AHANDBOOK

for STREET PREACHING

and PUBLIC MINISTRY

By Perry Demopoulos Th.M

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(Missionary to Ukraine and Former Soviet Russia since 1992)

CONTENTSPreface, Introduction……………………………………………………………p. 3

Chapter One WHY PREACH PUBLICLY?……….………………………………………….p. 4

Chapter TwoOVERCOMING FEAR IN PUBLIC WITNESSING……………………….....p. 12

Chapter Three VARIOUS ASPECTS OF STEET PREACHING……………………………..p. 16

Chapter FourTHE DANGERS AND THE PUBLIC MINISTRY…………………………….p. 23

Chapter FivePLACES TO PREACH…………………………………………………………..p. 35

Chapter SixSERMON OUTLINES and STREET PREACHING…………………………..p. 39

Chapter SevenTHE INVITATION……………………………………………………………….p. 43

Chapter EightSOUL WINNING AND THE PUBLIC MINISTRY……………………………p. 47

Chapter NineANYBODY CAN TESTIFY……………………………………………………….p. 50

Chapter TenOTHER PUBLIC MINSTRIES……………………………………………………p. 56

Chapter ElevenPUBLIC RELATIONS AND PUBLIC MINISTRY………………………………p. 62

Chapter TwelveTHE BENEFITS OF PUBLIC MINISTRY……………………………………….p. 65

Chapter ThirteenSOME LAST DETAILS…………………………………………………………….p. 69

Chapter Fourteen

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THE FRUIT OF PUBLIC MINISTRY…………………………………………….p. 70Conclusion ………………………………………………………………………….p. 72

Additional Material by Perry Demopoulos ………………………………………p. 74

Note: All scripture is taken from the Authorized Version of the King James Bible (1611).

Preface

The public ministry may not necessarily mean preaching on the street. Of course, there are a great many ways to publicly witness for our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ other that preaching. Any kind of a witness is “preaching” per say. That is why no one in the body of Christ is excluded from the responsibility, honor and privilege of witnessing. We will discuss these matters in this handbook along with the emphasis of street preaching.

The purpose of this book is three-fold;

First, that any and all preachers that are truly called of God to preach would fulfill the ministry of the word of God by preaching, that is heralding the word of God and proclaiming the good news PUBLICLY to a lost and dying world. Secondly, that some preacher in your church, (maybe even you) would strongly consider starting a street preaching ministry. Thirdly that any and all members of the local church would get involved in supporting the street-preaching ministry. There are a great many church members who wish to work for the Lord but do not know how. This book is intended to help you understand and practice ministering publicly.

The main reason why this guide has been written is with these intentions that 2 Timothy 2:2 might be fulfilled “And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also.”

May this book be used of God that thousands may be converted to our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.

Introduction

Street preaching and the public ministry is nothing new Biblically and historically. It is as old as preaching itself. It is simply another aspect of ministering the word of God. As a matter of fact it is one of the oldest ministries in the Bible, for it was the Lord seeking out Adam and calling sinners to Himself in the garden, “And the LORD God

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called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou?” (Gen. 3:9). His text consisted of three words. Enoch was preaching before Noah’s flood (Jd. 14) prophesying of things to come, “And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints.” That was his text. That is one of the main reasons why street preaching should be practiced as a part and ministry of any and every local church. As a matter of fact, the public ministry will continue throughout the Tribulation after the rapture of the Church (1 Thess. 4:16-18) and will continue into the Millennial reign of the Lord Jesus Christ. Let’s take a look at the various reasons why you should be active in a public ministry.

Chapter One

WHY PREACH PUBLICLY?

There are a great many reasons why God-called preachers should support and practice a public ministry and preach on the street.

1. Old Testament Saints Were Street Preachers.

It was Charles Hadden Spurgeon that wrote the following, “Certainly, Moses and Joshua found their most convenient place for addressing vast assemblies beneath the unpillared arch of heaven. Samuel closed a sermon in the field of Gilgal amid thunder and rain, by which the Lord rebuked the people and drove them to their knees. Elijah stood on Carmel, and challenged the vacillating nation with “How long halt ye between two opinions?” (1 Kings 18:21).

Jonah, whose spirit was somewhat similar, lifted up his cry of warning in the streets of Nineveh, and in all her places of concourse gave forth the warning utterance, “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!” (Jonah 3:4). To hear Ezra and Nehemiah "all the people gathered themselves together as one man into the street that was before the water gate” (Neh.8:1). Indeed, we find examples of open-air preaching everywhere around us in the records of the Old Testament.”

2. Jesus Christ was a Street Preacher.

It may suffice us, however, to go back as far as the origin of our own holy faith, and there we hear the forerunner of the Saviour crying in the wilderness and lifting up his voice from the river's bank. Our Lord Himself, who is yet more our pattern, delivered the larger portion of His sermons on the mountain's side, or by the seashore, or in the streets. Our Lord was to all intents and purposes an open-air preacher. He did not remain silent in the synagogue, but He was equally at home in the field. We have no discourse of His on record delivered in the chapel royal, but we have the Sermon on the Mount and the Sermon in the Plain; so that the very earliest and most divine kind of preaching was practiced out-of-doors by Him who spake as never man spake.

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Many people have the strange idea that Jesus Christ was some kind of a smooth, slick, speaker that never raised His voice, never was angered, and never rebuked anybody, and spoke only of love and is represented as some liberal communist. People have forgotten that Jesus Christ was a bold, fearless Street Preacher. He had to raise His voice for the multitudes to hear Him, without any usage of any kind of an amplifying system.

“And it came to pass afterward, that he went throughout every city and village, preaching and shewing the glad tidings of the kingdom of God: and the twelve were with him” (Luke 8:1).

“In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink.He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water” (John 7:37, 38).

3. All the Disciples and Apostles were Street Preachers.

There were gatherings of His disciples after His decease, within walls, especially that in the upper room; but the preaching was even then most frequently in the court of the Temple, or in such other open spaces as were available. The notion of holy places and consecrated meetinghouses had not occurred to them as Christians; they preached in the Temple, or in such other open spaces as were available. But with equal earnestness “in every house, they ceased not to teach and preach Jesus Christ.”

