FORT MYERS BEACH PREACHING

Saturday night I came home absolutely exhausted.

This Saturday afternoon (as has become our habit) we spent the afternoon at Fort Myers Beach sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ. One-by-one more folks are coming out to participate in sharing the Gospel in this place; an answer to real prayer for sure.

I talked to far fewer people than usual today, but the conversations were long and very deep. First, I talked with Simone (sp?) and Sasha; both from Germany. Sasha was the one that talked with me, while her male companion Simone stood by, even video-taping me briefly. Sasha had some knowledge of the Bible, but little & know nothing of the message of the Gospel. After a conversation of God’s Law & judgment, she could see her guilt before God; her face became very grave & concerned. I felt for her, but it warmed my heart to see a soul experiencing conviction, seeing herself in truth before God. She was very receptive to the message of the Cross, Repentance & Faith. She agreed that she’d a lot to think about. She’s another week in Florida on vacation before she returns to Germany; please pray that she’ll read her Bible & that God will show her the truth & bring her to Repentance & Faith in Him.

Next, I struck up a conversation with Allen. Allen is a young Hispanic boy from a Catholic background. He felt he was a good guy & that going to church was going to get him into heaven. Seeing his guilt before God though the Ten Commandments, it didn’t concern him much as he felt that God would forgive his sin, if he said he was guilty and really, really meant it. I asked him if someone raped & murdered his sister & dumped the body; then told the judge he was guilty & was really, really sorry....would the judge let him go; and if he did, would that be justice. Allen quickly agreed that a good judge could not let a criminal go, just because he admitted his guilt & claimed to be sorry, but felt God was different. The light seemed to go on when I asked Allen if God’s standard of justice was higher or lower than man’s; MUCH higher he responded. Pray for Allen, as he seemed to walk away to meet his friends with a real concern in his face. He agreed to read a copy of the “Are You Good Enough To Go To Heaven” tract (available at www.livingwaters.com) I offered him.



My friend Sam was talking with a couple girls & called me over for help. It turns out that one was unsure of her salvation, while another knew nothing of God; Sam had to exegete each verse he read to her, making talking to both really difficult. Sam called me over for help; I ended up talking with Chelsey for almost two hours. We had lots of crumby doctrine and weird beliefs to unwind. She claimed to have been saved years before, but was now concerned. Asking her questions of her supposed conversion, we found that she had tried Jesus, found she felt better, felt His presence but had no knowledge at all of repentance & faith. We talked further & found that what was bothering her now, was her sin; good! So many folks have tried contemporary Christianity to fill a perceived need in their lives (love, stress, happiness, money, health) but this is false; a false draw to Christ, creating false-converts who never repent of their sin, never put their faith in Christ & are never actually saved; no wonder there is an epidemic of folks ‘falling-away’ & walking away from the church (note I John 2:19 & Luke 9:62). Interesting what I learned as we talked; the issue is she is fearful of her family, what will they say. She’s put up lots of Bible plaques and things from her grandmother, to the ridicule of her family. She’s scared of what they will say and do if she should become a Christian. We talked of the fear of man; “And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.” Mathew 10:28. I am amazed how the conversation went; not sure I can recall it now; but was talked of God His power, glory & majesty; He alone is worthy to be served! We talked of counting the cost; was she willing to be rejected and persecuted of man for His name sake, willing to suffer affliction with the people of God & be rewarded in Heaven.



Some weird beliefs came out of Chelsea. She suddenly came out saying she believed in reincarnation; that folks get a second chance to live right before God. Funny how people are, but asking what she based her belief on, it was just a feeling. We depraved human beings invent a God in our own image to fit our sin & guilt. We went back to Hebrews 9:27 where scripture specifies death ONCE, then judgment...was she right, or God; that hopefully made her think. She was also struggling with the thought that many people believe strongly in their other religions so strongly, how could they all be wrong (i.e. where there many roads to God)? It seemed that Chelsea is feeling the heat of conviction and trying to cool her conscience, by finding away in her mind that she will avoid judgment. Tears flowed a bit during the time we talked. Hopefully this is a sign of conviction, I just don’t know.



My friend Bobby open air preached once and I was able to preach three different times during the afternoon. Bobby preaches with such compassiona and a pleading in his voice; I need to learn from him (He is such an encouraging man of God). It was kind of weird, but as I was preaching, at least four groups or individuals waved, called encouragement or came and shook my hand. It had me wondering if I was preaching a soft message, that I was getting accolades, rather than persecution. You may laugh, but I asked the folks with me; guess it was just God sending some encouragement. One gentleman, Scott, came back with his family later and insisted in giving us money to help pay for tracts. I was able to visit with Scott, his wife and family; encouraging them to learn to share their faith & reach out to the lost with the message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, using God’s moral Law to bring knowledge of sin (Romans 3:20). I was able to pray with them before they left. They are here on vacation from Missouri. Pray for this family, that God will gift them with a yearning desire to live in holiness and a passion welling up within them to seek & save that which is lost.

Today, several more people from church expressed an interest in joining us in preaching the Gospel on the beach, Saturday afternoons. I pray this is the Lord moving, to raise up His people, to preach for His glory & that souls be saved.

How about YOU? Are you sharing your faith? Do you go outside your church and look for lost people to share the Gospel with? I encourage you to consider Christ's commands to the church to preach the Gospel. Is not the primary job of the church (those redeemed by His blood) to seek and save that which is lost?


Glenn.