Preaching in the Rain

Posted on July 24, 2011 by Tractman

The moment I got out of my car in the downtown parking garage it began to pour and pour and lighting. So I prayed and prayed and waited and waited. The rain still came down. So I opened my umbrella and proceeded downtown. After walking around seeing where the Lord would lead me, I went down on Gay street. I stood under the covering of the Regions Bank. The bank across the street from the movie theater and a sushi bar. There were crowds of people under the awnings of both places. The Spirit gave me the green light to read his Word. From time to time I had to explain the Scripture calling people to repent and put their faith in Jesus.

I read John 14:6 about Jesus being the way, the truth and the life. Buddha, Mohammed, good works, saying a prayer, being a Catholic or Baptist do not save a person. It is only thru Jesus and the shedding of his blood on the Cross can one be forgiven and escape the wrath of God and an eternity in Hell.

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Open Air Preaching in Knoxville

Posted on July 21, 2011 by Tractman

Place: Market Square

Four of us shared the Word of God at the other end of Market Square. The other side was the Shakespeare play. Many tracts were passed out.

One young lady came up to me told me she just got out of her A.A. meeting. She has been sober for 18 months. Praise the Lord. Then she shared with me how she lost her boyfriend in a lake drowning four days ago. Pray for her: Dee.

A male gay couple walked by me and I gave them a tract. They were nice and took it. I started praying for them as they walked away.

A drunk homeless man came up to me and said he loved Jesus. He was drunk. I shared from the Bible that a man cannot love two masters. He will either love one and hate the other. He walked away angry as Tim and I presented to him the fruit of his life that after seeing him repeatedly on Market Square that his love for alcohol was more than his love for Jesus.

What are we feeding our lives? This pleasures of the world or the Word of God? What is the main priority of our lives? What has predominance in our lives God or the things of the world. There are many things in the world the Lord has given us to enjoy, yet unfortunately, many have made the things of the world more important than God.

What do we talk about most, give our money towards, or participate in? Many in Knoxville spend more money and time with University of Tennessee sports than with a relationship with Jesus.  Many will spend more time at UT football games than attend church. UT sports is the biggest idol in Knoxville. There is no doubt in my mind that if a tornado like the one in Joplin went through Knoxville and took out all the churches and Neyland stadium, more people would put their money and effort into seeing Neyland stadium built before a church would be built.

I pray for revival in Knoxville.  However looking at how people put UT over God, it saddens me even with a disaster in Knoxville people serve the God of sports than their Creator, the Lord God Almighty.

 

 

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Robert’s evangelism experiences

Posted on July 13, 2011 by Tractman

I believe the need to explain what occurs when I evangelize is in order. I come out and say this: I denounce the Westboro Baptist Church and their inflammatory message they present. I do not believe they are Christian, nor are they anymore Baptist than me standing in a garage makes me a Porsche.

 

When I evangelize, I don’t water down the Gospel, yet I do not ignore the realities of where people go when they reject Christ. I do not preach heaven without hell and vice versa. I still believe in open air preaching. Saying that, I do believe when open air preaching takes place, it must be SPIRIT-led not MAN-led. When evangelizing if it is not Spirit-led and empowered, then we have misrepresented the Gospel. I have seen what happens when you just use the “be nice don’t offend” evangelism, the people are still mean. It is not so much whether you speak just Heaven or Just Hell, it is just the Gospel of Jesus they are rejecting.

I have people approach me when I share John 3: For God so loved the world. They ignore the fact I gave them the crux of the Bible message and will still tell me that I hate gays. Even if I do not bring up the homosexual subject. When you share Jesus in the world, you are in the devil’s playground. The devil will use anyone to throw a wrench in the evangelism process. However, God is present and active with those evangelizing and will overcome any tactics of the enemy.

I think it is not being very honest to not bring up the subject of Hell when presenting the Gospel. If you are a parent and do not warn your children about the dangers of disobedience with the consequence of sending them to their “room”.  Then you have lacked in giving proper warning to the child about what happens if they disobey your rules. The same with the Gospel presentation.  Both sides must be presented:  Heaven and Hell.

If you do not share Heaven and only share Hell, then yes, you are misrepresenting to the world that God is only angry and does not want you with him after you die. If you do not share Hell,  then you are misrepresenting to the world that God sent his son to die for no reason.  God has to prepare a place for those rejecting the sacrifice of his Son on the Cross.

In Jeremiah, God tells Jeremiah that he is a watchman on the walls. If he warns the people of incoming danger outside the walls and the city ignores him, then their blood is on their own heads for not heading the warning. Yet if the watchman sees impending danger and does not warn the people, God holds the watchman accountable. As ministers, preachers, evangelists, etc, we have an order from the Lord to proclaim what God has spoken thru his word, both the good, the bad, and the ugly. To not share the whole truth would be like a used car sells man not telling the consumer the car he bought has a severe leak in the transmission.

We must present the Gospel in a Christlike manner, NEVER in the flesh.  Do I as an evangelist make mistakes….of course I do. Yet, I do not want to be blamed for misrepresenting the Lord in action or word.

