Reaching the Marketplace for Jesus

The Devil Tried His Best, and Lost! 

Last night (for Thursday night visitation) 5 of us decided to go street witnessing in downtown Westminster, MD. The 2 ladies (Cathy and Jen) walked down one side of Main St and the 3 men (myself, Dave and Duane) walked down the other side. The game plan was to pass out tracts and invite people to church. If they would actually stop to talk to us we would engage them in conversation and, eventually, ask them “The Question” – “What if something happened to you, are you 100% sure you would go to heaven?” 

Dave and Duane were talking to a gentleman about 50 yards ahead of me. I noticed a young man standing on the street looking as though he was waiting for someone. I approached him and struck up a conversation. I eventually asked him the question and he gave me permission to go over the gospel and show him how he could know he was on his way to heaven.  

This is where the devil decided to show up. I had talked to him about the fact that we are all sinners (Rom 3:23).  And I even showed my friend how there is a punishment for our sins (Rom 6:23a). At the same time two young men were walking on the other side of the street. As they approached the ladies, Cathy tried to hand one of them a tract. This first young man rudely refused and dashed to my side of the street. The second young man didn’t even give the ladies a chance to offer a tract. He ran across the street before he got close to them. Of course, these were the two that my friend was waiting for. 

At that moment, I had no idea where they had come from or that the ladies had tried to talk to them. They approached us and said, “Hey, John. What’s up?” I jumped in and handed them each one of the tracts I was holding. I said, “I was just showing your buddy how he could know for sure that he is on his way to heaven. Wouldn’t that be an important thing to know? How about you? Are you two sure that you would go to heaven if something happened to you?” For whatever reason they reluctantly answered my question and stood there (impatiently) listening to me. Round one to God’s team. 

And here is where the devil tried to hit again. We were standing close to a gas station. A car pulled out of the station and up close to us. The music in the car (windows down, of course) was blaring and the guys in the car called out to the 3 guys that I was talking to. I just ignored the car and acted as though it didn’t exist. And here’s the miracle.  I looked at the 3 I was talking with and (from the looks on their faces) you would think that we were in church and there were no distraction. They were attentive and hanging on the word of God as I explained to them what Jesus did for them. It was as if they never even noticed that the car had pulled up. Round two to God’s team. 

Ultimately all 3 of them asked Jesus to come into their hearts and be their Savior. They all prayed out load then took my hand to show that they were serious about what they had just done. Victory to God’s team and 3 more for the Kingdom!