I joined my pastor at 1:00 at Lakewood Park as he open aired. I did not get on the box today, but while my pastor was open airing, a man came up and asked what was going on. I told him Pastor Paul was open airing and I gave him a gospel tract.
At 2:00, I was in front of Madison Park in Lakewood near the intersection of Grace and Madison. Vehicle traffic was light, but pedestrian traffic on the sidewalk was moderate. At one point, a young man rode by on his bike, looking at my cross. After he passed by, he turned around and came back and asked what my sign meant. I told him, "Scripture says, 'It is appointed for a man once to die, and then comes judgment' (Hebrews 9:27). Do you know how you are going to be judged by God?" He replied, "No." It didn't seem like he wanted to get involved in a discussion, so I gave him a tract and told him to read it when he got home.
At another point, a lady walked by and asked me, "Have you said your prayers today?" She then asked if I prayed the rosary. I said, "Absolutely not!" She told me I should pray to Mary.
A little later, Mike walked by and engaged me in a discussion. He told me he was wondering about this. He said he had heard things about 2012 coming up. December 21, 2012 is when the Mayan calendar ends. I told Mike that Jesus said that not even He knew when the end would be- only the Father knows. I told him that if Jesus doesn't know, there is no way infallible man can possibly know. I told Mike that we are in the end times, it is just a matter of when and "are you ready?"
Our conversation was taking all sorts of different paths. Mike had researched several religions and told me that all the different religions were all praying to the same higher human consciousness. He was talking about how religion and science kind of parallel each other. I let Mike talk about these things, but I kept bringing it back to the Gospel.
I explained imputed righteousness to him and why Christianity is the only religion that makes sense. It is the only one that provides for a complete removal of your sins through the blood of Jesus Christ.
Mike said that Christianity decided they "weren't going to do sacrifices anymore. We're not doing that anymore." I explained to Mike how in the Old Testament, the sacrifices were a way to cover sins, but that Jesus is the fulfillment of the Old Testament. Jesus provides for a completely removal of sins, not just a covering of sins. Jesus was the final sacrifice for all.
Mike and I talked about a few other things, but before he left, I asked him to remember this: it doesn't matter what we think is true, it is what is true.
As the second hour was wrapping up, Jason and Emanuel passed by. Emanuel had already been taken through the law and the gospel before by either me or John (an elder from church), but Jason had not. Jason told me he was Russian Orthodox. He said he didn't actually go to church, though, and had never been to his church. Brushing that off, I quoted Hebrews 9:27 and asked him if was ready to be judged by God. He said, "Not really."
I asked Jason if he would consider himself to be a good person. Jason thought he was, but Emanuel was quick to say, "Jason is not a very good person at all!" Emanuel had already been through the Good Person Test so he knew the outcome!
I took Jason through the law and gospel. I explained the parachute analogy and the necessity of repentance and being reborn. The parachute analogy is this: being on an airplane that is about to crash and having a parachute that can save you. Merely "believing" in the parachute won't save you- you have to strap on the parachute and jump from the plane. In the same sense, we need to strap on the Lord Jesus and jump from our sinful lifestyle. I gave Jason a gospel tract and told him to read it over, as it went over what we talked about. Emanuel already had a big money tract at home.
I handed out between 15 and 20 tracts today, including the one at the park to the man who came to see Pastor Paul open airing.
Tomorrow is the Komen Race for the Cure and I will be there with my cross. Over 20,000 people are expected to participate. Check back later tomorrow for details.
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