UNCG Outreach Report 4-14-2010

Yesterday, we engaged in one-on-one evangelism in beautiful weather on the campus of UNCG. We were unable to engage in open-air preaching due to a UNCG booth of some sort being set up in the area we normally do this. However, this was just another opportunity to pass out tracts and engage people using the question of the day.

The question of the day: "How is a person reconciled to God?"

Remember, based upon our previous evangelism reports, the question of the day is designed to be a simple one-liner that engages people courteously yet directly.

Because we were on the campus from 10:30 a.m. till 4:30 p.m., we engaged too many people one-on-one to list in this report. However, I will report some of the highlights of the day in what follows:

A Kind Agnostic

The first person I interacted with was a kind lady who professed being an agnostic upon asking the question of the day. She said she didn't think that there was clear evidence either way that a god existed. I asked her if she was a materialist or some sort of dualist and she didn't seem to understand the question so I explained what those terms meant. She never really answered the question but said, "Well, I'm a scientific kind of person . . . I'd need some kind of scientific proof" to which I said, "What kind of proof would convince you that the God of the Bible exists?" She said she didn't really know. I then said, "If you don't know what kind of proof it would take for you to believe then how do you know that scientific proof [whatever that means] will convince you?"

I then asked her if she believed the only way she could know things was through the five senses and she said, "I think so" and I then asked her if she could empirically prove the existence of the laws of logic. She didn't get where I was going with the question, so I explained to her that since logic was immaterial it is not subject to empirical investigation. However, because she said that empirical investigation is the only way she can know things, but logic is immaterial, then given her standards, logic could not exist. But she then admitted that logic was necessary for empirical investigation. I said "True, but it itself is not subject to said investigation since it is immaterial, hence your empiricism cannot account for the very thing it uses to engage in empirical investigation". She got the point and was then all ears. I then explained to her how Christianity can account for such things, clearly explained the gospel to her, and I was off to talk to the next person.

Loads of Professing Christians Who Couldn't Tell Me How To Be Reconciled to God

I lost count of how many of these types of folks I ran across yesterday. So many evangelical church attenders, yet very few could explain in very basic ways what a person must do to be reconciled to the One True God. I asked all of them these two questions:

"If you claimed to be a plumber and I paid you to come to my house and fix my pipes, but when you came to my home, you had no tools with you and when I asked you how you were going to fix my problem you said, "Uh . . . beats me dude!" what kind of plumber would you be? Would you let a guy like that work on your broken pipes? My friend, if you claim to be a Christian, yet you can't tell me how to be reconciled to God, which is Christianity 101, what does that say about your Christianity?"

I received mixed responses to the above scenario/questions. The first guy I talked to seemed sincerely affected by my questions and he thanked me for talking to him. He said he'd read 1st John and examine himself. Others could say the right things but acted as if I was bothering them (they were sitting on the front lawn talking to each other, not studying, and not walking to class). With these folks, I boldly asked them, "As a professing Christian, are you really concerned about lost souls? Does it bother you that Jesus said that most people are on the broad path to destruction?" This seemed to change the tenor of the conversation for the better for some, but made it worse for others. Those who seemed to get interested, I pressed on, for others, I thanked them for their time, and moved on.

The True Encouragers

There are a number of college students at UNCG that are so encouraged by my being there. I will see them frequently on campus and they make it a point to come up to me, shake my hand, and thank me for my continued presence on campus. They are genuinely stoked that I am there and some of them want to have me come speak to their various campus ministry groups. To Issac, Nick, Rebecca, Al and others whose names I can't remember, thank you for your encouragement and thank your Sovereign God who raised up worms like me to preach the truth to many who would rather not hear it yet must. To God be the glory!

An Answered Prayer

I always pray that God will be pleased to prepare people's hearts to hear His truth from my lips. My prayers were gloriously answered yesterday. After witnessing to a Roman Catholic and then fellowshipping with a true sister in Christ who overheard my witnessing to the Catholic, God brought my path across two young ladies who were ready to receive the truth. I walked up, introduced myself, and asked them the question of the day and they looked at each other in amazement and said, "We were just talking about that very thing!" I said, "Ladies, the Bible says that everything that occurs is ordained of God, this is part of that everything, therefore, this is ordained of God". The next 45 minutes was glorious. They sat there listening intently as I spoke about what glorious things God has done to reconcile sinners to Himself. They were nodding in agreement as I spoke of sin, righteousness, and judgment. They asked great questions and after this I said, "Ladies, you have heard the truth today; please be reconciled to God through repentance and faith in His Son. Put your face in the carpet, and ask Him for mercy. If you desire to come to Him, if you are weary and heavy laden from your sins, He will give you rest, for Christ's yoke is easy, and His burden it light." At this point one of them was tearing up a bit. I thanked them for their time and as I walked away, they sat there, silently contemplating what I had said. May the light of the glorious gospel of Christ shine in their hearts! (2 Cor. 4.6)

A Friendly Chat with some Familiar Unbelievers

One unbelieving fellow that I spoke with weeks ago in a one-on-one encounter saw me and said, "Dude, I've got some questions I wanna ask you . . . let's find a place to sit down." We went to the Elliot University Center courtyard and chatted pretty intensely for 20 minutes about the existence of God, creation, logic, the problem of induction, and the gospel. At the point he had to go to class, but another familiar face, Lewis, sat at the table next to us and he invited me to sit down with him to chat a little. Lewis heckled me last week for about 10 minutes while I was preaching and he did so also once beforehand at the beginning of the semester. I like Lewis. He has a sharp mind, but abhors the idea of theistic determinism and does not believe that causal connections exist in the universe. I sat and answered his questions about free will vs. free moral agency, determinism, causality, and how all of this relates to Scripture while he smoked a cigarrette. He had to go, but I encouraged him to challenge me anytime whether one-on-one or when I'm preaching. He then left to go to class. The next time I see him, I want to ask him, "Lewis, if you deny that cause and effect relationships exist at all, how do you know that you were born?"

A Concerned Thinker

As I walked back to my car at about 4:00 p.m., I saw a sweating, muscled young man sitting on the steps outside the dorms on Walker Avenue. I walked up, introduced myself, and asked him the question of the day. After some small talk, I learned that his family had left the Southern Baptist denomination and transferred to a liberal Lutheran congregation because they got tired of the "hellfire and brimstone" preaching. When I explained the penalty of sin, he confessed, "Sir, I simply do not believe that god sends anyone to Hell." I then said, "But that is not the God of the Bible. The Jesus of the Bible damns men to Hell" and then I quoted Matthew 25:46 and other passages from the gospels to substantiate my assertion. We drifted through discussions about predestination, election, suffering, the problem of evil, and I then tried to finish with the gospel and a loving call to repentance. This young man was so kind. He was a a great listener and asked great questions yet he stumbled greatly over many Biblical truths. May God open his eyes to see and may the Lord use me and others to help him see his need for faith and repentance in Christ.

Conclusion

God is merciful, good, just, and kind, even to His enemies (Matthew 5:44-45). I am reminded of that over and over again as I evangelize, preach, and talk to many unbelievers every week. Christians need to know their Bibles, spend time in prayer, and then go and tell the story of what God has done for them in Christ and lovingly answer questions. There are so many who are willing to listen though they disagree. Dear Christian friend, will you take the gospel into your daily spheres of influence and go and tell them the old, old story, or will you sit on your "blessed assurance?" Never forget that "faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ." (Romans 10:17)