If there was a verse to sum up the ministry of the apostle Paul, Acts 20:20 would be the verse, “And how I kept back nothing that was profitable unto you, but have shewed you, and have taught you publickly, and from house to house.” Along with his ministry of planting churches, and dealing with people individually, the apostle Paul was a street preacher. People don’t realize that. There are thousands of books written concerning the life of the apostle Paul especially about his theology. Paul’s epistles have been hashed over and over since the first century. Books that are written about his doctrine by other authors have overlooked his practice of street preaching. Unfortunately there is a terrible problem with the “eyes” of the Laodicean period of the Church Age (Rev. 3:18). Legislation and the spirit of this age (2006) is for Christians to keep their ‘religion’ within the walls of a building. That was not the ‘theology’ or practice of the disciples or the apostles.

4. The Public Witness was the Practice of the First Century Church.

Look at Acts 8:1-4. “And Saul was consenting unto his death. And at that time there was a great persecution against the church which was at Jerusalem; and they were all scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judaea and Samaria, except the apostles.

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And devout men carried Stephen to his burial, and made great lamentation over him. As for Saul, he made havock of the church, entering into every house, and haling men and women committed them to prison. ¶ Therefore they that were scattered abroad went every where preaching the word.” The “they” of verse 4 includes WOMEN (see preceding verse). Although no woman is ordained to any office in the ministry (Philippians 1:1 and Acts 6:1-6), all women are called to “preach” in the sense that every Christian is a witness (see Acts 1:8 and 1 Corinthians 3:13). The redeemed of the Lord are to “say so” (Psa. 107:2) AND WOMEN like Mary Slessor and Francis Havergal are just as important in the propagation of the gospel as the apostle Paul or any other missionary such as William Carey, Adoriam Judson, Hudson Taylor, etc. However, there are no women apostles, no women bishops, no women elders, and no women deacons.

5. Street preaching is Second to no Other Ministry of the Local Church.

Since the public ministry was a major part of the preachers of Bible times then the public ministry should be second to no other ministry of the local church, for Christianity started outside and continued throughout the first century with the apostles.

“And the next day we that were of Paul's company departed, and came unto Caesarea: and we entered into the house of Philip the evangelist, which was one of the seven; and abode with him” (Acts 21:8).

“But watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry” (2 Tim. 4:5).

“And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers” (Eph. 4:11).

6. We are to Follow the Practice of Others.

If street-preaching was the practice of the prophets of old; Enoch, Noah, Samuel, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Hosea, Jonah, Micah, etc., and all the apostles, Matthew, Mark, Paul, then is not that an example to follow? The greatest street preacher that ever lived was Jesus Christ. In light of the many times that the Lord dealt with people individually people overlook the fact that He also preached to the multitudes in the open air.

If we were to honestly compare the practice of the first century church and preachers with the practice of the local churches today we would have to confess that we are most certainly in the Laodicean period of the Church Age. Laodicea means “rights of the people.” In other words, the Church for the most part is more interested in what it says rather than what God says.

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“And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me” (Luke 9:23).

“Wherefore I beseech you, be ye followers of me” (1Cor. 4:16).

“Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ” (1 Co 11:1).

7. Cities and Even Countries Have Experienced Awakenings Because of Street Preaching.

Again, listen to what Spurgeon says, “What the world would have been if there had not been preaching outside of walls, and beneath a more glorious roof than these rafters of fir, I am sure I cannot guess. It was a brave day for England when Whitefield began field-preaching. When Wesley stood and preached a sermon on his father's grave, at Epworth, because the parish priest would not allow him admission within the (so-called) sacred edifice, Mr. Wesley writes: "I am well assured that I did far more good to my Lincolnshire parishioners by preaching three days on my father's tomb than I did by preaching three years in his pulpit.”

“Wesley writes in his journal, "Saturday, 31 March, 1731. In the evening I reached Bristol, and met Mr. Whitefield there. I could scarce reconcile myself at first to this strange way of preaching in the fields, of which he set me an example on Sunday; having been all my life (till very lately) so tenacious of every point relating to decency and order, that I should have thought the saving of souls almost a sin, if it had not been done in a church." Such were the feelings of a man who in after life became one of the greatest open-air preachers that ever lived!”

“And Jonah began to enter into the city a day's journey, and he cried, and said, Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown. ¶ So the people of Nineveh believed God, and proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them. For word came unto the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, and he laid his robe from him, and covered him with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. And he caused it to be proclaimed and published through Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying, Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste any thing: let them not feed, nor drink water: But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and cry mightily unto God: yea, let them turn every one from his evil way, and from the violence that is in their hands Who can tell if God will turn and repent, and turn away from his fierce anger, that we perish not? And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil, that he had said that he would do unto them; and he did it not” (Jonah 3:4-10).

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“And many that believed came, and confessed, and shewed their deeds. Many of them also which used curious arts brought their books together, and burned them before all men: and they counted the price of them, and found it fifty thousand pieces of silver.

So mighty grew the word of God and prevailed” (Acts 19:17-20).

8. Many More People Will Have a Chance to Hear the Word of God and Possibly Be Saved.

“I can tell of instance after instance where men who have not been at church or a mission hall for years have been reached by open-air meetings. The persons I have known to be reached and converted through open- air meetings have included thieves, drunkards, gamblers, saloon-keepers, abandoned women, murderers, lawyers, doctors, theatrical people, society people, in fact pretty much every class.” (R.A Torrey, the assistant to D.L.Moody, founder of Moody Bible Institute, Chicago, ILL.)

9. God Has Committed to Us a Tremendous Responsibility.

A public witness of going into all the world and preaching the gospel is a God given method. A. People need to be warned of their pending judgment. God has committed unto us the responsibility of witnessing to others. Note the commission that was given to Ezekiel in chapter three to be a watchman.

“And it came to pass at the end of seven days, that the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, Son of man, I have made thee a watchman unto the house of Israel: therefore hear the word at my mouth, and give them warning from me. When I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die; and thou givest him not warning, nor speakest to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life; the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand. Yet if thou warn the wicked, and he turn not from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but thou hast delivered thy soul. Again, When a righteous man doth turn from his righteousness, and commit iniquity, and I lay a stumblingblock before him, he shall die: because thou hast not given him warning, he shall die in his sin, and his righteousness which he hath done shall not be remembered; but his blood will I require at thine hand. Nevertheless if thou warn the righteous man, that the righteous sin not, and he doth not sin, he shall surely live, because he is warned; also thou hast delivered thy soul” (Ezek. 3:16-21).

