Wednesday 9th July

Wednesday 2/7/08 and Saturday 5/7/08

This week seemed to be about how unpredictable the weather can possibly be, we've had five and six seasons in one day not just the usual four. I walked into Sheffield on Wednesday in bright sunshine to preach with Jim, as it appeared to be just the two of us we began with prayer. Calling on God to work in and through us we submitted to His will in this day and prayed that He would save sinners from Sheffield.

I was first up to preach today and became the only one to preach due to the blessing of the Lord. I began with the fact that slavery is still a reality in our world today. Men and women everywhere are enslaved to sin and unable to free themselves no matter how hard they try and not only that but there are those who joyfully serve their master and embrace him daily. I used this as a springboard to preach the great need all have of salvation from the wrath and just condemnation of God. During this and before I could point to the only and great saviour that God has provided, a heckler stepped up to query me on a minor point. I answered his question from scripture and then queried him in return about his position before God, was he good or evil? I discovered that he was a philosophy student and it was plain that he and his atheistic friend were uncomfortable with the confronting demands of God's law.

There are three distinct ways that the human mind seems to go when confronted with the law that destroys our self-righteousness. First into hopeful legalism: “But God will forgive me because of the many good things I've done....” (or similar). Second into subjectivism and apathy: “Well you may believe that but I don't so it doesn't matter anyway....”. And lastly into prideful dispute: “Evolution and science disproves the bible....”.

First the philosopher was hopeful of his good works, we looked to see if this would work in the lesser court of man to see if it applies before God. Just as a murderer is no less a criminal for donating to charity, it follows that if we break God's law in any way (lies, lust, hate, blasphemy etch) we are not made right by doing good. We need a perfect life if we are to be made right through legalism, and as the saying goes “No-one is perfect....”.

Second the atheist piped up that he doesn't believe God exists so it doesn't matter anyway. We first discussed the philosophical difficulty of claiming to absolutely know that God doesn't exist anywhere at any time Unless this young man was more than he seemed and actually knew all things, “Knowing the beginning from the end....” (being God as such) he could not logically claim to know there is no God.

Second I asked if Adolph Hitler did the right thing in Germany with the Jews? He said no that it was wrong. I then raised the very difficult issue of good and evil for the atheist perspective. If man is just a consequence of random chance then there is no innate value in man, woman or child and if there is no absolute moral law giver then there is no absolute moral law saying that it is wrong to do the evil things Hitler did. Atheism crumbles in the face of both immense moral evil and also immense moral good. It has no reason for no such things as the “good and heroic” rescuer who dies saving the life of a disabled child (the least fit and least worth saving as per evolution) or for the “evil and perverted” torture of such children by men become monsters in the camps of Nazi Germany.

At the mention of the theory Hitler worked out in practice, both these men chimed in with “what about evolution?”. There are many issues with the theory of evolution so I tried to be brief because at this stage a crowd was gathering to hear the debate. I touched on the lack of the predicted millions of transitional forms in the fossil record (the missing links are still very much missing!). I also spoke on the implications of a changing speed of light for the ageing of ancient finds. It has been shown to be slowing exponentially by physicists, which means that the “millions of years” in the fossil records is likely to be artificial!

I ended by quoting Sir Arthur Keith who said “Evolution is unproven and unprovable, but we choose to believe it because the alternative is unthinkable....”. At this I swung to the crowd and told them that the alternative is true, God made them and they are accountable to Him. Following this I was able to give the great news of hope that comes in the person of Jesus Christ and in His propitiating work of death and resurrection.

With this I had to head back to work and so handed things to Jim wishing fervently that there would be more labourers that would join us in this work.

Praise God that He uses such an unworthy vessel as me! May His name be glorified and His honour be forever more!

Saturday 5/7/08

I was with my Lord alone on Saturday and rejoiced to go as He has commanded to preach the good news to all the world. In my little corner of this world there was plenty of opportunity in the peace gardens but as I arrived the rain came bucketing down and I ran for cover.

As the rain emptied the gardens completely I then went down into Fargate and preached there on the ultimate statistics, death and judgement. For the length of the preaching the only hecklers I had were scoffers who would not speak but rather preferred to jeer as they passed.

God is kind to me though, at the end He allowed me to see some of the hidden fruit that are not so easily seen as the scornful and hateful passers-by. A quiet young lady who had been standing nearby came over to talk with me. Though she is admittedly heavily influenced by the eastern religions, she welcomed the interaction as we talked through the justice and mercy of God. I urged her to read the bible and trust in it, she left with a smile and a tract in hand.

As I left for the day I handed out tracts to the people passing through the mall, I am always encouraged to see people taking the tracts and reading them as they walk. This is a great opportunity we have in this country, I am sure we will not always have it. Christian readers, are you taking the opportunity to witness while you can, the time is short!

Saturday 28/5/08

Mekial and I talked for quite some time while Anna and Peter (who arrived while we spoke) gave out tracts. Mekial among other things struggles with how belief works in the context of the rest of our lives and what it means to turn from a sinful life. I spent some time encouraging him to not run from God, but rather trust Him and trust that He knows what is best for him. I also encouraged Mekial to read the poem "The Hound of Heaven" and think on the ways that God is pursuing him - something Mekial has often mentioned feeling.

