticed a Deaf family was there, so I was able to preach verbally and with Sign Language. They were shocked and amazed. I observed a little girl asking questions to her Daddy(?) throughout the preaching, and he would answer then encourage her to keep watching. This part was filmed, and I'll post it soon.
Caleb then preached so I could rest my voice until it got dark.
9pm we drove to Deep Ellum, the nightlife district of Dallas. We preached at the Curtain Club, a club with an outdoor drinking/smoking area. I stood on the sidewalk across the quiet street and lifted up my voice. Joel and Caleb held the "Trust Jesus" and "Repent and Trust Jesus" signs and answered objections as people approached.
The reaction was like opening the shades in a dark bedroom of people sleeping. They complained and shouted and objected. A man pretending to be mentally handicapped stole our signs twice and gave them to the crowd who actually held them up for us!!! But they always returned them!!! ;D
Joel and Caleb had tons of great conversations, and so did I, and Joel preached too.
A Christian Police officer stopped by just to see what was up, encouraged us to stay safe, but keep preaching. Previously the owner of the club standing on the sidewalk we were preaching from said we could only stand on the curb, not "his" sidewalk. I asked the police officer and he scoffed and said I could stand on the sidewalk as long as I didn't obstruct peope from passing. He gave us his card in case we ran into trouble! God bless him!
I was cursed out, men and women defied God and shook their fists at Him, they cursed and insulted Him. They indulged themselves in deeper sin to show just how much they were going to do what they wanted.
At the end of the night, one by one, many of the loudest mockers approached me. The first words out of their mouths were, “I’m sorry.” They continued with varieties of “I know what I’m doing is wrong,” “it takes a lot of guts to do stand for what’s right,” “I shouldn’t have said those things.”
I asked myself Why? God gave me the answer.
Because they are guilty. Here they are having a good time, the light of Christ shines on their heart and reveals what is there and continues to shine for hours and hours. Until many of them need to do something to alleviate that guilt. There’s got to be something they can do to make themselves feel better, but they don’t want to give up what they’re doing. So they apologize to me and compliment me on my ‘bravery.’ There’s got to be something they can do to soothe their aching conscience – even the DRUNK people! They came out to drown their conscience in booze, but the Word of God cuts painfully through! And in their stupor they repeat themselves, “I’m sorry. I’m sorry. You’re a good guy. You’re doing what’s right. I’m sorry.”
We got to our host home around 3am. I woke up at 5am with a stomach ache I from the day before we preached and didn't go back to sleep until 6am; after I threw up.
Kneeling there, with my face in the last place I wanted it to be at 6 in the morning the Lord ministered to me. This verse flooded into my mind, "I know how to be abased and I know how to abound." Even after painfully wretching, missing my wife and little girl, I was blessed with the peace of knowing I was doing the will of the Lord.