Post by messengermicah on Feb 16, 2008 12:56:45 GMT -5
Monday February 4, 2008: After two weeks of driving to campus an hour and half one way, and driving much of the day on Sunday to arrive in the Tampa area, I was very tired.
I was also privileged to be asked to preach at “The Mission” church on Tuesday night. After two weeks of long days of driving, preaching, etc. I decided to follow Leonard Ravenhill’s advice to preachers of “taking one day to prepare the man and another day to prepare the message.”
I locked in all day for prayer, Bible reading and study.
Tuesday February 5, 2008: I locked in all day again for prayer, Bible reading, meditation on the Word of God, and sermon preparation.
I preached for about 45 minutes from 2 Peter 2:5 on “Preachers of Righteousness”.
Wednesday February 6, 2008-University of South Florida-Tampa, Florida: Sister Elizabeth and I arrived on campus around noon and I began preaching at 12:10 PM.
Gradually a small group of listeners began to build up. After some time a student stole my water jug and ran away with it. This happens fairly regularly but I always wear my camelback with a reserve supply.
It seemed to be a fairly typical USF crowd. Soon some atheists came over and began holding signs behind me while I preached. Each Wednesday at this University they have a “Bull Market” with vendors selling things and pushing propaganda. Two of these vendors are the “Atheists of Tampa” and the “Secular Coalition.”
As these groups began to mock me and hold up their signs the crowd continued to grow to about 175.
At certain points I was so sad and disturbed. I could see several in the crowd trying to listen intently, God obviously dealing with them and under conviction of sin. However, the hypocrites kept coming out of the woodwork to defend sin by telling the concerned listeners, “We are all sinners…We can never stop sinning…We can’t obey the Bible…”etc. etc. It seemed everyone wanted to be a preacher this day but none were “Preachers of Righteousness” like Noah was (2 Peter 2:5).
These were preachers that prophesy deceits and speak smooth words (Isaiah 30:9-11), they strengthen the hands of the wicked that he should not return from his wicked way by promising him life (Ezekiel 13:22), and they say to the wicked who has no peace (Isaiah 57:21), “Peace, peace” when there is no peace.
Gradually the crowd dwindled down to around 25-30. There were many who seemed to be sincerely seeking truth, asked good questions and seemed genuinely concerned about the state of their souls. Unfortunately, I was not able to deal with these souls as thoroughly as I would have liked because of the “preachers of unrighteousness”. They would continue to interfere all day long, stand next to me using their 3-4 champion verses taken out of context over and over again to contradict the dozens I used to show the hearers their lost condition, the holiness of God, the judgment that awaited them, their need of repentance, and the salvation from all sin found in Jesus Christ.
One man in particular always seems to show up when I am preaching on this campus. He is probably in his fifties and always seems to be talking with the young female students. He constantly tells them how salvation is a free gift so we don’t need to repent or meet any conditions to be saved (see Luke 13:3, 5, Mark 1:15), we can’t stop sinning, we can’t obey God, because we are human and in the flesh, etc. (1 Peter 4:1-2).
I stopped preaching around 2:45 PM to use the restroom and returned immediately to sit down and have some conversation with the students. Unfortunately, the only ones who came around were the hypocrites and the older hypocrite who witnesses unbiblically.
After, a half hour of expounding the scriptures to them on the areas of repentance, holiness, victory over sin, etc. I saw they were totally insincere and dishonest in examining the Bible and decided to leave for the day. They would constantly challenge me to show them where such a scripture was found in the Bible. I would show them and they claimed they wanted to read it but then would totally act as if it was not there when I showed it to them.
He that is of God heareth God’s word. Ye therefore hear them not because ye are not of God (John 8:47).
Thursday February 7, 2008-University of South Florida-Tampa, Florida: I began preaching around 12:25 PM. Immediately listeners began to sit down and listen intently with some asking good questions. As the crowd began to build up some, I observed two middle aged men slither into the crowd. They would sit next to those who were listening intently and began to talk to them. I perceived they were professing Christians from a local church who were hypocrites.
