Kiwi, don't let that rascal discourage you brother.
Your efforts/service will be rewarded.

Originally Posted by buzzoff1031

Is street preaching a worthwhile practice? Should one engage in this practice vs. say, one on one witnessing? Or should one do both? What about restrictions on who should preach on the street (married, single, long time christians, etc.) Whad'ya think?

1. Yes it's certainly worthwhile, if done properly.

2. Witnessing door to door is also effective, and can be done many ways, such as Gospel tracts, a simple presentation combined with a handshake or prayer, etc... also starting a Bible study during lunch breaks can be very effective, you can meet off property once a week and have a picnic with fellow employees. Home Bible studies can be an excellent tool for witnessing to neighbors and friends.

3. The only restrictions to "preaching" would be the limitations of the preacher. A man who is familiar with the Bible and dealing with groups/crowds can certainly pull it off, but a new believer who has little knowledge of the Bible could get caught in a web if there are hecklers present. Public speaking requires a certain amount of discretion, and a decent handle on communication skills. Not everyone has this calling. The best thing is to get involved in a local Bible believing church in your area and team up with an experienced mature Christian who can show you the ropes.

[tonybones2112]

Originally Posted by Kiwi Christian

A team of us were out last night street preaching and tracting, when a Christian approached me, and instead of commending the work which we were doing proceeded to tell me how I was disobeying God and making myself an authority over the Bible because I am a member of a denomination, that being Independent Baptist. Talk about a discouragement! Then I got to talking to an agnostic vegan, who had the audacity to tell me that the Bible is full of many contradictions. When I asked him if he had ever read it through he said "no". I wasn't surprised. After speaking to him about many different issues, with me always trying to get the conversation back to the salvation of his soul, he left smiling with a tract and the gospel message driven into his head by the mere fact I told him how to be saved about 10 times!

Matt, I wonder if this Christian was Church Of Christ, they got a hangup about being a "denomination", which they ARE, if they have a unique set of beliefs, which they DO. I am former Church Of Christ. Don't be discouraged, this person may not have been a Christian.

Be aware of this scam in Christianity: When anyone says, "Oh, I am NON-denominational..." you can translate that as "I am Pentecostal".

How can ye say, a book hath errors, when ye hath not readeth it? People say to me, prove God exists. My reply is, prove He don't. Folks say, the KJV has errors. Kewl. Show me one.

DON'T BE DISCOURAGED BY OPPOSITION. The person who opposes you is THE REASON YOU ARE THERE. They are at odds with themselves, you have no idea the battle waging within them. Pity them and be graceful and be filled with JOY, you have planted a seed and if it don;'t bloom, it may just need water and God will make that seed grow. The more they abuse you the more the words has cut them. Don't lte them hit you, but my wife has had beer bottles thrown at her. And rocks. All from moving cars, of course.

Of course.

The street ministry was at it's height during the time Last Temptation Of Christ was released. It was shown up the street from the Oregon District in Dayton Ohio at the Neon Movies. I went up and watched the Charasmatics sing, jangled guitars, cursed the movie house, and gazed at coming attractions. The minister in charge asked me if I had a question. I said, when you get done with this foolishness, come up the street and do some REAL work. They didn't close a single bar on Fifth Street.

One time they came in a group, got in a huddle, whooped and shouted, named Fifth Street and claimed it and then LEFT. Not an adult bookstore was closed by them.

We didn't close a single bar or adult bookstore either but when we see not through a glass darkly but face to face am curious at the fruit He harvested from just giving the gospel.

Matt, in an area such as this, businesses and bars and bookstores and nightclubs, there is a cut-off hour when it's really not safe for you or your women on the street. Hit them early and pack up about 11-midnight, many are too drunk to respond anyway.

It's sad but not discouraging when you meet a Christian while you are doing what you were doing, and they oppose you rather than bum extra tracts and jump into the trenches with you.