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Any person that is saved is saved not simply to just exist. He is given a tremendous responsibility to speak for the Lord. Of course Ezekiel was a prophet for a special job from the Lord concerning Israel in its backslidden condition, but that does not negate the Great Commission given to every true believer. The principle of holding Ezekiel responsible for warning the wicked during his day is also the responsibility of each and every New Testament Church Age believer.

A. Note first of all that the “word of the Lord” (v. 16) came to Ezekiel. The word of the Lord is what will eventually encourage the believer to do God’s will.

B. Not only that, you are to give the wicked warning as from the Lord (v. 17). C. If you fail to do that, then if any go to hell and never know how to be saved

especially when you had the opportunities and freedom to witness, then God requires his blood at your hand (v.18). DO YOU WANT TO ANSWER FOR THAT AT THE JUDGMENT SEAT OF CHRIST???

D. If you do give the proper warning and a sinner decides not to be saved, he will go to hell but at least you’ve been cleared of the responsibility of that soul going to hell.

Of course in the Old Testament Ezekiel was told that if he gave proper warning to the wicked and the man does not turn from his iniquity, Ezekiel was not in any risk of his own soul going to hell because he was obedient to God’s call and command. This is mentioned and emphasized again in a later chapter of Ezekiel;

“But if the watchman see the sword come, and blow not the trumpet, and the people be not warned; if the sword come, and take any person from among them, he is taken away in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at the watchman's hand So thou, O son of man, I have set thee a watchman unto the house of Israel; therefore thou shalt hear the word at my mouth, and warn them from me. When I say unto the wicked, O wicked man, thou shalt surely die; if thou dost not speak to warn the wicked from his way, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand. Nevertheless, if thou warn the wicked of his way to turn from it; if he do not turn from his way, he shall die in his iniquity; but thou hast delivered thy soul” (Ezek. 33:6-9). This same kind of passage is mentioned in Proverbs 24:11, 12

“If thou forbear to deliver them that are drawn unto death, and those that are ready to be slain; If thou sayest, Behold, we knew it not; doth not he that pondereth the heart consider it? and he that keepeth thy soul, doth not he know it? and shall not he render to every man according to his works?”

Of course we are dealing with an Old Testament text that is dealing with people under the law who could jeopardize their own souls of going to hell by not obeying God’s command but the point that is being made applies practically to a New Testament

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believer in the Church Age and that is, if you hold back from witnessing to those that you know are on their way to hell and pretend as if you are too busy, or don’t think it necessary to witness, then God will consider how you are acting. At the Judgment Seat of Christ He will deal with you about this issue.

“And when Silas and Timotheus were come from Macedonia, Paul was pressed in the spirit, and testified to the Jews that Jesus was Christ. And when they opposed themselves, and blasphemed, he shook his raiment, and said unto them, Your blood be upon your own heads; I am clean: from henceforth I will go unto the Gentiles” (Acts 18:5, 6).

Notice how the apostle Paul was cleared from the blood of the Jews by testifying to them that Jesus was Christ. He was conscious of the fact that if he did not tell those Jews about the Lord Jesus Christ then their blood would have been on his head and he would not have been clean. This is a sound Bible teaching throughout the entire Bible. Once a person gets saved he is to be a witness for His Saviour. Paul was very conscious of this.

Of course in the New Testament Church Age if you as a Christian are not faithful in trying to win sinners that are lost, then, although your soul will not be in jeopardy of going to hell, but God will properly judge your works at the Judgment Seat of Christ (1 Cor. 3:11-15). The sin of OMISSION will properly be dealt with there. “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad. Knowing therefore the TERROR of the Lord, we persuade men; but we are made manifest unto God; and I trust also are made manifest in your consciences” (2 Cor. 5:10-11).

Notice how that the apostle Paul uses the same idea concerning the responsibility of telling others about the Lord Jesus Christ. “Wherefore I take you to record this day, that I am pure from the blood of all men” (Acts 20:26). Sometimes the word “blood” is used often in the sense of death, of blood shed; and hence of the guilt or crime of putting one to death, or condemnation for it (Matt 23:35; 27:25; Acts 5:28). Paul was not about to be blamed for those to whom he had the opportunity to witness to for their eternal death in hell. He had discharged his duty, in faithfully warning and teaching them; and now, if they were lost, the fault would be their own, not his.

If that weren’t enough, for the tenth reason –10. The Bible speaks in a literal sense of ministering in the “street” .

“And he read therein before the street that was before the water gate from the morning until midday, before the men and the women, and those that could

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understand; and the ears of all the people were attentive unto the book of the law” (Neh. 8:3).

Jer 11:6 Then the LORD said unto me, Proclaim all these words in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem, saying, Hear ye the words of this covenant, and do them.

“But into whatsoever city ye enter, and they receive you not, go your ways out into the streets of the same, and say, Even the very dust of your city, which cleaveth on us, we do wipe off against you: notwithstanding be ye sure of this, that the kingdom of God is come nigh unto you” (Luke 10:10, 11).

“So that servant came, and shewed his lord these things. Then the master of the house being angry said to his servant, Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in hither the poor, and the maimed, and the halt, and the blind” (Luke 14:21).

11. Finally, To Expose Sin. We will close this chapter with an overlooked reason why preach publicly? Of course one of the reasons is to preach the good news to a lost a dying world that sinners might be saved. But in the gospel of 1 Corinthians 15:1-4, there are three negative points and then finally one positive point –

1.) Christ died – negative2.) For our sins – negative3.) Was buried – negative 4.) Rose again from the dead – positive

Since Jesus Christ died for our sins, then another reason for preaching on the street is to preach against sin and EXPOSE IT. If a minister does not spend time exposing SIN in your city he is no follower of Jesus Christ, nor is he any kin to the “prophets” (Acts 24:14; Luke 24:25). The “Prince of Prophets” in the Old Testament (Isaiah) was told: “Lift up they voice like a TRUMPET, and shew my people their transgressions” (Isa. 58:1). The commandment in Isaiah 58:1 is so strong that the blowing of a trumpet was given by the Holy Spirit as THE STANDARD for a God-called preacher to go by. Look at the references: Jeremiah 4:19; 6:17; 51:27; Ezekiel 33:3-6; Amos 3:6; 1 Corinthians 14:8; Revelation 4:1; Exodus 19:16. Now! What is “soothing” and “comforting” about the blast of a trumpet? Look at Psalm 150:3. It is the “voice of a trumpet” that signals the return of every Christian on this earth (dead or alive) to his “home” (1 Thess. 4:16; 1 Cor. 15:52). The children of Israel were so “offended” and disturbed and upset and frightened by “outdoor preaching” (Exod. 19:19) that they said, “we don’t want to hear that trumpet

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again (Exod. 20:19).” Whereupon Jehovah “obliged” (Deut.18:16) and said, “I will talk to you through a MAN” (Deut. 18:19). A great number of ordained ministers in America and Europe are afraid to lift up their voices “like a TRUMPET” when speaking against anybody’s sins.

