Muslim Young Men Hear the Good News – Southampton Evangelism
Open Air Evangelism is always an adventure! Some days things are slow and hard, other days (like today) we find that things run smoothly with people being very open to hearing of the Lord Jesus. Evangelism is about endurance – on the hard days, we keep going, and on the easier days – we keep going as well. We must never give up; we must keep making much of Jesus!
We arrived at Southampton at 1pm and began the process of setting up the Free Literature table, and the open-air board. Nearly instantly after setting up the table, a man came over to ask for literature. Last week, this same man, took a booklet, this week he came back for more. He told me that he had read what he was given, and now he wanted to read more about Christ. He took a copy of John’s Gospel and a couple of other booklets.
I thought it best to start the day off with some tract work, so as Trevor preached, I handed out literature to those who walked by. Two young lads stopped to chat, both were looking to mock Christianity, so we chatted. They were flippant and uninformed – spiritually they were blind. These young lads told me that Christianity couldn’t be true, that God couldn’t exist because of evolution, and that they had been taught in school that the Bible was wrong. How fearful a fate awaits the teachers that have poisoned these young minds! I engaged their arguments, but no matter what was said, they would simply come back with, “But I was told at school.” I was able to present the gospel to them, but they just laughed and then walked off.
After this, it was my turn to preach. I had planned to speak on the topic of “Your Life”, but before I could get into the message, a group of Muslim young men stopped to listen. They were very polite and friendly. They asked questions and began to engage with what I was saying. All of them told me that they were good men and that Allah would let them into Paradise based on their goodness. This is quite a common Muslim argument, so I engaged them from the Ten Commandments. As I opened the Law, I showed that the whole world is guilty, including them (Romans 3:19-20). They agreed that they were guilty, but they didn’t have an answer on how to remove their sins. By now a crowd had gathered around to listen to the back and forth. I said to the Muslims, “I am going to say something you will disagree with, but I want you to know the truth. The only solution to your sin is if someone takes the punishment due to you. Jesus Christ, who is God the Son, came to this earth to pay the penalty for sin. In love, He died on the cross, and then three days later, He rose again. Now, He calls on you to repent and trust in Him. You can go to Heaven, not because you are good, but because He is good.” The Muslims said they disagreed, but they thanked me for being polite and friendly. Since they had to leave, Trevor gave them all a gospel tract; as he did this, others from the crowd began to ask, “Can we have one too?” The Muslims shook hands, and we left on good terms. Please pray the Lord would save them.
The Lord was very kind to Southampton today. He allowed the truth to spread, and for people to hear of His grace. Throughout the day people listened to the preaching, took tracts, and visited the Free Literature Table. Many seeds have been sown. Please pray the Lord would rescue the perishing.
SDG!