A Hard Day in Portsmouth
Over the past few weeks, we have seen a real openness to the gospel in Portsmouth, but today things seemed a bit more challenging. It was difficult to get people to stop for conversations or listen to the preaching, even handing out tracts was a challenge. Yet, as I surveyed all that was occurring, I found myself rejoicing. The Lord was still at work. We may not have the giant Billy Graham size crowds, yet in ones and twos, we saw people showing interest in the Lord Jesus.
One of those I spoke to today, was an older gentleman. He took a tract, looked at it, and then handed it back to me. He said, “Did you know that Jesus was a terrorist who lived in the Judean hills, and only came down to raid the Romans?” I asked the man how he knew this information, to which he replied, “I just do!” I engaged briefly from the historical records to show that his position wasn’t correct, and then I shared the gospel with him. The older man shook his head and said, “When I die, I’ll just be dirt and atoms.” He thanked me for the chat and then walked away. It is truly sad to see an older man who is not far from death openly rejecting the Saviour. Please pray that the Lord would reach him.
Due to team members being at a funeral, I was the only preacher for the day. I started off by preaching a new message, “Who is Jesus Christ?” In this message, I use Colossians 1 to show that Jesus creates, sustains, and rescues. There is much confusion over Jesus in our culture, so I hope this message will teach people the truth.
After preaching, I went back to handing out tracts for a time. Others in the team were also handing out tracts, and engaging people in conversation. A reoccurring comment from the team today was, “It is hard ground!”
Since people weren’t stopping to chat, I thought it would be worth preaching again. This time I preached on “The Way to Heaven.” A few people paid attention, with several of them sitting on the benches nearby to listen. As I was concluding the message, I stressed that salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone, and in Christ alone. As I said this, about eight Mormons walked past. They looked at me as I preached, so I quickly stressed that we are not saved by grace after all we can do (which is what they teach) and that our works cannot merit salvation. The Mormons didn’t hang around, but I do hope that the snippet of the gospel will take root in their hearts.
One of the biggest encouragements of the day came when a man named Terry went up to a team member to ask for a tract. He took the leaflet and then sat down to read it. As he read it, one of the other team members went across to talk with him. Terry was very open to hearing the good news. He listened as Christ was explained, and then he asked for a copy of the New Testament. Even in the hardness, the Lord was moving!
At the end of the day, as we packed down all our kit, we discovered that nine people had taken New Testaments, and three took copies of John’s Gospel Please pray that the Lord would bring many unto salvation.
SDG!