These are strong reasons why it is so important for ministers and other members of the church alike to minister the word of God publicly. You want to impress upon the hearts of others the long history of public preaching and especially that this is one of GOD’S ORDAINED METHODS of ministering his words to others.

Why Saints Do Not Preach Publicly

There are a number of reasons why in this Laodicean Church Age less and less are involved with such a Biblical ministry;

1.) They lost their first love (Rev. 2:4) and don’t even know it (Rev. 3:17). 2.) Too busy ! The cares of this world have been given place in the hearts of many of

God’s people. “And the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things entering in, choke the word, and it BECOMETH unfruitful” (Mark 4:19).

3.) Neglect of priorities . Too many ministers would consider a public ministry as some kind of historical practice and not a very good way of ‘showing the love of Jesus’ today. The public ministry is a rather “radical” approach to ministering.

4.) Ashamed “Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner: but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God” (2 Tim. 1:8)

“For the which cause I also suffer these things: nevertheless I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day” (2 Tim. 1:12). 5.) Fear !!!

That brings us to our next chapter.

Chapter Two

OVERCOMING FEAR IN PUBLIC WITNESSING

Most people are bothered by one or more forms of fear. Fear of darkness, fear of riding an elevator, fear of heights, fear of traveling by airplane, fear of swimming in deep water, fear of being alone, or in small tight places- these are but a few. A fear that many Christians experience is the fear of publicly witnessing for the Lord Jesus Christ. This problem is not new. Many in the first century during the time of Christ were afraid to speak openly about Him “for fear of the Jews.” (Jn. 7:13). The Bible has much to say of

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this sin. There is no excuse for Christians not to minister publicly. It is simply a matter of fear.

The fear of something or somebody else other that God, produces the following-

1. Unbelief - “And he said unto them, Why are ye so fearful? how is it that ye have no faith?” (Mark 4:40).

2. A snare. If you fear the Lord you will not fear people; if you fear anything else but God it will become a trap, “The fear of man bringeth a snare” (Prov. 29:25).

3. Usurping of God’s word and command.“And Saul said unto Samuel, I have sinned: for I have transgressed the commandment of the LORD, and thy words: because I feared the people, and obeyed their voice” (1 Sam. 15:24).

4. Running from responsibility. The twelve spies at Kadesh-barnea were to spy out the land of Canaan. Upon returning ten of them said, “We be not able to go up against the people; for they are stronger than we” (Nm. 13:31).

A. They REBELLED against the Lord - “Only rebel not ye against the LORD…” B. They feared the people- “…neither fear ye the people of the land…”C. They PROVOKED the LORD- “And the LORD said unto Moses, How long

will this people provoke me?”

The result of that decision cost the nation Israel 40 years of wandering in the wilderness! Not only that, all the generation of save Joshua and Caleb were to FALL, “But as for you, your carcases, they shall fall in this wilderness. And your children shall wander in the wilderness forty years, and bear your whoredoms, until your carcases be wasted in the wilderness. After the number of the days in which ye searched the land, even forty days, each day for a year, shall ye bear your iniquities, even forty years, and ye shall know my breach of promise” (Num. 14:32-34). The result of a great many preachers in their own country cause great apostasy in the body of Christ. They are REBELLIOUS, AFRAID OF PEOPLE and PROVOKE the Lord.

AND YOU WILL BE A CONTRIBUTOR TO THE DAMNATION OF MANY SOULS!!!

5. The cause of people going to hell. The heathen do not fear God, “There is no fear of God before their eyes” (Rom. 3:18), and the first reason why they go to hell is because of fear, “But the FEARFUL, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and

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sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death” (Rev. 21:8).

Dr. Bob Jones Sr. (the founder of Bob Jones University) said, “What America needs is another John the Baptist to seize this country by the nap of the neck and seat of the britches and shake it over Hell!”

A great many preachers will be guilty of not warning the multitudes of hell simply because they ran from responsibility; REBELLED against the Lord, FEARD the people, and PROVOKE the Lord; thus, will be held accountable at the Judgment seat of Christ.

DO YOU WANT TO BE HELD ACCOUNTABLE FOR SUCH A GRAVE SIN OF FEAR???

What is so good about the fear of the Lord???

The fear of God is healthy; the fear of anything or anybody else is sin.

1. The fear of God produces belief in God. “And Israel saw that great work which the LORD did upon the Egyptians: and the people feared the LORD, and believed the LORD, and his servant Moses” (Exod. 14:31).

2. The fear of God will keep you from sin. “And Moses said unto the people, Fear not: for God is come to prove you, and that his fear may be before your faces, THAT YE SIN NOT” (Exodus 20:20).

3. The fear of God will help you depart from evil. “Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the LORD, and DEPART FROM EVIL” (Prov. 3:7)

4. The fear of the Lord will help you to know God. “Then shalt thou understand the fear of the LORD, and find the knowledge of God” (Prov. 2:5).

5. The fear of the Lord will give you confidence. “In the fear of the LORD is strong confidence: and his children shall have a place of refuge” (Prov. 14:26).

Undoubtedly fear of anything or anybody else other than God keeps more Christians from witnessing publicly than any other thing. For every Christian who can boldly proclaim Jesus Christ, there are a thousand who cannot. A Christian man, Vanya from Rovinskaya County (Ukraine) described his early attempts at street preaching as follows:

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“I remembered how that Anatoly (Kiev) had told me about street preaching. I knew that it was something that I really wanted to do. When I went out into the street with my Bible I stood before the people and hesitated. Then I turned around and headed toward my home. I was defeated having not preached. That process was repeated a second time. But after I was encouraged by our Christian brothers from Kiev who came out to visit us, I was then inclined to go back out in the street. For the first time in my life I was able to preach. I couldn’t wait to tell my brethren in Kiev so I immediately sent an SMS (telephone message) to brother Perry telling him of the time while I street preached.”