Mekial headed off after promising to come and talk some more another day and I headed for the trees that have become our regular place of preaching. I preached for what seemed like a short period and though not many came to heckle there was still a number of people that gathered around and listened as I proclaimed Christ crucified for sin and sinners and raised gloriously for their hope and justification.

After handing out a couple more tracts the three of us headed around to the Peace Gardens to witness to the youth who would be gathered to enjoy the sun. Anna immediately got into a discussion with a group of people and while some of them joked and laughed at first "George" told them all to be quiet because he wanted to listen. This was the beginning of a conversation that went on for the best part of an hour and a half. During this Anna was able to share the gospel with both "George" and his friends, at the end "George" spoke briefly to me and said it was the first time a woman had talked sense to him (especially on this topic from the other things he said).

Peter who is relatively new at witnessing with us in Sheffield did excellently and held his own with a large group of youth all firing questions at him. Given some time I am sure that he will be very bold indeed for the Lord.

I spoke with "Josh" and his friend "Luke" and was able by the grace of God give them the gospel over and over again and answered their questions to the best of my ability. After speaking with them at some length I went and spoke to Jaunosh the local philosopher-goth. One of his friends was eating a bible he had received from Anna and Jaunosh was gleefully filming the act. Thus the discussion began with the depravity of mankind's heart and their enmity to God through their mind of wicked works. Jaunosh among other things tried to charge God with bribery and blackmail for warning people of their just punishment in hell for sin and rebellion against Him. I tried in a couple of ways to show him that God is immensely merciful in giving any warning to us but that He warns us in so many different ways and so often - this is grace apon grace to a people who hate Him by nature.

At the very end of the night a young bloke that we saw when we first came to Sheffield named Rob (sorry I forgot your name again Rob!) came up and asked if this was our job? I responded that no we do this voluntarily thinking that was it, at which he asked how he could become involved in doing this volunteering also. I got his contacts and gave him mine and Anna gave him a pack of tracts and said "you can start by handing these out...".

What an end to the night, praise God that He raises up workers to this harvest field. To Him be praise and Glory and Honour both now and forever more!

Currently Reading Kingdom of the Cults, The By Walter Martin see related

Outreach in Sheffield

Friday 20/6/08

Friday was warm and breezy and in the sunshine with the beauty of the green countryside all around it was easy to think of the great blessings that God has given this country. One particular blessing we have is the freedom to stand and give the good news of salvation in Christ Jesus by grace through faith. Jim, Peter and I joined in prayer before Jim began to preach.

Jim began by discussing the very prevalent thought that “All religions are equally valid”. Jim did an excellent job of showing that polytheistic Hinduism and atheistic Buddhism have very little in common with the monotheistic religions of Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. Likewise he showed the foolishness of saying salvation by working hard (Buddhism and Islam for example) is the same as salvation by grace (Christianity). As Jim preached on this I prayed that God would draw in a crowd and I was pleased to see that a couple of people were gathering around. As a group of four of them left I went to interc ept them with a tract and was caught in a wonderful witnessing encounter.

After five or ten minutes I turned back to the preaching and found that God had graciously answered prayer and drawn a crowd of 40-50 people. As Jim was hard at it with Muslim apologetics I went and stood by him as a support as Muslims can be very aggressive sometimes.

Jim kept at it for some time and gave a great defence of Christianity and preached the gospel a couple of times over. The crowd was a real mix with atheist and Muslim and agnostic hecklers and even a couple of Christians smiling encouraging and amending to Jim’s words. After a period Jim tagged me in as his voice was going and the crowd was not abating at all.

I jumped up and engaged the couple of Muslims that had been heckling by asking them to consider what Jesus said. From this I discussed many different topics including the veracity of God’s revelation with an atheist through to the deity of a philosopher cum Muslim. As often as I could I pointed people back to the glorious gospel of salvation in Jesus Christ alone. Though there are many different objections and protests against the preaching of the gospel, the crux of the issue for most revolves around the question “Who do you say I am?” (Mt 16:15-16). There are only two possible reactions to Jesus, He is either the Lord God or He is to a lesser or greater extent despised and rejected.

After almost 2hrs of continuous preaching and apologetics between Jim and I, the crowd was still present but neither of us had any voice to continue. As I closed I was glad to see that many people had tracts in hand, but unfortunately with only three people in the team we were only able to talk with a handful of people before the crowd dispersed. Please join us in praying that there would be more people raised up in Sheffield to witness with us so that these great opportunities would not be wasted.

Saturday 21/6/08

With the rain coming down and the weather more consistent with winter rather than summer Anna and I headed into Sheffield, after a time of prayer together we walked into Fargate and I set up to preach under the trees.

As I preached a couple of girls stopped in a nearby shop and then approached to find out what I was doing. I went through the good person test with the three of them but unfortunately they left shortly after getting through the law and it’s demands. It is very common that people will leave or begin to object when they come under the magnifying glass of God’s standard. I agree that this is an uncomfortable thing, but as any good doctor will tell you, sometimes we need to go through difficult and painful experiences in order to live (cancer treatment for example).

