"So Jesus also suffered outside the gate in order to sanctify the people through his own blood. Therefore let us go to him outside the camp and bear the reproach he endured. For here we have no lasting city, but we seek the city that is to come." -Hebrews 13:12-14
My pastor, Brian Croft, preached these verses this past Sunday & it was such an encouragement to me. God has called me & all Christians to take the gospel 'outside the camp' of our church walls to a dying & lost world where Jesus wants us to go. Why? Jesus is outside the camp waiting on us to follow him & bear the reproach he endured joyfully as he is with us. We do this because we live for God's glory & we know that we have no lasting city here, but we seek the city of God to come in heaven. God gave me the opportunity to fulfill this call by preaching the gospel at a tent revival & at the abortion clinic this past weekend.
TENT REVIVAL: You must be Born Again
I've found that if you make yourself available to preach God's Word wherever & whenever God will open doors you can't imagine. One Thursday night I couldn't of imagined that just 3 nights later I'd be preaching at a tent revival on Cane Run Road. But in God's providence I was given the opportunity by a fellow street preacher (Jessie) to preach God's Word at this tent meeting that has been going on for 3 weeks. Jessie was a drug addict that God set free & now he joyfully preaches freedom in Christ in the same areas that he once was in bondage & lost. I like this brother's zeal & willingness to go outside the camp & box to seek & save the lost. I appreciated when he said that he doesn't aspire to do anything but street preach & clean toilets if that's what God would have him do. The harvest is great but faithful laborers are few.
I preached from John 3:1-8 & Ezekiel 36:25-27 about the absolute need of being "Born Again." Without this spiritual new birth we cannot see or enter the kingdom of God. I emphasized that being born again is a work God does in us not something we can control. Jesus compares the Spirit of God to the wind that blows where it wishes & we cannot control it but it accomplishes the transformation of hard hearts into soft hearts. It makes those who are dead in their sins become alive in Jesus Christ. I preached the gospel & pleaded that all cry out to God to do this work in them. Evidence of the new birth is seen in Ezk. 36 where we see this work take place in believers hating the sin they once loved & loving the God they once suppressed & ignored. God was lifted up & with us in this service & he is doing a work in his people through the proclamation of his Word.
Hostility at the Abortion Clinic
Emotions are always running high & the atmosphere is always electric at the death mill on 2nd & Market St. I was out with my team the Jude 23 Network open air preaching, praying, & opening our mouths for the unborn who cannot speak for themselves. The Clinic Escorts (Pro-Abortion) were particularly in a sobering mood as they wore flowers in memory of their fellow friend & clinic escort who passed away this past week. This man had been an Abortion clinic escort for over 10 years & was opposed to the gospel but now he must give an account to God. Wow that hit me hard thinking that just last week I & others preached the gospel to him and now he is in eternity.... you better believe the gospel message is urgent, sinners are dying every second! On this morning me & Jerry took turns preaching & it was my first real taste of anger & hostility toward the gospel.
As I began to preach the sober reality of death & mentioned that we are all going to follow in their friends footsteps (who recently died) the clinic escorts became furious & one cussed me out. As I preached God's justice against sin & God's law the clinic escorts were very hostile & opposed. But I know seeds were planted in them as I expounded the grace & love of God seen in Christ crucified to save sinners. Throughout the morning around 23 women came to have abortions & I pleaded with them that God has wonderfully made the child in their wombs & please don't murder their child. Just across the street is a Christian clinic that will help & give other options to these mothers. As we preach we often see these women & their accompanying family look through the blinds in the waiting room at us because they can hear everything as they sit there. God empowered me to be a bold witness for him, I felt the presence of God as I went outside the camp to herald the good news. God comforted & strengthened me with Proverbs 24:11, "Rescue those who are being taken away to death."
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