Threatened for Preaching

This past Friday I went out to my previous location, and when I started preaching to a group of people standing near by, one rather big thug looking character told me he did not want to hear it, and said if I did not stop he would beat me up. His group of friends with a rather serious look on their face said I should seriously consider what he said. They likewise said they didn't want to hear it. According to my own personaly policy, if I'm presenting the gospel to an individual or group of people, and they do not want to hear it at all, I won't bother with them, and will just move on to whoever else might have an open ear. So, I complied with their request, and told went over to the nearby ledge and just sat there and prayed for God to give me a divine appointment. I especially took into consideration that the security in this area had recently removed all tables, chairs and benches because of a big fight that occured there this past week.Eventually this guy moved on, and within moments some guys from the last time I was out recognized me and started coming up and making conversation and such. Some of these kids were brought up with a "once saved always saved- so go do what you want now" attitude, and were pretty upset when I told them that such was not biblical. Within moments, perhaps 20 or so teens gathered around to listen to the preaching of the gospel, and some slight expounding on the Scriptures because of some doctrinal controversy.To prove one could lose your salvation, I quoted Jesus where He said that if we wished to keep our lives, we would lose it, but if we were to lose our lives, we would find it. If it were not eternal life Jesus was speaking about, what life was he talking about one could lose or gain? This was the first time in my open air preaching I had ever really run into doctrinal controversy with a crowd. Some held some of the most bizarre theological positions I had ever heard of, but some were pretty Southern Baptist in nature. As much as I strongly disagree with the once-saved-always-saved view point, I tried to minimize the doctrinal fight I had with some in order to evangelize those who had little to no knowledge of God whatsoever. I also had a pretty cool meeting with one fellow Pentecostal brother who said he saw me sitting on the fountain ledge with my Bible in hand. So he just came over next to me and sat down and prayed for me as he figured I was out there witnessing (as I had a Bible in hand). When I reflected on it, I thought that was pretty awesome, because within a few minutes of him having coming over there and praying, my crowd for the evening had gathered. If you guys could, please keep me in prayer when I go out street preaching again this Friday evening. Though I am not afraid of persecution, I don't go out seeking it. Though I'm willing to suffer the loss of all things for the sake of the gospel, I don't want to be beat up if I can avoid it, especially by a guy that looked like he could really do a number on me. Pray for this one individual to, that the Lord would touch him. He did eventually sit in and listen to me for a few minutes, but when I left for the evening, I went up to him to attempt to shake his hand, but he smacked my hand away. I was rather encouraged in what I've read of Wesley and his run-in's with mobs (sometimes through God's providence he was able to prevent angry mobs from stoning him, othertimes, not). I also thought of something Ravenhill said about how he sought out the hardest sinner in the town to convert him. Such has encouraged me to be more bold to this young man in love, I believe he can be reached.

With prayer in mind I hold you up to the Father of us all. You've found where the leather meets the road. Geno a now brother, was the same as the one you met. after taking the beating from him, teeth missing, cuts the whole nine yards. I met him a year later, he was so moved that I didn't fight back that he ask me if he could use what happened as a part of his testimony. as I was being hit, I told him God bless you geno, Jesus loves you. It bothered him, he wanted to find me and ask me about what it was I was saying to him." God bless you Geno, Jesus loves you." his testimony is that being blessed and that Jesus loving him changed his mind. I wasn't the person he remembered.(before I met Christ) gang leader, drugs and the whole scene. What a work God has done in his life He (Geno) marryed his then girlfriend they are now working for the Lord Jesus Christ, on the street.Gods blessing on you in your work for the kingdom, I'll met you here or in the air. :-D

just wanted to tell you great job. i know it must be hard but worthy is the lamb amen

The armor you have on seems to get the devil's attention,thats why we are told to stand. We don't need to look for the fight the fight will find us. the rewards are great. Stand in your place the Lord has given you, with your head looking up, believing in him. your now getting the degree of "The street of hard knocks" Be faithful for Jesus is always faithful. will keep you in prayer and ask the same for myself. :-D

The better that we become at preaching, the more beatings I'm sure we'll take. It's apart of the package.Yes indeed. Back in October when I was preaching at UNC Charlotte once, a man came up to give me a word from the Lord. He said that God was getting ready to take me to another level in my ministry and that I was about to experience the fruit I had longed for. Since then I've seen more persecution in the last times I've been out compared to before I saw very little. Then again, I've also had greater crowds draw near and more responses and more repentant too...

When you become the very oracle of God then you will take a beating- but you will also see many coming to Christ. Some will seek to gnash upon you with their teeth- but it will not be because of your words. It will be because of the unction of God that is pricking their heart. Anyone can make a person angry enough to fight. It takes no unction. Yet, when God is speaking through His ministers there will be results. There will be plenty of good to go along with the bad. There will be great JOY and rejoicing at the deliverance of people and the healing of the sick. The enemy will have his agents snooping around and stirring things up- but GREAT will be the victory when God is speaking. Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the WORD of God.

