Last night my friends and I went downtown Richmond and lifted up our voices to declare that there is another King, one Jesus (Acts 17:7)!  We began with prayer and then proceeded to read the Bible over the loud speaker for a while.  We talked to Christians and encouraged them in their faith and obedience to the Great Commission.  As usual the high school age kids come around to mock and laugh.  Some of them listened.  I preached the law to the proud but gave grace to the humble.  I did open air preaching for about an hour and that stirred up many conversations that lasted into the night.  My friends and I were confronted by a man who did not like that method of confronting sinners head on in their sin.  He said that we might "push" them away from Jesus.  I told him the Bible teaches that men will not stop resisting the Gospel until Christ opens their eyes to see the Kingdom of God (John 3:3).  We rely on God to save people according to the promise of Christ when he said, "All that the Father gives shall come to me, and him who comes to me I will in no wise cast out (John 6:37)."  I am glad that the salvation of men does not depend upon me but totally on the Sovereign will of God (Eph. 1:11).  Jesus is the one who comes to seek and save that which is lost (Luke 19:10).  He uses the "foolishness of preaching to save them that believe (1 Cor. 1:21)."  We passed out tracts and later saw a man run by after he had stolen money from a girl that was playing guitar on the street!  We ended the night after that.

Today I went downtown Richmond to the Ukrops 10K race.  Thousands upon thousands of people were there.  My friend and I used a speaker to proclaim Law and Grace to the crowds for almost three hours.  We preached on the Ten Commandments.  We preached the cross of Jesus and the substitutionary atonement.  We preached about Biblical marriage and family.  We declared that only God distinguishes right from wrong.  Only God defines what criminal behavior is.  Only God determines what is just punishment for that criminal behavior.  We magnified the greatness of our Prophet, Priest and King, Jesus Christ.  Praise God for the freedoms we still have in the USA to preach the Gospel in the open air.  Glory be to God!

Yesterday three friends and I went out on a beautiful day to evangelize on the campus of UVA.  We did open air preaching in the amphitheater and passed out lots of tracts.  The open air preaching gathered students around and we engaged in conversations about atheism, sexual sin, right and wrong, God's law, and salvation found only in Christ.  We find that the same questions are always brought up wherever you go.  Some question the validity of the Bible and some ask about God's law verses cultural norms.  I talked to a quaker student about the lawful use of force in the Bible.  He had some doubts about the Bible being trusted but I told him what the Bible says anyway.  (The Word of God goes down to the intents of the heart whether the person knows it or not.  We are to never lay down the weapon of the Bible.)  Another girl who was an atheist talked to us for about 2 hours.  We went back and forth about where morality comes from and making her try to understand the atonement of Christ.  The laws of God were preached to bring conviction of sin.  Jesus Christ was displayed as the only savior from sin.  And we ended the day with a delicious meal a College Inn.