After some time I asked one of them if he agreed with what I was preaching. He told me he did not like me saying I was free from sin. I began to hammer him and the listeners with a barrage of scriptures that prove Christians are to live free from, above, and without sin (John 8:32, John 8:34, John 8:36, Romans 6:14, Romans 8:2, Titus 2:11-12, 1 Peter 4:1-2, 1 John 3:6, 1 John 3:8, 1 John 3:9, 1 John 5:18).
At this point the other man jumped up and right where he was began to scream that I was a false prophet, no one was free from sin, we can never stop sinning, we are all sinners, etc.
At this point I ran to where this man was screaming, stood upon one of the benches and began to preach and refute what he was saying from scripture. He would continually interrupt me and tell the crowd how no one was free from sin; we all sin every day, etc.
To show the crowd how ridiculous what this man was saying, and mock what he was saying I exhorted the crowd with things like, “Then let’s all go get drunk!” The crowd erupted with loud applause. “Let’s all go smoke pot! Let’s all go fornicate!” Each time the crowd would respond with loud applauses.
The man then told me he could not believe I just encouraged the crowd to sin. I pointed out to him and the crowd that he kept saying I should not tell them not to do these things, and was telling them they could never stop doing these things anyway.
At this point the man (who I learned later was a pastor of a church in Tampa), became frantic and with eyes bulging and veins popping out in his neck began to scream out to the crowd, “I AM A SINNER! I SIN EVERY DAY! I CAN’T STOP SINNING! I CAN’T OBEY THE BIBLE!”
I believe with all my heart the crowd saw how absurd this pastor sounded. “Why should we even try to obey God if no one can?” I pointed out it was like trying to stop all drunkenness by still allowing people to drink a little. It was like trying to abolish slavery while still allowing some to own slaves.
Well by now a huge crowd of about 200-215 was gathered. I believe a female police officer had showed up to videotape the preaching for police documentation. The “pastor” was now behaving himself and standing around listening (probably afraid of the police officer).
This “pastor” came around to correct me and invite students to a “worship” service at his church.
A woman walked up to me and told me she was from such and such a church and wanted to address the crowd. I told her “No, because I do not know what you are going to say to them.” She then decided to address the crowd anyway and read to them a tract similar to the “Four Spiritual Laws.” As she read I would interject comments the crowd needed to hear. Soon the woman became frustrated and left.
I was glad to see this woman out there trying to witness for the Lord, but I was not going to turn the crowd over to her. The students need a strong message warning of sin, judgment, repentance, hell, holiness, and faith.
I will never forget Paris Reidhead’s quote of “We have gospel hardened a whole generation of sinners by telling them how to be saved before we tell them why they need to be saved.” I believe much of this is due to evangelism “formulas” like “The Four Spiritual Laws”.
At this point I was able to do some effective preaching and teaching to the large crowd. I believe they were subdued and well behaved due to the police woman videotaping.
Over time the crowd slowly dwindled down to 30-40. I had a very productive time of teaching and answering questions with this smaller crowd.
The policewoman left around 2:45 PM. I continued to teach and answer questions until 3:10 PM.
For the next hour I had a very good conversation with the Chi Alpha (Assemblies of God) leader on that campus. He grew up muslim and was converted. He really opposed me early in the day, but by the end of the day it seemed to change his opinion towards me.
Friday February 8, 2008: Friday is a very slow day on the USF campus but we were planning to go anyway. After coming in from morning prayer Sister Elizabeth told me another campus preacher had called twice. I figured it must have been important so I returned the call.
I only planned to be on the phone for a few minutes and then leave for the campus. However, this fellow campus preacher began to tell me things that were of a great encouragement to me. I do not expect much encouragement because of the nature of ministry we are in nor do I look for it.
One reason this was encouraging to me was this man has been preaching on campus for years and understands the campus ministry.