Hi Bro. Jesse,What do you do with Jeremiah? He saw no converts. Though he was not successful, he was faithful.There are no Jeremiah's in the New Testament. Everywhere the Gospel went there were results. Sometimes only a few- but when God's glory was manifest many turned to Christ and believed. The persecutions that happened in the New Testament was due to the converts more than the message. Had their been no results- there had been few beatings. It was the people being turned aside after Christ that caused the uproar. People turning from idols and burning them or being set free from devils. In many years of Nursing Home ministry where the people are sorely hardened in their sins we still see 'some' results. We are talking about 70-100 year old people that are hardened. We still believe that God will bring results. These signs SHALL follow them that believe... When Christ is set forth evidently among the people and they meet him in the message there is great opportunity for harvest. God will direct the paths of people to come directly into cntact with you. Out of your belly shall flow RIVERS of living water. Surely there will be one that will drink. Yet, we cannot allow the waters to be tainted with anything of 'us'. No dead flys in the ointment here. Remember- full manifestation of both fruits and gifts. When God is fully in charge everything will be in equilibrium. He will manifest Himself to the hearers and faith will come.God Bless,-Robert

Anyone can make a person angry enough to fight. It takes no unction. Indeed, drunks are the cause of many fights, and neither with a lick of unction. All one needs is a spirit of contention and strife to cause a fight. There are all sorts of carnal ways to stir people up and gather crowds. I've seen and read of various street preachers who just go around calling people "whores" and the like, and without a doubt, a crowd (often angry) gathers. Then again, you can see the exact same thing on Jerry Springer. Go into a bar and call some big man's girlfriend a whore. Without a doubt you will get a response, but it won't be due to any unction of the Spirit that is convicting them of their sin because of a revelation they've had of the holiness of God.Robert is right, it's about delivering a key word at key times. Sometimes you might preach hard, but sometimes you might preach soft. You can't just employ various methods and think "This will surely work, such a style will surely bring about the conviction and conversion of sinners." You can see both very active in the lives of many succesfull evangelists.Take David Wilkerson for example. We think of David Wilkerson as a hard, no-nonsense preacher... and sometimes he is. But if you've read books like the Cross and the Switchblade, it wasn't his hard, no-nonsense preaching that brought about the conversion of some of the hardest sinners. Yes, Wilkerson preached the holiness of God and the righteousness of God and the law of God and the justice of God and the wisdom of His requirements, but it was at the same time bathed, soaked, and drenched his sermons in the love of God (and not sentimental mush). The simple manifestation of the love of God broke many hearts of drug addicts and gang members, as nobody had ever dared love them before. Proverbs says that the fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, and he who is wise wins souls. Last I saw hell-fire preaching was not a fruit of the Spirit in Gal 5:22. Please don't get me wrong, I'm not knocking hell-fire preaching. I consider myself a hell-fire preacher. I think we could use a lot more hell-fire preaching at that, namely, because the love of God cannot properly be understood without the wrath of God. But then again, where in the Bible is it said that the proper way to bring about the conversion of sinners is through getting them to understand the doctrines of salvation e.g. justification by faith, Christ as a propiation, etc? It seems to me the preaching "method" of the early Church was directed at showing people Jesus. And the only way to properly show people Jesus was through the manifestation of the Spirit in the gifts and fruit. When people saw Jesus, it was then they came under the conviction of sin. In the call of Isaiah and the revelation of God he had in Isaiah 6, what command of the law was invoked to bring about his conviction that he was a man of unclean lips and that his people were a people of unclean lips? He heard no such thing. Rather he simply saw God, and by being in the presence of God, he saw what his uncleanness was. I believe lately the reason my preaching has had seen a response it did not see much of before is simply God being more present in my preaching than He was before. When I've seen persecution lately, it's often been within moments of me being there to preach. This past Friday I had simply started preaching about eternity, and within moments... hardling uttering but a sentence or two, I saw resistance, and being told I was to expect a beating if I continued on preaching. This beating was not threatened because of any particular preaching method I invoked, nor using elaborate metaphors and analogies to make a deep point. It was simply God.

It was simply God.What a marvelous thing. And when you suffer knowing it was God- you will go away rejoicing for knowing that you had been counted worthy for suffering for the Lord's sake. Oh how horrible it would be to be buffeted for my own faults. But if I endure it for His sake- this is acceptable with God.God Bless,-Robert

When I go to the Nursing Homes to minister in Song or the Word of God, I find that the very ones who oppose to begin with, later want to come to the saving Knowledge of Jesus Christ.I've also found out that it has to be all of Jesus, and none of me.It is when I give up, and let the Spirit of the Living God take over, then lives are changed.Some in the body of Christ feel like the Nursing Home people won't get saved, I say they limit our God.If God saved you and me, then He will save them.It is my desire to be His hand maiden, and go where He leads.God Bless all of you.I enjoy this forum.Nellie :-)

by Lazarus1719 on 2005/6/20 15:47:03"I don't believe Stephen had any converts. People got angry at his message, not at his converts. It was when he said "you stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears! You always resist the Holy Spirit, as your fathers did, so do you." Acts 7:51"The word says he was filled with the power and did signs and wonders Acts 6:8" And Stephen,FULL of faith and power, did great wonders and miracles among the people."sound like some one who would get my attention.

This seems like a balance I've heard of before. I was shocked the first time, but it makes sense. John 3:16 perhaps the most famous of Scripture in all the world. Many people hear the "God so loved the world..." part, and think, "Well of course God loves me, I mean... It's me after-all." But consider the entire verse, for God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son so that whosoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. This verse mentions both the "kindness and severity of God." It mentions both His wrath and His love. Romans 5:8 says it perhaps best, that God demonstrated His own love towards us that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us on the cross. The Scriptures consistantly picture the love of God alongside the wrath of God. The love of God is chiefly manifest in the cross of Jesus Christ. The cross of Jesus Christ teaches us that Christ took the punishment of God's wrath upon Himself, even though the stroke was really due to us. It teaches us that the just died for the unjust. It teaches us that God humbled Himself taking on the form of a servant, and being obedient to the point of death. The love of God can only be properly understood when one understands that God is angry with the wicked every day, and that is why God "gave" Jesus up on the cross.

Quote:--------------------------------------------------------------------------------"I think we could use a lot more hell-fire preaching at that, namely, because the love of God cannot properly be understood without the wrath of God."We need to first know that we have done something wrong, before the love of God can be of any good. for because of his love for not just me but for the world, his own son paid my price and yours