“I’ve never heard anything about Jesus” – Portsmouth Evangelism

Ray Comfort has commented that there are days when he goes to outreaches dragging his heels. There are times when it is hard and the desire to evangelise isn’t as strong as it should be. For me, today was a challenge. I went off to Portsmouth desiring to be somewhere else, but I came home very glad that I went. Shortly after arriving for the outreach, a brother approached me to say that he had been praying for me that morning, and he really felt the Lord lay a verse on his heart to share with me. That passage of Scripture spoke straight to my heart and was a tonic to how I was feeling. As I prepared to preach, I did so with the knowledge that God sees, He knows, and He will act.

As usual, we set up the Free Bible and literature table, and before we had even finished putting out our items, a man came up to ask if he could have a copy of God’s Word. He left with a John’s Gospel, and a copy of “Why Christianity?” Throughout the day, the Bible Table would prove to be a magnet for people. Almost continuously people were stopping to take booklets, and more importantly, copies of God’s Word. The table also provided a location for many people to stop and chat about Jesus.

One of the challenges we faced today was a busker that set up right behind where we were preaching. But, these kinds of difficulties are common on the street, so we cracked on with the outreach and didn’t give him too much thought. I was the first preacher for the day, so I began by testing out a new message. Today, I spoke about “God’s Love for the World.” In this message, I seek to show that God is the Creator, but our sin has separated us from Him. I then swing to the gospel to show that Jesus is the only way we can be forgiven.

When I finished preaching, Roger began to speak. His message addressed the common thought that people have, namely, that they are good enough to go to Heaven. While he was preaching, a man stopped to chat with me. His girlfriend didn’t want him to stop, but he told her to go away, and he began to speak. He was a young Muslim man from Uzbekistan, and he was very interested in discovering more about Christianity. I shared with him about the gospel, and then I took him over to the Free Bible table. There I was able to give him a card that allowed him to read the booklet, “Ultimate Questions” in multiple languages, and I also gave him a copy of John’s Gospel. As he held the Gospel of John he said, “I’ve never heard anything about Jesus.” This man has lived in the UK for several years, yet sadly, no one had ever bothered to tell him about the Saviour. He took many booklets and promised to read them all. Please pray for him.

We also were able to have a ministry of encouragement to Christians that we met today. One man stopped to talk; he is a believer but was under great conviction because his life isn’t as it should be. We were able to pray for him and point him to a local church. He was quite emotional as he left us.

Throughout the day, conversations about the Lord Jesus kept taking place. As I packed down the Bible table at the end of the day, there was much rejoicing as I saw how much literature had been taken. Please pray that the Lord would water the gospel seed that has been sown.

SDG!