After hanging up it was a little late to begin preaching on a Friday, especially since we have to pay to park. Instead of going to campus I decided to spend the afternoon in prayer and Bible reading.
I was also privileged to be asked to preach at “The Mission” church on Tuesday night. After two weeks of long days of driving, preaching, etc. I decided to follow Leonard Ravenhill’s advice to preachers of “taking one day to prepare the man and another day to prepare the message.”
I locked in all day for prayer, Bible reading and study.
Tuesday February 5, 2008: I locked in all day again for prayer, Bible reading, meditation on the Word of God, and sermon preparation.
I preached for about 45 minutes from 2 Peter 2:5 on “Preachers of Righteousness”.
Wednesday February 6, 2008-University of South Florida-Tampa, Florida: Sister Elizabeth and I arrived on campus around noon and I began preaching at 12:10 PM.
Gradually a small group of listeners began to build up. After some time a student stole my water jug and ran away with it. This happens fairly regularly but I always wear my camelback with a reserve supply.
It seemed to be a fairly typical USF crowd. Soon some atheists came over and began holding signs behind me while I preached. Each Wednesday at this University they have a “Bull Market” with vendors selling things and pushing propaganda. Two of these vendors are the “Atheists of Tampa” and the “Secular Coalition.”
As these groups began to mock me and hold up their signs the crowd continued to grow to about 175.
At certain points I was so sad and disturbed. I could see several in the crowd trying to listen intently, God obviously dealing with them and under conviction of sin. However, the hypocrites kept coming out of the woodwork to defend sin by telling the concerned listeners, “We are all sinners…We can never stop sinning…We can’t obey the Bible…”etc. etc. It seemed everyone wanted to be a preacher this day but none were “Preachers of Righteousness” like Noah was (2 Peter 2:5).
These were preachers that prophesy deceits and speak smooth words (Isaiah 30:9-11), they strengthen the hands of the wicked that he should not return from his wicked way by promising him life (Ezekiel 13:22), and they say to the wicked who has no peace (Isaiah 57:21), “Peace, peace” when there is no peace.
Gradually the crowd dwindled down to around 25-30. There were many who seemed to be sincerely seeking truth, asked good questions and seemed genuinely concerned about the state of their souls. Unfortunately, I was not able to deal with these souls as thoroughly as I would have liked because of the “preachers of unrighteousness”. They would continue to interfere all day long, stand next to me using their 3-4 champion verses taken out of context over and over again to contradict the dozens I used to show the hearers their lost condition, the holiness of God, the judgment that awaited them, their need of repentance, and the salvation from all sin found in Jesus Christ.
One man in particular always seems to show up when I am preaching on this campus. He is probably in his fifties and always seems to be talking with the young female students. He constantly tells them how salvation is a free gift so we don’t need to repent or meet any conditions to be saved (see Luke 13:3, 5, Mark 1:15), we can’t stop sinning, we can’t obey God, because we are human and in the flesh, etc. (1 Peter 4:1-2).
I stopped preaching around 2:45 PM to use the restroom and returned immediately to sit down and have some conversation with the students. Unfortunately, the only ones who came around were the hypocrites and the older hypocrite who witnesses unbiblically.
After, a half hour of expounding the scriptures to them on the areas of repentance, holiness, victory over sin, etc. I saw they were totally insincere and dishonest in examining the Bible and decided to leave for the day. They would constantly challenge me to show them where such a scripture was found in the Bible. I would show them and they claimed they wanted to read it but then would totally act as if it was not there when I showed it to them.
He that is of God heareth God’s word. Ye therefore hear them not because ye are not of God (John 8:47).
Thursday February 7, 2008-University of South Florida-Tampa, Florida: I began preaching around 12:25 PM. Immediately listeners began to sit down and listen intently with some asking good questions. As the crowd began to build up some, I observed two middle aged men slither into the crowd. They would sit next to those who were listening intently and began to talk to them. I perceived they were professing Christians from a local church who were hypocrites.
