Street Meetings: Genesis

It started to rain just before Children's Church ended in the morning. And it kept pouring till two in the afternoon, pausing briefly, giving us time to get ready to leave. We had talked about this last Sunday, and have prayed for it during our prayer meeting: we will be holding our gatherings in public, instead of staying inside. On our way to Santa Maria, we drove through a little rain. I did not wish for everyone to have to go through this, but as grace would have it, they were all agreeable and did not mind being wet. We arrived with a few souls sitting idly under the gazebo. I had spent much of my early mornings this week pleading on my face before the Lord, and have wrestled greatly with my flesh. Drowsiness, fear, doubt, apprehension, excuses, timidity, coldness of heart: miseries which only drove me to look to Christ—and His wounds bleeding for sinners. I withdrew back to personally ask for divine leading, before blindly walking up to the corner where I usually stand. From that moment on, I became a mere instrument. It was the Spirit who preached.

Our decision to make our services public was not made on the spur of the moment; rather, it was confirmed in prayer and encouraged by an example. I may not see it now but I do expect censure from  more formal brethren who were brought up to gather within safe walls. I expect ridicule from those accustomed to decency and order; who according to Wesley, think the saving of a soul almost a sin, if it had not been done in a church. 

Our small gathering had been in school for five years, learning about Christ for themselves. It is time they apply what they have learned, fulfill the second commandment, and live out the Great Commission. To be doers, not mere listeners. To walk the path our Christ walked. To yearn for His heart for sinners.

In keeping with our expositions on the chronological study of Christ's life, today's text fell on Luke 11. It provided an excellent opportunity to discuss a problem that people are extremely familiar with today: the hypocrisy of an unconverted heart hiding behind morality. I exposited the text for clarity, till the  message turned to a heartfelt plea to escape from the wrath of the Lamb that is promised to fall upon the sons of disobedience, by running towards the saving arms of our beautiful Redeemer, Christ Jesus. Law was preached, and Christ was offered. Darkness, and light. Death, and life. The hopelessness of a world that will one day end along with everything it offers, and the glorious treasures and excellencies of an eternity found only in Christ who sits on the throne of power, having all authority, today and forever. The trustworthy assurance of salvation that the covenant-keeping God offers in Christ to poor, lost, and repentant sinners.

The same people we began with stayed till the end. They stayed attentively. One who was apprehensive in taking a bible and tract at the start, did so midway. They joined as I read the word. This day would have ended just like any Sunday if we simply observed our usual practice, sharing the word from the Lord amongst ourselves. But today these strangers have been made aware that Christ came to seek and to save that which was lost. That Christ died for the ungodly. And that Christ is for sinners, not the self-righteous. God's forgiveness, for those who ask for it, not for those who think they have no need of it. 

This week we asked for souls who would hear, this day God answered us. It is an encouragement for me to continue asking the LORD for this. 

My motivation for taking the exposition of the word out in the public is not to bring people into the church, but to bring them to Christ. I am aware that I may be scorned for a seemingly heretical statement, but it is not what I am implying. Christ is the head of the church, and the church is His body. It is for her life He died. But to be a member of any one church does not necessarily mean one is spiritually and truly born again—especially by today's standard. Far be it for me to compel people to come into the church only to add them to the growing statistics of moral yet frozen corpses, instead of to Christ to be made alive. Only the Holy Spirit of Christ can quicken the dead, and He is not boxed in by man-made laws. The letter kills indeed, but it is the Spirit that gives life (2 Corinthians 3:6).