In the case of Vanya, he finally overcame fear. Perhaps you can identify with his case of fear. Here are some suggestions to help you overcome this sin;

1.) Make it a matter of prayer “I sought the LORD, and he heard me, and delivered me from all my fears” (Psa 34:4). God wants to answer your prayers. Ask and ye shall receive. Pray for a holy boldness and God will see you through. 2.) Love the Lord thy God with all your heart, soul, strength and mind, because perfect love casts out fear “There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.” (1 John 4:18). The more you set your heart to love the Lord your God; He will eventually give you the strength to publicly proclaim the word of God. Prayer, reading the Bible, listening to sermons and being obedient, flexible and pliable to the will of God play a major role in strengthening the believer to take the necessary steps of faith.

3.) Memorize verses that have to do with overcoming fear “For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind” (2 Tim. 1:7). Memorization of scripture verses is one of the most important strategies to overcome any problem, let alone fear, “This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success” (Josh. 1:8).

“Ye shall not fear them: for the LORD your God he shall fight for you” (Deut. 3:22).

“The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? the LORD is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?” (Psalm 27:1)

“The LORD is on my side; I will not fear: what can man do unto me?” (Psalm 118:6).

The more you meditate upon the word of God the more it will be illuminated upon your heart, mind, conscience, spirit and soul. Thus, you will become as a tree planted by

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the rivers of water and the truth will spring up from within. You will eventually begin to preach.

4.) Remember that the Lord is with you, “Then spake the Lord to Paul in the night by a vision, Be not afraid, but speak, and hold not thy peace:” (Acts 18:9). “Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen” (Matt. 28:20). Acknowledge His presence no matter where you go so that when it comes time to preach on the street or at least witness for him publicly it will be perfectly normal to be as bold as a lion for you’ve got the “lion of the tribe of Judah” (Rev. 5:5) IN you. “Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world” (1John 4:4).

5.) If possible take somebody else with you or go with others. As we mentioned earlier, the Lord sent them out by twos. If that is not at all possible then you’ll have to go solo for the time being until somebody else can go with you.

6.) Don’t be afraid of making mistakes. We all make mistakes no matter how experienced we are. There is always room for improvement. But don’t let the mistakes discourage you. Yes, there is a time to ponder the paths of your feet to see where you messed up, but make the correction and try again.

7. Commit your spirit (Psa. 31:5) way (Psa. 37:5) and work (Prov. 16:3) to the Lord. He will never let you down. The Lord is very patient and kind toward us. When He is the center of all that you do, it’s alright. Everything is okay when you look to Him. He knows how to put everything in place in your heart and spirit to overcome any fears especially publicly witnessing and/ or street preaching. Give God time to work with you and you will soon be on the street witnessing as bold as a lion. “The wicked flee when no man pursueth: but the righteous are bold as a lion.” (Prov. 28:1). “Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the LORD thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest” (Josh. 1:9). Now these suggestions should help you and are more than enough to help any Christian deal with the fear of witnessing publicly and or street preaching.

Chapter Three

VARIOUS ASPECTS OF STEET PREACHING

The following is a list of helps for street-preaching.

1. Prayer and the Public Ministry

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All street preaching should be bathed in prayer. Your church should make this ministry a matter of prayer also. You should pray for the following; A. Plead the blood of Christ for cleansing from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit. B. For wisdom during the meeting. C. For protection from evil people. D. For the filling of the Holy Spirit. E. People will get under conviction. F. For souls to be saved. G. That there would be no hindrances from the local authorities and find favor in their eyes. G. Opportunities to deal with people individually. H. Etc.

2. Strength in Numbers and the Public Witness

When preaching you should have someone else with you. Two is better than one. The Lord sent the disciples out by two. A group is even better. A. You need a decoy to detour any heckler who wants to get in your face and disrupt the preaching. B. The second man should stop anybody and draw his attention away from the one preaching. This is necessary for the preacher to continue and not be interrupted. The Devil would like to stop the preaching and ministering of the word of God. C. When there are more people out on the street witnessing, this makes it easier for the brethren to preach. They’ve got more protection. It also encourages each other seeing so many doing the same thing publicly. It also leaves a very strong impression among the unsaved. Of course if they saw only one or two people they would be more apt to heckle and scorn. But when there is a whole group together, they heathen are more apt to shut up and watch. There is definitely strength in numbers. When onlookers see that they are outnumbered they will usually try to behave themselves. They know that they don’t have the “edge.” Just as soon as they see that there is only one or two people out there witnessing they are more apt to react. They are in the majority. So it is better to have more than less, but then again if only one or two will witness publicly the Lord can most certainly bless that. One with God is a majority. Finally, if there is only one man out there publicly witnessing there is less accountability, for there are enough temptations that the world, flesh and the Devil will present to hinder and trip up any minister. We will speak of this in the chapter, “The Dangers of Street Preaching.” Of course, if there is no other choice, going solo is better than not going at all.

3. Music and the Public Ministry

Music and melody are always close to man’s heart; therefore it can be used to draw peoples’ attention. A musical instrument is encouraged to use, preferably an accordion or portable piano if possible.

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We had a Pipe and Drum ensemble called “The Fourth Watch” (America) that played out on the street before we preached. In Kiev we’ve sung songs before we’d preach. It is good also to have a small song book and sing a song or two before the preaching starts. A. The songs should be somewhat lively, not dead funeral songs. B. Songs about the cross are very appropriate. C. It is always best if you’ve got a group of people to help out for singing and also to pass out tracts. First you can start out by singing a couple of songs, and then preach. As the preaching begins, the rest may filter out into the crowd and help pass out tracts and or do personal work with those that may stop to hear the preaching. But make sure there is always somebody to stand near the preacher just in case someone decides to try to interrupt the preaching.

