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Evangelism at the Shamrock Marathon, Virginia Beach Oceanfront. March 16th, 2019

Psalm 75:6-7 “For not from the east or from the west and not from the wilderness comes lifting up, but it is God who executes judgement, putting down one and lifting up another”

This post is being written a little later than I would have liked– I have had a lot of school assignments due over the past week and a half. Despite my tardiness in getting this post up, it is my hope that reading about this day will be encouraging for you– it was for me!

To preface, I want to mention that we had someone new join us! My long time friend, Andrew, came with us. He passed out tracts and got into several conversations (more than any of us, I think), which was probably the most encouraging thing of the day. It is so sweet to see people you love fulfilling the great commission and gain an understanding of the importance of sharing the gospel (Matthew 28). Praise God for this!

This particular time, Sean, his daughter Addy, Patrick, Rachel, Andrew, Zach, and I went out to evangelize. Our ultimate goal was to set up at the boardwalk and pass out tracts, but to start we walked about 10 streets north to where a marker for the race was. During our walk, we passed out tracts to many families, and the Lord even oriented for Zach and I to share the Gospel with one man!

This interaction was confusing then, but I think that I can parse out basically what happened. He basically affirmed everything about the Gospel while also not affirming any of it at the same time. This man would say something, we would refute it, and then he would say “yeah exactly– the same as I said.” As an aside, I say refute only because our specific goal was not clarification during those moments. This was especially prevalent when we started talking about hell, heaven, and sin. It was a confusing time, and in the end I asked the man if we could just share with him what we believe— before this we had been asking questions and engaging in great dialogue. He said we could and so we did, and then we parted ways after giving him a tract. Overall, he was pretty agreeable, but Zach and I do not know the state of his soul. However, God is sovereign over all and that is a reason to praise Him. Please pray for this man that we met and that he would be changed by the gospel.

After this, things got a little complicated. Rachel, Patrick, Sean, and Addy kept walking while Zach and I stopped to talk to that man. Andrew stayed close to us, passing out tracts while we talked. Because the others had walked on, we called them and agreed to meet at our original spot. My group got there first, and it was like walking into Times Square. There were SO many people stationed there, waiting for family members and friends that were walking the 5k. That being said, it was a little difficult to make a space where we could all pass out tracts together. While we were trying to find an area to pass out tracts in, I stopped and talked to two teenage boys.

God gave me an amazing opportunity in talking to these boys. I am praying that God is working now in their hearts, and that He would save them and place them in a biblical church. Unfortunately, I did not even think to ask their names. Fortunately, the Lord knows them.

I started by asking them if they had a moment to talk. They said yes, and so I began to share the Gospel with them. First, I asked them if they believed in any type of afterlife. The first one, who was taller and looked to be about 16, said “I guess, but you have to be skeptical…since no one knows for sure.” The second boy was more sure, saying “I believe there is a heaven and hell.” At this time, I told them that I believed there was a heaven and hell as well, and then I asked the shorter boy where he thought he would go if he were to die today. He said heaven, because he hadn’t done anything really bad.

I find this is the most common answer I receive when sharing the Gospel. Even many professing Christians that I know would say they are good people. This isn’t always an indicator that someone does not know Christ as their Savior– sometimes it is due to ignorance of biblical truths. When I was first asked this, I myself said I was good! Thankfully, the person who asked me (Zach) was gracious enough to explain to me why I was not (Romans 3, Jeremiah 17:9). I am praying that the Lord worked through me as I shared with these young men that, based on the Ten Commandments, they were not actually ‘good’ people. The taller boy’s eyes began to glaze over after a while, but the shorter boy was very engaged.

After explaining God’s Law to them, and that because He is good He HAS to judge righteously, I began to talk about God’s mercy (Psalm 87, Ephesians 2). I told him the good news that Christ came to atone for our sins and that He did so by dying a sinner’s death on the cross (1 John 2:2). I also pleaded with them to take seriously what I said, to repent and believe and be saved. They had to leave soon afterwards, but I am very encouraged by the shorter boy’s response. He looked like he was truly moved by what I said. I have no way of knowing what has happened to him, but I am praying that I would one day see him in heaven!

After this, Andrew, Zach, and I passed out tracts until Sean, Pat, Rachel, and Addy came. Zach got to pass out a whole pack of ROUND TUITS. It was his first time using these, and ,coincidentally, they are his favorite now. One of his coworkers was walking the 5k, and he was able to give one to her! Andrew and I passed out about a pack of Million Dollar Bill Tracts between the two of us. Rachel had one conversation with an older woman who was waiting for her younger family members to finish the race. As she was sharing the gospel, her very large family came up and also was able to hear! This was so awesome to hear; please pray that this family would be saved by God. Sean and Pat briefly talked with some, but they did not get to have any full on conversations until the very end of our time. Then, they talked to two men who were working the race. They got to explain the Law to them , but their manager called them away before Sean got to tell them in the good news. He gave the two men tracts, and while it did not seem enough at the time, it is enough. Please pray that these men were able to read those tracts, and that the Lord would save them.

To conclude, please pray for the people we encountered on this day and for us. It is easy to get discouraged when we seemingly say the wrong things, or when we don’t get to say everything we want to. However, it is the Lord who is at work here and not us. He is the One who grows the seed (1 Cor 3:6-9). This is the greatest comfort, and it is my hope that the Lord would save the lost.

In other news, I have been featured as a guest poster on Veritas Domain. Here is the link to that post! https://veritasdomain.wordpress.com/2019/03/20/arianism-heresy-that-lead-to-clarification-of-trinitarian-doctrine/

 
 
 

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