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Rain, Crystal, and Thursday night Evangelism

Posted on July 9, 2011 by Tractman

 

Evangelism night almost did not occur.  We began outside to pray when it started to rain and thunder. So we got in a van and continued to pray. No sooner than we finished praying, the rain and thunder stopped. Praise the Lord.

The Evangelism team(consisting of a Reformed Baptist, Southern Baptist, Calvary Chapel, and some others) began to hand out gospel tracts. I went to one end of Market Square and began to open air bible read select passages. Then I went back around the square to hand out more tracts.  Soon one of our team members, Mark, stood on a footstool and began to open air preach.  He did this for quite a while. After He was done, Tim, took his turn.

While Tim was preaching, one young lady(Crystal) came up to Mark and engaged in some conversations. Floating around her was her a man presumably her date/boyfriend.  The more she talked and confessed to some of her past and current lifestyle, Mark kept reiterating the Word of God as the Spirit led. She was under much conviction, a couple of us nearby silently starting praying for her. There was a spiritual battle going on for her soul. Her boyfriend became a tool of the devil to get her away from the Word of God being explained.

The more she talked the more we were given a spiritual heads up that the man she was with was more than a boyfriend, but possibly a pimp. She eventually came out and admitted she needs help. A few phone calls were made to get her away from this abusive boyfriend/pimp and into a safe house.

Soon, as progression was being made, the enemy attacked. He kept convincing her to take care of some “so-called” details in her life before we could escort her safely to a Christian safe house. It became apparent she was going to make one of two choices: trust God to take care of all the details as she prepares to enter rehab OR not give God COMPLETE control of ALL her situations and returned to an abusive relationship coupled with drugs and alcohol.

She said she needed to go to the bathroom. Then her “whatever” you want to call this guy, said ” I have to go to the bathroom too! We tried to get him to stay with us as she attended to her needs. However he went to the bathroom in the restaurant as well. She said she would return in a few minutes. After we waited patiently, two of us went in to check on her. They were not in the restaurant. They had left via the back way

Prior to her entering the bathroom, I gave her a New Testament with some church information. I told her whatever happens, here is something for you to read when you are ready.  Unfortunately, Crystal was not ready to leave her decaying lifestyle and come into a life-releasing  repentance and faith in Jesus.

As believers, we can only do so much as the Spirit gives us in presenting the spiritual life-preserver to a person drowning in destructive behaviors. We can only pray Crystal will open and read the New Testament Bible and call back to get help.

It was gut wrenching to see some seeds be planted, only for the seeds to be eaten by the enemy. Yet, greater is HE that is in us than he that is in the world. God’s Word never comes back void and God knows which seeds remained in Crystal.  Hopefully, sooner than later. Since we do not know when our lives will end, it is best to make the decision TODAY.

God used this as a teaching tool for us. God showed us a real up-close battle for a person soul. It should drive the Evangelist to deeper prayer, more Holy Spirit power, and more time in the Word of God.

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Market Square Evangelism 6/30-7/1

Posted on July 2, 2011 by Tractman

6/30/11

Praying prior to evangelism is a MUST. Never do evangelism in your power. It will not bring God glory. The focus of evangelism is the proclamation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

We see all sorts of ideas proclaimed on Market Square with no hindrance from the businesses or public. Yet, when it comes to the proclamation of the Gospel, it is not welcomed. On Thursday, someone complained…most likely one of the bar crowd. An officer came up to our group and relayed the information. We continued on with our evangelism. It is not against the law to evangelize in public.(First Amendment, Supreme Court cases, etc)

One Market Square, I hear Unitarians sound off and promote their religious beliefs and pro-gay lifestyle, musicians singing about topics like drinking, sex, and Marxist ideologies, and drum circle groups banging their drums with proclamations about COEXIST ideas and New Age religiosity.

In a country with free speech, the only time it not on Market Square to display your free speech is when it comes to Biblical Christianity. As a Christian evangelist, you can be as nice and polite without cause a ruckus, it does not matter to the Market Square mentality. You are a threat to what business do and the public partaking of Market Square promotions.  Now when the Unions set up signs in front of businesses that promote non-union ideals, the unions are left alone by the businesses. However, change the group from a Union to a Christian group, the business and public will forget the first amendment and deny it to Christians.  Everyone else has first amendment rights, but the public wants free speech control over the Christian. So much for the “liberal tolerance”. Tolerance is not accessible to conservative biblical Christianity.  Yet, this will always be the case for followers of Christ.

It is all what the Bible has always stated about the world.

Ephesians 6:12

New King James Version (NKJV)

12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.

 
Yet, the Lord is faithful. He has a purpose for his people obeying his Great Commission.  We encountered many people as we passed out tracts. While the drinking crowd jeered and harassed, we pressed onward.

We just remain obedient to Lord, even if there is no one at the moment repenting and putting their faith in Jesus. God’s Word does not come back void.


7/1/11

This Friday is the typical downtown “First Friday”. Lots of people come out to drink, listen to the local bands perform in the open, view paintings and artwork, and all the weird religions come out to attract new converts.