P.A. System

Using an amplified system can help depending on where you are at. In Ukraine we’ve used from time to time a small Peavey amplifier that stands about a foot high and a foot wide. It has clear projection. Many a time when a sister testified she could be heard in circumstances that otherwise without a microphone older folks standing by and listening would not be able to hear. Of course some of us can do without a P.A. system. As a matter of fact a preacher may have more liberty and less to deal with when having the extra “weight” of technology and electricity. But then again, there are a great many people that are attracted to hearing a voice over a loud speaker. In Ukraine, when walking through Independent Square in the center of Kiev, there are a number of musicians sitting playing there instruments using an amplified system. In the villages when preaching in the market places, a P.A. system works really well. For example, at one market place a group of us loaded up with a bunch of tracts to pass out. As we walked into the entrance of that market place Sasha, noticed that it would be much better to use the amplifier. We set it up at an ideal place where there was a table used for selling produce. Nobody at the time was using the table. If front of the amplifier (at the distance of about fifteen yards started the first row of the booths (little tents) of those selling. After that there were a couple more rows. Behind the market place was a soccer field. The length of the soccer field was about one-hundred yards. As Sasha was preaching through the amplifier I walked to the other side of the soccer field and could easily hear Sasha preaching although cars, tractors and trucks would pass by every once in awhile. There had to be over one hundred listeners who were especially paying attention or pretended that they were not listening. One thing for sure, they had absolutely no problem hearing what was being said. Sasha’s voice simply hovered over that whole market place and the word of God was doing its job; probing, cutting, convicting, pricking and pruning. You’d think that there was an air raid happening at the time of the preaching. All of us returned to our vehicle and gave a report of the reaction of all those that listened. One lady that was buying something was blessed by our witness and encouraged us to keep on preaching for the Lord. Dealing with the noise of the crowd, entertainment and others around you, a little P.A. system can help. Of course you will want to use it wisely, not blasting people out.

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In a tent we always use an amplifier. When people are coming in and going out, cars and trucks going by, dogs barking, geese ‘goosing,’ ducks quacking, cows ‘mooing,’ kids giggling, and drunkards interrupting, a good amplified system helps everyone hear the testimonies, the words to songs and specials, and especially the preaching much clearer with ease and less straining of the ears. Be flexible and use common sense as to using an amplified system.

Bro. Sasha Dolbin, missionary to the Tetiev region (Kiev county) preached at the market in the village of Cherepin using an amplifier. His voice was heard by all that were buying and selling that day. Kostya stood nearby. (Oct. 2006)

4. The Street Preachers Attitude Keep a right spirit. The Lord could preach under any circumstance before any crowd and maintain a right spirit. He could preach to great multitudes and have compassion on them. He could preach hell fire and damnation to the Pharisees that were blood hounds out to kill him and yet He could speak of mercy (Matt. 23:23). “Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me” (Psa. 51:10). “Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath” (Eph 4:26).

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Keep your preaching under control. “A cool head and a warm heart” as one preacher said. You are in the midst of a people of unclean lips and apart from the grace of God you are a man of unclean lips (Isa. 6). “And the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets” (1Cor. 14:32).

Be patient toward them that are without. God was patient and long-suffering toward you. That does not mean tolerate sin.

You are to have compassion on sinners. “But thou, O Lord, art a God full of compassion, and gracious, longsuffering, and plenteous in mercy and truth” (Psa. 86:15). God knows the sins of every sinner yet, the Lord Jesus Christ became the “man of sorrows” and was “acquainted with grieve” (Isa. 53:3) and had compassion on the multitudes. “And Jesus, when he came out, saw much people, and was moved with compassion toward them, because they were as sheep not having a shepherd: and he began to teach them many things” (Mark 6:34).

“And of some have compassion, making a difference” (Jude v.22).

5. The Main Subject and Street Preaching

Your messages should be evangelistic; meaning the gospel (death, burial, and resurrection). Tell people how Jesus Christ died for their sins and offers them eternal life. (See Sermon Texts below). Of course there are many different subjects to choose from when preaching and witnessing but these subjects should be preached in light of the death, burial, and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. That was the main theme that the apostles preached (Acts 2:23,24; 3:14,15; 4:2,10; 10:39,40; 13:28-30 etc.).

6. Sermon Preparation and Preaching

Get in the habit of preparing your messages so that if and when the opportunity arises to preach ex-prompt you will have some messages already prepared. Your best bet is to memorize your sermon, or at least until then, have them written in short outline form in your Bible somewhere, either next to a verse or in the back of your Bible. If you have to read a verse, then do so but try to memorize them. Stay away from page turning and reading as much as possible for reading your sermon text from a paper can be somewhat dry, especially in the public ministry. Most politicians will read their messages to gain their listeners, but quite the contrary happens. There is great freedom in preaching when you’ve got the sermon ‘under your belt.’ Also, people are more drawn when there is good eye-contact. And this should be done moderately, not staring at people, or staring at just one person, especially if there are others in the audience. This leads to our next point.

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7. Knowing Your ‘Enemies’ Position

Always keep an eye out as you preach. Make note of those to whom you are preaching. Maybe someone is really listening. “There is a powerful magnetism in the human eye; and rarely should the preacher's eye be taken off his hearers if he wishes to retain his hold of them.” (Definite Directions for Open-Air Preaching. by Gawin Kirkham

Any soldier is trained to know his enemies’ position. As a soldier of the cross a preacher should have some kind of idea as to whom he is preaching. With more experience you should know somewhat of your “enemies’ position, that is, where they are at spiritually. Your audience may be a people “wholly given to idolatry,” as Paul noticed while preaching to the Athenians (Acts 17:16).

This can help you to understand them and also choosing your text from which to preach. Jesus Christ did not haphazardly preach. He knew what was in man and with whom He was dealing and got to the point in His preaching.

8. The Length of Street Preaching Sermons

The length of sermons are going to vary depending on where the preaching will take place. For the most part your messages should be short, no longer than 5-6 minutes. Of course that all depends on whether people stop to listen or not. Also where you are preaching will determine either to lengthen the sermon a bit or shorten it. But have something to say, look them in the face, say what you mean, put it plainly, boldly, earnestly, courteously, and they will hear you. Preaching at a stop light allows you to preach for about 30-60 seconds; that’s all but that is enough for your ‘audience’ to ‘get the message.’ We were preaching in Fort Walton Beach, Florida (1991) at a stop light. A man in his pick-up truck was listening rather intently although he was listening through the passenger window side. After the message he pulled over and wanted to know more. Within twenty minutes dealing with him he decided to trust the Lord Jesus Christ as his personal Saviour. At a stop light many ‘get the message.’ Other opportunities such as across the street from a bar, pub, tavern, etc., may allow you to preach for just a minute or two while people are coming into or going out of the place. Again while in Fort Walton Beach while standing across from a bar, Bro. Todd Barker was preaching. While people were going into a bar called the “Hog’s Breath” (what a name!), some lady who was not especially big came across the street, went right up to brother Todd, picked him up and gave him a body slam right on the hood of a car parked next to us. We didn’t even notice this lady coming. Of course we did a poor job protecting Todd, but one thing for sure; she ‘got the message’ (so did he). She must have been cut and pricked in her heart by the word of God.