Never ever if an atom bomb goes off while you are tracting and witnessing, never ever forget this FACT: His words will not return unto Him void.

Be of good cheer my friend and much fruit to you in the Harvest. He's got your back, go forth with joy. Be instant in season and out of season and have an answer for everyone. I'm not Pentecostal but we are on shoutin'; territory here, I'm ready to run the aisles.

Grace and Peace

Tony

[Winman]

Tony said:

People say to me, prove God exists. My reply is, prove He don't.

That's a good answer, but an argument from science and pure logic can also be made.

1) we know life exists now

2) we know that life has always been observed to arise from life 100% of the time. We have observed life arise from non-life exactly 0% of the time.

3) therefore, we know if all life ceased to exist, then life would never arise again.

4) therefore, we know that life has always existed in eternity, because life exists now. This eternal life is God.

The evolutionists will try to argue that life arose spontaneously by chemicals mixing in some pool eons ago, but they cannot do that in the labratory under perfect conditions. Even the most simple life on earth came from a living parent.

I haven't gone door knocking in a long time, but I used to do a lot of it years ago. You can run into some real interesting people.

I remember a fellow came to the door once. He told my pastor he was a Hindu. My pastor asked him if his life was better since becoming a Hindu. He said, "Oh yes, it has made me a much nicer person, I used to hate religious people, I would have probably punched you in the nose before I became Hindu."

My pastor then asked if he had children. He said, "Oh no, I hate kids!"

[tonybones2112]

[QUOTE=Winman;16024]Tony said:

That's a good answer, but an argument from science and pure logic can also be made.

That was a pretty good one about the Hindu, Win.

I think this is what the scholars call "onotological" arguments. If anything, I will give atheists the Laws Of Thermodynamics:

1. If matter can't be created from nothing, where did it come from? God created it of course, we know that, they deny it.
2. If matter cannot be destroyed we are back with Law One: Where did it come from? Ah, a steady state Universe. But this leads us to Law 3:
3. By the time the Universe scatters there is NO gravitational pull to bring it to shrinking again, entropy CEASES at absolute zero and the atoms are scattered so far there is NO way they can regroup.

By this time both of us are going in circles. The word of God is the only way to find the solution for these wretched people:

We are saved by grace through FAITH. Paul and the apostles knew Christ PERSONALLY but knew Him no more after the grace program given to Paul came into being. God WILL NOT give physical evidence of His existence, NOTHING provable empirically. ALL must be of faith, as salvation is, otherwise the grace of Paul ceases to operate. ALL of us have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, ALL of us doubted His existence at one time. He gave me no physical evidence, I believe He exists BY FAITH through the Scriptures. The fool has said in his heart there is no God, I am not a fool.

The athiest must also see as we did. He'll get NO evidence. It's how salvation has been ordained by God, it's how EVERYTHING has been ordained by God, through FAITH. Most athiests have a hate going on against God anyway. They can't attack Him, so they attack us.

Great day to you Win.

Bones

[stephanos]

Originally Posted by Winman

Tony said:



That's a good answer, but an argument from science and pure logic can also be made.

1) we know life exists now

2) we know that life has always been observed to arise from life 100% of the time. We have observed life arise from non-life exactly 0% of the time.

3) therefore, we know if all life ceased to exist, then life would never arise again.

4) therefore, we know that life has always existed in eternity, because life exists now. This eternal life is God.

The evolutionists will try to argue that life arose spontaneously by chemicals mixing in some pool eons ago, but they cannot do that in the labratory under perfect conditions. Even the most simple life on earth came from a living parent.

I haven't gone door knocking in a long time, but I used to do a lot of it years ago. You can run into some real interesting people.

I remember a fellow came to the door once. He told my pastor he was a Hindu. My pastor asked him if his life was better since becoming a Hindu. He said, "Oh yes, it has made me a much nicer person, I used to hate religious people, I would have probably punched you in the nose before I became Hindu."

My pastor then asked if he had children. He said, "Oh no, I hate kids!"