Shortly after this a group of three American missionaries stopped and asked me if I thought that street preaching and witnessing worked. This is entirely the wrong question, I am in no position to tell if witnessing of any kind works, God is able to see the end results I cannot. I told them that the reason that we witness on the street is because of the great opportunities God provides there. Many of the people we are able to share the gospel with are not only “un-churched” but rather they and their parents have never attended church. These people do not look at church as something they know and have no interest in but rather it is as foreign to many as it would have been to the first British pagans.

After closing we began to give out tracts and talk with whoever would speak to us. I had a wonderful encounter with a young couple that I was able to share the gospel with and though they had to leave for work they left with tracts. Anna also spoke at length with one of the charity workers and though she thought she would be going to heaven because she was good she heard Anna willingly. Just before the rain began in earnest and we went home Anna also spoke with two young men and again the gospel was given and we pray they would turn to Jesus and be saved.

SDG!

Wednesday and Friday 11&13/6/08

Wednesday 11/6/08

Jim and Peter joined me this Wednesday in witnessing to the rise Lord in Fargate. Thank you to all of you who faithfully pray week after week for us as we work, I am sure that the Lord has moved many times in the past and recently in response to your appeals to Him.

This week Jim preached first and again the gospel sounded forth in the dark town we call home. Jim had a couple of interactions with people who stopped and was able to give them the gospel and challenge them with the law of God. I did not get to hear much of the preaching as during it a young lady came up and spoke with me. She is from a local church and said that she had heard us preaching a couple of times and had spoken to Jim before. Encouragingly she was interested in street ministry and wanting to know more about what we did. I gave her some information and an action pack and then unfortunately was drawn away from speaking further first by a phone call from a friend and then a conversation with a Muslim man.

The Muslim man was discussing Islam and Christianity with Peter, I joined the discussion and we talked for quite some time. As all Muslims do, Muhammad (I think) sincerely held that the Qur’an and their prophet Muhammad are the final revelation of God for the world. It is a massive offence to the Muslim people to tell them that the prophet they follow and the scripture they have trusted in are false, so I always try to do so carefully. We discussed for some time on the many aspects in which our two faiths contrast and contradict each other. The two things that seemed to make him stop and think were the command for Muslims to trust the prophecies and scriptures of the Jews and Christians (Sura 29:46 and 10:94) and the command for people to honour Jesus as God from those scriptures (Jn 5:22-23).

After Jim finished preaching we were kept busy for a period with one-to-one conversations and handing out tracts. As I left the one-to-ones were going on still.

Praise God that He draws people to hear the gospel!

Friday 13/6/08

Just for a change this Friday it was rainy and grey, we have actually had great weather for the last couple of weeks. I arrived to find that Jim was already witnessing to a young man down by the bus stop at the end of Fargate. As Jim was in deep conversation for quite some time I set up and began to preach while I waited for him to come and join me under the trees that have become our regular witnessing area.

As the gentle rain fell I began to preach on this great blessing of God that Britain receives regularly (and Australia doesn’t). From this I called the people of Sheffield to think on the kindness of God to both the righteous and the unrighteous and how this demands that we should likewise love those around us, as it is written:

"You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect. (Mat 5:43-48)

While I preached on this two young ladies stopped to heckle and raised the thought that it is not right to love a paedophile. I responded first by pointing to the fact that Christians are called to hate the evil that people commit yet love the people who commit evil. Also that it is sin for a person to hate anyone, making them guilty of murder in their heart before God. Secondly I pointed to the love with which we are to love them, a love that is not romantic or even sentimental, but rather a love that wants the best for them and wants them to be Godly. God has modeled this for us in the person of Jesus, he loved God hating sinners like us, and transforms Christians to live holy and Godly lives through the work of the Spirit.

After this a group of Muslim men stopped and protested that someone could be right with God regardless of what they do if they do enough good deeds. I spoke to them with difficulty because of the language barrier but they listened carefully, sometimes requiring translations from a friend. Beginning with God’s standards being much higher than ours I pointed them to the futility of pointing to good deeds as an excuse for crime before any judge (human or divine). Using this as a springboard I expounded the gospel to them and urged them to trust in Jesus and not their good works.

I wrapped up and stepped down from preaching, there were a few one to ones that were starting and I spotted an Indian descent man standing nearby who had listened. Going over to him I spoke with him at length about the one True God who has made the heavens and the earth. He is a modern hindu and believes that there is no need for any particular religion as long as we work to be good to each other. I reasoned with him for some time and hopefully he left with something to think on as well as the tract in his hand. During this time Jim and Peter were hard at it giving out many tracts and speaking with people. As I finished speaking to the hindu man the rain began to fall and Peter and I found cover under an awning for a time of fellowship, joined by Jim when he finished speaking to some school kids.

We pray that God would use all the words spoken in these two days to His glory and to save the souls of people in our city.

SDG!