Today, I went to the intersection of Dover Center and Center Ridge in Westlake. I started displaying the cross at about 12:55 and stayed just shy of 2 hours.
Shortly after arriving, a woman came out of GetGo (a gas station), came to the corner and was waiting to cross the street to go to Circle K. I gave her a gospel tract and she asked what it was. She told me she had just gone to a women's retreat. She said it was fun and very inspirational. She said a guy had come into the store and asked her if she was a Christian, and she answered she was. She said he mentioned she should read "The Shack" and asked me if I had read it. I gave her my disapproval of it.
At about 1:45, a man approached me. I gave him a gospel tract and he said he had to come over and see if I was real and he proceeded to poke my arm. He said, "I've seen you out here a couple times." I asked him what he meant by if I was real.
He told me, "I've been having dreams, manifestations." We just had missions conference at our church recently and a missionary spoke of people in their respective countries they serve in having dreams, and I honestly believe God works through dreams.
I replied, "OK, what's your name?"
He replied, "Steve."
I said, "Steve? I'm Mark."
"I' saw you out here a couple times, and I thought, 'That's weird.' Some of them are apocalyptic, some of them are this verse."
I asked, "Mark 1:15?"
He said, "A lot of people drive by and pay little or no attention. If anybody will believe me, it will be you. I have met Satan- twice. It's just good that you're out here."
I asked, "Are you a Christian?" He affirmed he is.
I told him I was just out here trying to sow some seeds, and hopefully another will reap. Steve mentioned this is a fallen world we live in. He mentioned that he's made his mistakes, and I replied we all have.
I said to Steve, "Well, you understand that Jesus died on the cross, but do you know what Jesus tells us to do?"
Steve replied, "To preach the good news."
I said, "That's part of it- that's the Great Commission, but do you know what you must do to receive His forgiveness?"
He said, "To accept Him."
I said, "That's one part, but the other part is repentance- turning from your sins. That's what I'm trying to get people to think about. I've believed in Him for as long as I can remember, but I never repented of my sin. I never turned away from my sin. That's what Mark 1:15 says: 'The time if fulfilled, the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the Gospel.' There's so many people who don't repent and continue to live in their sin."
Steve mentioned this world is full of corruption, filth and garbage. I told Steve that the Bible tells us to live in the world, but not be of the world. Steve tried to reference the verse and I pulled out my Bible and turned to 1 John and read 1 John 2: 15-16: "Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride in possessions—is not from the Father but is from the world."
It was when I started reading these verses that a guy across the street started heckling me and startled me a bit. I started again and finished it.
I told Steve about how Jesus views lust as adultery in the heart and if you hate someone or so much as call someone a "fool," you are liable for judgment.
Steve told me, "The biggest misnomer, I think, is that people don't realize how grave it is to judge. You notice the splinter in your neighbor's eye, but not the log that's in your own. We're so quick to look upon other people and scrutinize them but we ourselves are just as prone to the same error."
I mentioned if you finish reading that Scripture, you will see that it says to first take the mote out of your own eye and then you will see clearly to deal with the spec in your brother's eye. "It's not necessarily saying, 'Don't judge,' but first deal with the problem in yourself, and then you will see clearly."
I mentioned that if I were to go around and curse and blaspheme, I would have no right to go up to someone and say to them, "How dare you do that?" Once I have dealt with the problem in myself, then I will see clearly to help them.
Steve mentioned that it's unfortunate that inevitable things are going to unravel. I told Steve the end is coming, but we don't know when it is- not even Jesus knows. He mentioned the way things are shaping up, he tends to think it could be sooner rather than later. I told him I tend to agree. He mentioned that about 1.5 million abortions are performed each year and the disintegration of families.
Steve and I talked about some of the signs that the Bible talks about. He said, "They were talking about these wildfires in California. They're talking about the flames being 3 to 400 feet high. Now if that's not Biblical... Could you image the 2 of us standing here with flames coming at you?"
Steve mentioned, "You have earthquakes, mudslides- I remember there was an earthquake a couple of years ago in Iran. It killed 40,000 people. 40,000 people died in a matter of... moments."
I told Steve that 150,000 people die everyday and most of them don't know Jesus as their Savior. At this point, I said to Steve, "Let me ask you- are you ready?"
He replied, "Yea." I asked him if he practiced repentance and faith. Steve said he prayed every day and night. He mentioned some of the sinful things he had previously done, but I pressed him again on repentance.
"The thing I am trying to get people to understand is that they need to repent, also. We need to trust Jesus. It's like being on an airplane that is going to crash and there is a parachute that can save you. You need to do more than 'believe' in the parachute to save you. You need to trust that parachute, strap it on, and jump from the plane to be saved. In the same sense, we need to trust in the Lord Jesus. Strap Him on and abandon our sins."
Steve asked me if I ever go to other places, and I told him about some of the other places I went and mentioned this blog and my church's website, which are both on the tract I gave him. At this point, he had to get going.
A while later, a woman stopped at the light on Dover Center asked if my sign was about the Apocalypse and I told her it was just a general salvation message and walked over to her car and gave her a tract. After about 10 seconds, she said, "You know, Jesus said love thy neighbor. Jesus forgave. We are all God's children." If I had to make a guess, I would say she was feeling convicted for her sins.
I handed out a total of 5 tracts today.
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