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In downtown Pensacola, (Florida) many a preachers have ‘cut there teeth’ where people have had to wait in line outside along the street to get into a food and bar ‘joint.’ Sometimes many of those people have had to hear three to four preachers in a row before they got into the building. They ‘got the message’ clear and straight!

9. The Usage of Your Voice While Street Preaching

There is no need to scream your head off as if you are in agony or pain when you preach. Volume usage should be in proportion to the distance you want your voice to carry. You should also consider the obstructions; car noise, train noise, the noise of a multitude in the inner city, the noise at an open market, etc. Your voice should not be overbearing. One minister preached for the first time inside the waiting hall of the train station in Kiev. He began preaching with such intensity and so loudly that he immediately drew the attention of the policemen that were quite far away and would not have noticed us if the volume of the preaching was more tempered. We were immediately told to leave. We lost the opportunity to minister there in that hall due to a foolish mistake. For your voice to carry more directionally when preaching, couple your free hand and the Bible around your mouth so that you will have a megaphone effect. By doing this it will give your voice direction and it will carry farther. Also it will give your voice some distinction. That leads us to consider something else;

A general rule concerning your diction is, the louder you preach the slower you should pronounce your words. Do not rush or else your audience will have a hard time understanding you. Street preaching is not talking to someone one on one. Your voice has to carry some distance in open-air preaching; therefore if your words are pronounced quickly, with distance you lose clarity. There is the admonition given to Isaiah, “Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and shew my people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins” (Isa. 58:1). Therefore know your “enemies” position. If they are close by there is no need to make your voice louder than is necessary. Be wise in this matter. You should preach from your belly and not your throat, (vocal chords). As you inhale you should notice your belly expanding first and then your chest. As you preach and let breath out, it should come up from your belly, “He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water” (John 7:38). The upper part of your body should be relaxed as you allow the air to come up, “speak not with a stiff neck” (Psa. 75:5). Any vocalist knows that your body should be relaxed especially your upper body; neck and facial muscles. Naturally if you are nervous, impatient, and not settled, when your voice pitch rises, you will strain yourself. Your voice will not carry as far. Be sure to follow the instructions given above. Preach from your belly and go slow. That is the best way to keep form. Any boxer that loses his form in the ring loses the bout.

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For the average-pitched voice start slow and low. As the sermon intensifies of course your speech and pitch will rise but let it be gradual and under control and not of nervousness. Keep under control!

Here the author is preaching at the market in Tetiev. An amplifier is not necessary but the Bible and the free hand is used to get a megaphone effect for three reason; For the voice to be directed in a specific direction, for it to be louder

Chapter Four

THE DANGERS AND THE PUBLIC MINISTRY

There is no sense in trying to close our eyes to the dangers of street preaching. History has proven all too often of those that have suffered persecution for their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and not being ashamed of saying so, and that publicly. The apostle Paul had written concerning his perils and used that as an argument as proof of his apostleship for there would be no sense for a man to have to go through such perils if his motive to minister was for filthy lucre’s sake or fame or some other satanic ambition. These dangers have a way of proving a minister’s sincerity of trying to reach the lost, of separating the men from the boys and also determine who is really “Pauline” in practice and in spirit or not. “In journeyings often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by mine own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren” (2 Co 11:26).

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As the apostle Paul had many perils to deal with as a minister of the word of God, so will any saint of the Lord who intends to be a public witness or preach publicly. Of course most of the problems that most of us modern Christians have to go through are ‘small fry’ in the light of what others have had to go through in other countries even in our modern day. Nonetheless, the Devil will see to it to use any and all methods to hinder a public witness. Yet there are other dangers that must be spoken of. The three enemies the Christian has are the world, flesh and the Devil. As you stand you are going to run into hindrances, temptations and opposition sooner or later and be tempted and provoked to do something that could be fatal if carried out.

I. The World

“If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you” (John 15:18).

“They hate him that rebuketh in the gate, and they abhor him that speaketh uprightly” (Amos 5:2).

Once you begin your preaching you will notice how much this world really “loves” or better yet hates Jesus Christ. In his autobiography “The Heart of Wesley’s Journal” John Wesley writes about numerous and rather wild occasions where he was yelled at, threatened by mobs and even physically hit to stop his preaching. The following is an excerpt called “Three Remarkable Shots with Stones” which explains Wesley’s strong determination, along with God’s great providence and protection-

“At one I went to the Cross in Bolton. There was a vast number of people, but many of them utterly wild. As soon as I began speaking, they began thrusting to and fro; endeavoring to throw me down from the steps on which I stood. They did so one or twice; but I went up again, and continued my discourse. They then began to throw stones; at the same time some got upon the Cross behind me to push me down; on which I cold not but observe, how God overrules even the minutest circumstances. One man was bawling just at my ear, when a stone struck him on the cheek, and he was still. A second was forcing his way down to me, till another stone hit him on the forehead: it bounded back, the blood ran down, and he came no farther. The third, being got close to me, stretched out his hand, and in the instant a sharp stone came upon the joints of his fingers. He shook his hand, and was very quiet till I concluded my discourse and went away.”

Nashville In Nashville Tennessee I was preaching on a street corner about 8:00 o’clock in the evening near a tall skyscraper. While I was preaching all of a sudden I heard a loud bang as if a gun has been fired. Not but three yards from where I was standing laid a large

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plastic bag full of ice that exploded when it hit the sidewalk. Somebody decided to show there hatred for the Lord Jesus Christ by throwing a 10 to 15 pound bag of frozen ice out the window to hinder or even kill a street preacher. I didn’t realize what had happened until I stopped preaching. Thank God they missed! After that I simply moved to another place down the street and proceeded to preach.

Chicago Another time with a group of men we decided to preach in Chicago. That was a regular place for us to preach. Rush Street is a ‘hopping’ street full of bars, stars, and cars, jazz joints, restaurants and shows. As I was preaching a couple of big boys decided to put me in the trunk of a car. They got me to the car and then let me go at the last moment. I believe it was simply a scare tactic. They took off in the car and I proceeded to preach.

