7.10.2010 Update

The Lord blessed us with ten men to spread the gospel today in Hartford. Thank the Lord for the willingness of his people. Because of the number of men, we split up, sending half of the guys down to Bushnell Park, and the rest to canvass Main St. and start preaching.

The Lord proved himself strong in our behalf today. The first man we had an opportunity to minister to was a man named Michael. He allowed two of the guys to explain the gospel to him, after which he commented, "You mean it's really that easy!?" YES, IT IS!

Having left the park and working our way back to Main St. we arrived at the Old State House. As soon as we got there, we saw two black guys having a heated argument, turning the air blue with their cussing, and threatening to do each other physical harm. I was sure a fight would break out any second. As I thought about what to do, I was reminded of the Proverb, "He that passeth by and meddleth with strife belonging not to him is as one that taketh a dog by the ears." I sat back and prayed what the Lord would have me do. They eventually ended their "discussion" and separated. We took the opportunity of the lull and offered each of them a tract, which they both refused with a gruff, "Don't bother me with that right now!"  For whatever reason, I was burdened for these two men, and prayed again what the Lord would have me do.  I was impressed to start preaching, and preached on "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man should lay down his life for his friends," and how that Jesus laid down his life for his enemies.  One of the rabble-rousers was still there, and listening.  Then, from out of the woodwork came the devil in the form of a cursing, dissenting older man who began to incessantly yell at me to shut the ____ up, and that I should keep my beliefs to my blankety-blank self.  It was then that God did something really neat.  The black guy who previously had been raising a ruckus told our heckler, "Why don't you keep quiet and show some respect for what he is doing?"  That immediately drove away the heckler and allowed me to finish preaching the message without distraction.  After I was done, we approached the black man and thanked him for speaking up on our behalf.  We then offered him a tract again, which he received, apologizing for his first refusal!  You may think that's not a big deal, but it was one more person who got the gospel into his hands!  Praise the Lord!

In addition to several people that the other group spoke with, the Lord provided us a few more opportunities before we left.
We met a Polish woman who couldn't speak hardly any English.  She told us, "Oh, you don't have one of those (tracts) for me!(in my language)"  Well, we did!  The look of surprise and appreciation on her face was priceless.  Perhaps that little incident will be used by the Lord to draw her unto himself.
Last of all, we were approached by another woman who wanted to know whether there was a certain protocol to follow to get your prayers answered.  Not knowing her spiritual condition, I started with the fact that God is under no obligation to hear the prayers of those who are not his children, other than a prayer of repentace toward salvation.  It turns out that she was not saved, and this gave us an opportunity to briefly share the gospel with her and leave her with a tract.

We thank God for the blessings he gives us for obeying his command to preach the gospel to every creature.  He sure is good to us; even though we don't deserve it!