After some time I asked one of them if he agreed with what I was preaching. He told me he did not like me saying I was free from sin. I began to hammer him and the listeners with a barrage of scriptures that prove Christians are to live free from, above, and without sin (John 8:32, John 8:34, John 8:36, Romans 6:14, Romans 8:2, Titus 2:11-12, 1 Peter 4:1-2, 1 John 3:6, 1 John 3:8, 1 John 3:9, 1 John 5:18).
At this point the other man jumped up and right where he was began to scream that I was a false prophet, no one was free from sin, we can never stop sinning, we are all sinners, etc.
At this point I ran to where this man was screaming, stood upon one of the benches and began to preach and refute what he was saying from scripture. He would continually interrupt me and tell the crowd how no one was free from sin; we all sin every day, etc.
To show the crowd how ridiculous what this man was saying, and mock what he was saying I exhorted the crowd with things like, “Then let’s all go get drunk!” The crowd erupted with loud applause. “Let’s all go smoke pot! Let’s all go fornicate!” Each time the crowd would respond with loud applauses.
The man then told me he could not believe I just encouraged the crowd to sin. I pointed out to him and the crowd that he kept saying I should not tell them not to do these things, and was telling them they could never stop doing these things anyway.
At this point the man (who I learned later was a pastor of a church in Tampa), became frantic and with eyes bulging and veins popping out in his neck began to scream out to the crowd, “I AM A SINNER! I SIN EVERY DAY! I CAN’T STOP SINNING! I CAN’T OBEY THE BIBLE!”
I believe with all my heart the crowd saw how absurd this pastor sounded. “Why should we even try to obey God if no one can?” I pointed out it was like trying to stop all drunkenness by still allowing people to drink a little. It was like trying to abolish slavery while still allowing some to own slaves.
Well by now a huge crowd of about 200-215 was gathered. I believe a female police officer had showed up to videotape the preaching for police documentation. The “pastor” was now behaving himself and standing around listening (probably afraid of the police officer).
This “pastor” came around to correct me and invite students to a “worship” service at his church.
A woman walked up to me and told me she was from such and such a church and wanted to address the crowd. I told her “No, because I do not know what you are going to say to them.” She then decided to address the crowd anyway and read to them a tract similar to the “Four Spiritual Laws.” As she read I would interject comments the crowd needed to hear. Soon the woman became frustrated and left.
I was glad to see this woman out there trying to witness for the Lord, but I was not going to turn the crowd over to her. The students need a strong message warning of sin, judgment, repentance, hell, holiness, and faith.
I will never forget Paris Reidhead’s quote of “We have gospel hardened a whole generation of sinners by telling them how to be saved before we tell them why they need to be saved.” I believe much of this is due to evangelism “formulas” like “The Four Spiritual Laws”.
At this point I was able to do some effective preaching and teaching to the large crowd. I believe they were subdued and well behaved due to the police woman videotaping.
Over time the crowd slowly dwindled down to 30-40. I had a very productive time of teaching and answering questions with this smaller crowd.
The policewoman left around 2:45 PM. I continued to teach and answer questions until 3:10 PM.
For the next hour I had a very good conversation with the Chi Alpha (Assemblies of God) leader on that campus. He grew up muslim and was converted. He really opposed me early in the day, but by the end of the day it seemed to change his opinion towards me.
Friday February 8, 2008: Friday is a very slow day on the USF campus but we were planning to go anyway. After coming in from morning prayer Sister Elizabeth told me another campus preacher had called twice. I figured it must have been important so I returned the call.
I only planned to be on the phone for a few minutes and then leave for the campus. However, this fellow campus preacher began to tell me things that were of a great encouragement to me. I do not expect much encouragement because of the nature of ministry we are in nor do I look for it.
One reason this was encouraging to me was this man has been preaching on campus for years and understands the campus ministry.
After hanging up it was a little late to begin preaching on a Friday, especially since we have to pay to park. Instead of going to campus I decided to spend the afternoon in prayer and Bible reading.