I walked around passing out lots of gospel tracts. Afterward, I went to the center of Market Square and opened a New Testament. Read different passages from the Bible. Kept going back to reread John 3. Several people stopped and listened and moved on. One young lady approached me, Kelsey, and told me she loved to see me read the Bible in public. Come to find out she goes out with some friends on First Friday to evangelize. She showed me the gospel presentation, “The Bridge.”  I thanked her for coming by to say hello. I encouraged her as she encouraged me. We prayed for each other on God’s hand upon us to share Jesus with the Lost.

Fifteen minutes later, an older gentleman stopped by to listen. He was a lay leader at the Blessed Hope Baptist Church. He goes to the nursing homes to have church with the elderly. We encouraged one another. Then we had tag team scripture reading, I would read a portion of  scripture, then he would finish the passage from memory.  Soon three ladies approached us. One young girl was a Christian. Her two companions were Muslims. We were reading John 3 as the ladies were listening.  I spoke to the Muslim college women. We had a pleasant conversation all the while I was praying in the Spirit for the Gospel passage they heard would be taken root in their hearts.

I almost did not go this Friday night, I was physically exhausted from morning work. Yet, I prayed for the Lord to strengthen me. He sure did. I did not leave Market Square til like 10 o’clock.

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Evangelism and Servanthood with Joplin tornado survivors.

Posted on June 27, 2011 by Tractman

Lots of gentleness and lots of prayer occurred with Joplin tornado survivors. Lots of Grace and the power of the Holy Spirit to minister to the Joplin community. They are a broken people and gentle restoration to either put their faith in Christ or continue stronger if they are Christian.

Prayer and direction from the Lord is critical in trauma situations with those in natural disaster circumstances. Don’t shy away from evangelism, just let the Lord lead you in grace and approach to those in traumatic situations.

Evangelism took a different approach than normal everyday encounters when evangelizing. I have learned from the Lord how to be flexible without compromising the Gospel. I cannot emphasis how grace, gentleness, and guidance from the Holy Spirit is necessary to those in post-traumatic situations.

Thank you Lord for teaching me the art of servanthood in a deeper level.

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Return from Joplin, Missouri

Posted on June 24, 2011 by Tractman

Sorry for the disappearance. I have spent the past two weeks helping my hometown area of Joplin. This is the area that one month ago was hit by a tornado and leveled  the middle section of town. While serving the community, I was able to pray and share my faith in Jesus with lots of people.

Many survivors and volunteers in Joplin have come to faith in Jesus and continuing to come to faith in Jesus as I write this article.  Unfortunately, the Lord has to use a disaster to shake many into coming to grips with eternity.

Many bibles and tracts were distributed after prayer with those the Lord had me come into contact, Some of those I prayed with are childhood friends. I thank the Lord for giving me the opportunity to return to Joplin and become a servant.

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First Friday in Knoxville Tennessee on 6/3/11

Posted on June 3, 2011 by Tractman

Before I went down to Market Square, I prayed and read my daily Bible reading. Going thru the book of Daniel. On Market Square, there was a huge beer drinking crowd listening to some bluegrass music sponsored by the local bluegrass radio station. I walked around handing out the Million Dollar Bill tract. Afterwards I was on the other side of Market Square at the park area. I prayed and the Lord had me start reading passages out of the Bible.  It was all the Lord. I just do the seed casting and pray some seed falls on good soil.

 

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Butter them Biscuits Evangelism

Posted on May 28, 2011 by Tractman

This weekend in Market square was the Annual Biscuit Festival. Chick-Fil-A gave free samples of their yummy biscuits. The guy giving them away received a Million Dollar Bill tract. I went around Market Square handing as many Gospel tracts. One guy took one and waded it up and threw it back at me. Several people saw this and shook their heads. During the evening I was by the escalators by the movie theater. I placed several million dollar bill tracts at the top and the bottom of each one. Every time someone took one, another went in place. It happened for about 30 minutes. Did some open air reading of the Gospel and reading of the Million Dollar Question gospel tract  in Market Square.  A few mockers, one encourager and the rest just kept walking. Pray for the seeds to fall on good soil.

A gospel tract was placed on the front window of a sedan with a COEXIST bumper sticker. If I see a parked car with the bumper sticker, it gets a gospel tract. The New Age mindset is actually an Old Age paganism.(See Old Testament). Pray for this person to leave the new age religiosity and repent in faith in Jesus Christ.

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Weekend Evangelism 5/22

Posted on May 22, 2011 by Tractman

Many tracts were passed out in Market Square and Old City. Many tracts left at the local mall and a local bookstore.
While reading the Bible in the public around Market Square, many walked by and stared. A lesbian couple got right in my face and stared me down. I did not stop the reading. A few minutes later three college boys came up to me. They asked me about the Rapture date setter. I responded only with what the Bible says in Matthew 24.(NO ONE knows the day or hour, except the Father.) We further talked about as believers that stumble into sin and if they will go to Hell. I responded only what the Bible says that if we sin, we are to go the Father, who is faithful to cleanse of us of ALL unrighteousness. We must repent of our sins and turn back to the Lord. I gave them each a bible tract, the “Man Card”, then they went on their way.

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