Fishing in Westport

Mike Shuman or "Supple Mike" called me last Thursday and wanted to share his faith on the street. I have been wanting to do this for a while but didn't have the guts to do it alone. I said lets go on Friday.
We went around 9 PM. The first people we talked to....actually I didn't talk. Cat got my tongue and it wasn't the lion of the Gospel. Mike talked to two guys outside of a tattoo parlor in Westport. He went through explaining God's law which is the ten commandments and the Gospel which is what Jesus did to fulfill that law and take the punishment that sinners deserve. Mike asked them if they thought they would be going to heaven or hell. To my utter astonishment they both said hell. Well after that I finally said something... don't remember what but I'm sure I sounded like Spurgeon and cleaned up Mike's presentation. That is what I remember, Mike might tell you different.
Anyway we walked down the street handing out tracks to people. One guy said something mean about Jesus (I couldn't really understand him because he was walking away). We met a guy who acted like an unbeliever for a little while then revealed that he was really a Christian just seeing what we are up to. His name was Camilio. He was saved at 18 years old by a few missionary kids in South America.
Finally we found a gold mine of a fishing spot. A coffee shop with a line of chairs outside with people chatting. We just went down the line handing out tracts. We used a tract that looked like a million dollar bill that people liked a lot. We talked to this one couple, Brian and another girl who were Christians. She went to a Christian school in Dallas and Brian taught Sunday school at a presbyterian church. I think we should have probed them a little more with the gospel. I don't know why but sometimes you just don't get the feeling people are that excited about Jesus. I was probably reading too much into their responses and I didn't want to judge someone's salvation. Anyway they were nice.
We talked to a girl who said she believed in "energy" but did not want to talk about it. We talked to a guy who was into quantum physics and sounded smart but couldn't talk long. We didn't get to the Gospel with him. We talked to a man named Earl who had never sinned he claimed after we asked him a few questions. I finally told him I was going to shoot straight with him. I said we don't ask these questions to see if he is good but to prove that he his not good by God's standard. The bible said that there is none good and that no one does good. So we know that he is evil just like the rest of us. In fact Jesus calls us evil. But I also said that along with the bad news there is good news. Jesus Christ is the way to be forgiven if he repents and believes in Jesus he will be saved and Jesus' works will be seen by God on our behalf. Jesus was bruised for our iniquities. By his stripes we are healed. I think that Earl's face changed and the Gospel had rocked him. He said it sounds like a lot of people are going to hell. I said that Jesus said that few will find eternal life, sadly.
Mike and I split up for a little bit and I started talking to two guys. One guy wasn't very serious. The other guy's name was John and he was the witness encounter of the night. He was such a sincere guy it was hard not to love him. At first I thought something was wrong with him because he was shaking. Then after at least 30 min of talking I realized that he was freezing cold! Man the Holy Spirit was opening his mind and heart to the Gospel. He asked questions. One of his questions was if the Roman Catholic Church was bad. The Lord gave me the words to say. My (Keith's) words would have been: The Roman Catholic Church is a spiritually dead unchristian cult that will send you to hell if you believe what they teach. Instead I gently said, "There may be true Christian's in the Roman Catholic church but as far as Grace goes, their doctrine misses the mark." Maybe I was too gentle. I donno. Well later on I found out that his family is Roman Catholic. I hope I said the truth in love. Mike explained that the cost of following Jesus can be very high yet following doesn't save you, it is the result of being justified by Christ. Mike was able to give him the sweet booklet "Coming to Faith in Christ." We also realized that his dad was waiting on him the whole time we were talking to him. We met his dad and he asked where we went to church. We weren't prepared for that so we just told him the website www.providencecommunitychurch.net.
We just had to end the night on that one. We went to Jerusalem Cafe and ate a late dinner and smoked a hooka. By the way it was just mild tabacco, not wacky tabaccy. Praise God for the whole night. We were definitely blessed. Not only did we do the Lord's work (by his grace) but we met other Christians, met interesting nice people that didn't throw tomatoes at us, and ate gyros.
We are definitely going back. This just goes to show you that you don't have to make friends with someone for a year in order to share the gospel. They are not putting their trust in what you did, how nice you were to them, they are putting their trust in what Christ did (although you should demonstrate the gospel in your actions). The word of God speaks for itself and they are convinced by the power of the Holy Spirit. So get out there and speak.
Rom 10:14-15 How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? (15) And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, "How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!"