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My brother Matt and I went to SLO Farmers Market on Thursday evening. I wasn’t hungry until we arrived – the smell of food permeated the air. It was warm and Higuera Street was crawling with people.
Although we didn’t do any open air preaching, we again noted a really cool place to do it. Almost every time we’ve come to Farmers, there has been a captive audience sitting on these steps eating their food. Always keep your eye out for good fishing holes. Anyone up for it?
Matt was excited. No – he was extremely zealous to share the Good News with the people gathered in SLO. It’s so cool to see a brother or sister in Christ, prayed up, pumped up, and on fire to share the Gospel. Armed with his Bible, assortment of tracts, clipboard, and spiritual survey, Matt jumped right in.
Matt surveyed a gentleman named Jay (the guy with the leather hat and black shirt). Jay indicated that he had visited Calvary Chapel SLO a few times. Matt took Jay through the survey and Jay understood his personal sin and didn’t try to justify himself. He understood the Gospel, repentance and faith. We shared with Jay what it means to be born again. We asked him if he was born again - He wasn’t sure. I asked him if he died on the spot, if he had assurance that God would accept him though Jesus Christ. He lacked assurance for sure. I encourage him to get right with God, read his Bible daily, and get into a solid Gospel preaching church. He said that he would visit Grace SLO. Praise God.
Matt introduced himself to a man named John who was sitting on a bench outside of one of the clothing stores. He was waiting for his girlfriend. John agreed to allow Matt to survey him but said, “you have three minutes.” Using the survey, Matt took John through sin, righteousness, and future judgement. John actually gave Matt more like five minutes before it was over with. I spoke with John’s girlfriend while Matt finished up with John. I found out that they are from Boston, visiting SLO. They took Gospel tracts, very politely thanked us and departed.
We tag-teamed a group of young kids who was there with a Christian youth group. The youth leader was a young lady named Marley. Not knowing who was a believer and who wasn’t, we took the eight kids through a few of the Ten Commandments and then explained the Cross of Jesus. They all received tracts.
The very next divine appointment we had was with two young men named Eric and David. They were enjoying some ice cream and were receptive to the survey. From the beginning they indicated that they were Mormon. Eric seemed to have a solid understanding of Mormon doctrine. Matt walked them through the survey, which contains questions that give a person the opportunity to express what they believe – in this case, the Mormon doctrine of Salvation. Even though they would deny salvation is by works with their words, and would with their words agree with the Protestant doctrine of saved by grace alone, they were trusting in their own works. They basically say, ‘yes Jesus atoned for our sins, making a way for us to be saved, but we must cooperate and work.’ In other words, their formula is this: JESUS + WORK = SALVATION. I have learned from other Christians that it is also helpful to the Mornon (or JW) to see the difference between the Jesus they worship and the Jesus we worship. The Mormons say that Jesus is Satan’s brother and that Jesus is created. We know that Jesus IS GOD in the flesh and we know that Jesus is the Creator and one of the Three divine Persons in the Godhead. After doing our best to help Eric and David understand that they worship a different Jesus. Then we expressed our concern that they make sure that they have the RIGHT Jesus. Here are some good passages to share:
Matthew 7:21-23 "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?' Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!' (Also see Matthew 24:4-5; Galatians 1:6-8) Matt and I plead with Eric and David to “be sure” that they have the right Jesus. Both Eric and David took tracts.
After finishing up with Eric and David, we turned around and ran into two other Mormons. Elder Beath and Elder Shipley (in the picture) agreed to the survey. Talk about spiritual warfare! As Matt was taking them through the survey, I was praying. This encounter went about the same as the previous – but these two Elders articulated the Mormon doctrine with confidence, again JESUS + WORK = SALVATION. So sad! Toward the end of this encounter, another lady named Marina showed up. Mariana was hosting Elder Beath and Shipley in her home. She got into the conversation with us. Shortly after that, another older couple walked up and began listening and engaging in the conversation intermittently – I believe they too were Mormon. All five of them were basically arguing that “faith without works is dead.” I shared Eph 2:8-9 & Gal 3:10-14, explaining that they are trusting in their own works. Before it was over with, this encounter turned into a min-open air – we preached the true Gospel to these five Mormons. Praise God!
Matt continued speaking with Elder Beath and Shipley. I began speaking with Marina, asking her how they can know for sure if their “prophets” are speaking for their god. While we were talking, another guy walks up to Matt and the elders and begins to chastise the young Mormon missionaries for their physical stance. Note in the picture how they were standing with their arms folded. They also were standing up on the curb, Matt was standing down in the street. This guy, whom we never met before, began to tell these Mormon guys that they were standing over Matt with a posture of self-righteousness. Wow! He was a bit harsh, but I think it humbled these two young Mormons. We all shook hands, exchanged tracts and departed.
However, we spent the next forty minutes or so with this guy who chastised the Mormons. His name is Brigtion. He is a very intelligent, articulate, religious young man. He grew up attending a Baptist church but over the last couple years began attending an Eastern Orthodox Church. Brighton was passionate about his beliefs. He quoted Scripture, OT & NT. He also quoted Jonathan Edwards, Church Fathers, C.S. Lewis, and others whom I’ve never heard of. We disagreed on much. Brighton’s motive was to debate doctrine and had high and lofty thoughts - but he had a man-centered view of God. Matt and I enjoyed our conversation with Brighton. Please pray for these individuals who heard the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
I’m sorry to say that I didn’t get a recording of any of these encounters. However, I have something better. Have you ever heard of Paul Washer? If you have, you MUST listen to this. If you haven’t, you MUST listen to this. It’s a sermon that brother Paul preached on Romans 1:14 “I am under obligation both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish.” It blew me away – you will not be disappointed. You can hear more of his sermons here: http://www.heartcrymissionary.com/ I highly recommend all of his sermons – I trust this will be for your edification.
1 Comments:
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Anonymous
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where is the picture? i cant seem to find it.
thanks for the story.
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