LOL, I used to have a url to a site that had a bunch of soulwinning stories. Of course I can't find it now... Nevertheless, you meet a lot of interesting people out there!

Peace and Love,
Stephen

[Kiwi Christian]

Originally Posted by tonybones2112

Matt, I wonder if this Christian was Church Of Christ, they got a hangup about being a "denomination", which they ARE, if they have a unique set of beliefs, which they DO. I am former Church Of Christ. Don't be discouraged, this person may not have been a Christian.

Hi brother, no this guy wasn't Church of Christ, he didn't want to affiliate himself with any group whatsoever. When I asked him if he attended a church he said he held one in his home with a few other believers, then told me I should be doing the same because that's what they did in the first century church. I encouraged him to keep it up, but he kept insisting that I should do the same.

Originally Posted by tonybones2112

DON'T BE DISCOURAGED BY OPPOSITION. The person who opposes you is THE REASON YOU ARE THERE. They are at odds with themselves, you have no idea the battle waging within them. Pity them and be graceful and be filled with JOY, you have planted a seed and if it don;'t bloom, it may just need water and God will make that seed grow. The more they abuse you the more the words has cut them. Don't lte them hit you, but my wife has had beer bottles thrown at her. And rocks. All from moving cars, of course.

I've been going out on the streets since I got saved in '93, I've seen and heard a lot out there, I consider it the 'front lines' of a warfare between God and the Devil, and I feel privileged to be a part of this ministry. Yes I've seen much opposition out there, but also much blessing. I am definately not discouraged now, but at the time last Friday night, especially went I expected to be encouraged by another brother in Christ, it did have a negative effect on my spirit, I couldn't help it. It certainly didn't discourage me enough to stop witnessing, it would take more than a disgruntled Christian harping on about his pet doctrine of 'denominational separation' to do that, even past beer bottle throwing hasn't deterred me!

Thanks for your comments and sound advice.

[Luke]

I've found that debating creation and evolution in the streets can get a crowd really quick, but it's hard to control, especially with young people, who just love hearing the sound of their own voice, and won't actually listen to anything you say in response, because they are too busy thinking up their next "Is there a rock so big God cannot lift it" zinger.

[stephanos]

Originally Posted by Luke

I've found that debating creation and evolution in the streets can get a crowd really quick, but it's hard to control, especially with young people, who just love hearing the sound of their own voice, and won't actually listen to anything you say in response, because they are too busy thinking up their next "Is there a rock so big God cannot lift it" zinger.

LOL, just tell them that there is 3 things God cannot do. God cannot lie, He cannot sin, and He cannot save a wicked sinner like them unless they want to be saved.

For Jesus' sake,
Stephen

[tonybones2112]

Originally Posted by Kiwi Christian

Hi brother, no this guy wasn't Church of Christ, he didn't want to affiliate himself with any group whatsoever. When I asked him if he attended a church he said he held one in his home with a few other believers, then told me I should be doing the same because that's what they did in the first century church. I encouraged him to keep it up, but he kept insisting that I should do the same.

I've been going out on the streets since I got saved in '93, I've seen and heard a lot out there, I consider it the 'front lines' of a warfare between God and the Devil, and I feel privileged to be a part of this ministry. Yes I've seen much opposition out there, but also much blessing. I am definately not discouraged now, but at the time last Friday night, especially went I expected to be encouraged by another brother in Christ, it did have a negative effect on my spirit, I couldn't help it. It certainly didn't discourage me enough to stop witnessing, it would take more than a disgruntled Christian harping on about his pet doctrine of 'denominational separation' to do that, even past beer bottle throwing hasn't deterred me!

Thanks for your comments and sound advice.

Matt, I believe our rewards are those we preach the gospel to. Not building and wealth, people. Go forth, we war not with carnal weapons, one more deadly to Satan, the words of God and WE GOT THEM TOO.

Carry on my brother.

Tony