Kosivka, (Ukraine, 2006) While holding a tent meeting in the small village of Kosivka (pop. 700) a drunkard came into the tent while the children’s program was being held. His daughter was participating with all the rest of the children. He started interrupting the meeting and at that moment I kindly asked him to step outside. He was no small dude to put it lightly. He was a well built, hard working man. You could tell that by the size of his hands. Well, just at the moment that we stepped outside the tent he made a fist and cocked his arm back and was just about ready to haul off and nail me. I was ready to avoid the blow when another brother came and cooled this man down. He was mad, furious but especially drunk and foolish. This has happened a number of times while holding tent meetings and street preaching in Ukraine. Vodka is a very popular narcotic that seems to “bring the best out of a man.”

II. The Flesh

“…the lust of the flesh…”

Unfortunately, when a sinner gets saved he then realizes how wicked he really is for “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” (Jer. 17:9) and apart from the grace of God Christians are a sad crew. It is the grace of God that “[Teaches] us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world” (Tit 2:12), for the “flesh is weak” (Mark 14:38), and in the flesh, “dwelleth no good thing” (Rom. 7:18). So the devil is going to do all he can to throw everything and anything before the public minister that he might be a castaway, “But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway” (1Cor. 9:27). If you are going to minister in the evening hours, that is when the spirits seem to me more stirred up, for “men [love] darkness rather than light because their deeds [are] evil” (Jn. 3:19). So you are to expect that which would be ‘par for the course’ of this

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world, especially during the evening hours. But since we are in the Church age, it is doctrinally the night hour before the morning and Return of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. So in this late hour of the Laodicean Church period it doesn’t really make much difference to people of this world when they do what they do whether it be day or night.

Calumet City, Illinois Back in the early eighty’s my cousin and I would go up and down the streets near Hammond Indiana and Calumet City. That used to be an infamous area for gangsters back in the 30’s and 40’s. It was called sin-city. It was a red light district; prostitution, gambling, hoodlums, and has degenerated to bums, pimps and whoremongers, and queers. We would witness ‘till sometimes one or two o’clock in the morning. From time to time we dealt with women of ill repute to put it “nicely.” The ‘dress code’ even back then was much to be desired and also a reflection of what they thought of street preachers and the word of God. They could care less. When you are out “on the beat” you are in their territory. Watch out! The lust of the flesh can kill you! It is what the fallen sons of God wanted; to mix the seed (Gen. 6). It was the lust of the flesh that got the nation Israel to mix among the ladies of Moab (Num. 25:1-3). Samson got in a mess with estranged women (Judges). Lust got David to fall (2 Sam. 11). Your flesh is no better than anybody else’s.

III. The Devil

“…the pride of life…”

The pride of life is what made Israel fall before those in Ai (Josh. 7) The Jews thought they could go out with less soldiers “about three thousand” (7:3,4), and not “with all the people of war” (Josh. 8:1). They fell and “the hearts of the people melted, and became as water” (v. 5). Make sure you are prayed up and have spent some time in the word of God so that inside you’ve “cleaned up” before having to deal with situations that will expose you to immodest circumstances, unexpected acquaintances, and subtle suggestions whether they be verbally spoken or just acted out or shown by all the pictures, advertisements, billboards and illustrations of man’s debauchery.

“Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us CLEANSE OURSELVES from all filthiness of the FLESH and SPIRIT, perfecting holiness in the fear of God” (2 Cor. 7:1).

The Real Classic “Street” Conflict

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Concerning the real conflict the Bible itself ‘pits’ the two opposing sides against one another in the two classic chapters of Proverb 7 and 8 where two kinds of wisdom are presented -

The first kind of “wisdom” (chapter 7) “descendeth not from above, but is earthly, SENSUAL, DEVELISH.” Its roots spring from “bitter envying and strife in [the heart] and it is “against the truth” (Jam.3:14). It is propagated by harlots whether it be literal women or spiritual harlotry by churches of Popish descent. The second kind of wisdom (chapter 8) “that is from above is first PURE, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy.” This is the real “shoot out,” the real “duel,” the real “street” (7:12; 8:1-4) conflict. This is the KILLING ZONE where the earthly sensual devilish “wisdom” does its job, “passing through the street near her corner” (Prov. 7:8), “Now is she without, now in the streets, and lieth in wait at every corner” (v. 12) and a great many soldiers have been wounded and slain by her “For she hath cast down many wounded: yea, many strong men have been slain by her.” (Prov. 7:26) Only the “shield of faith” can “quench all the fiery darts of the wicked” (Eph 6:16). The real “dart” (Prov. 7:23) game is not the one going on in some tavern or bar on your street corner, but in the heart or “liver” of the saints who are “in the trenches” on the front lines trying to get something done for God Almighty. Warriors may be strong and yet have a ‘chink’ in their amour. The “dart” (v.23) has found “many strong men” (v. 26). David was a man that shed much blood in battle but did not control his passion for Bathsheba. Samson was strong but fell for Gentile women and harlots. Solomon was strong even the wisest man (outside of Jesus Christ) could not out smart the devil. “But king Solomon loved many strange women, together with the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Zidonians, and Hittites…and his wives turned away his heart” (1 Kings 11:1-3).

“For she hath cast down many wounded: yea, many strong men have been slain by her” (Prov. 7:26). How is it that the enemy can slay many strong men? The apostle Paul said,

“Lest Satan should get an advantage of us: for we are not ignorant of his devices” (2 Cor. 2:11).

Satan’s Devices

1. SEEKING

“For at the window of my house I LOOKED through my casement” (v.6). “And BEHELD among the simple ones” (v. 7). “her feet ABIDE NOT in her house” (v.11). “Now is she without, now in the streets, and LIETH IN WAIT at every corner.”

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“Therefore came I forth to meet thee, diligently to SEEK thy face, and I have found thee.”

The preceding verses go right along with 1 Peter 5:8 showing that the real enemy is not flesh and blood prostitutes and whores but the devil himself. “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places” (Eph. 6:12). “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, SEEKING whom he may devour” (1 Pet 5:8).

2. CAMOFLAGE

“I have PEACE-OFFERINGS with me; this day have I payed my vows” (v. 14). Speaking of the Antichrist, Daniel writes; “but he shall come in PEACEABLY, and obtain the kingdom by flatteries” (Dan. 11:21).

She seeks the saint out on the street by camouflaging herself. The devil would have some lustful woman or young girl come to you and talk peaceably with you in a casual conversation. She may even want to talk with you about religion, peace and God.

3. FLATTERY

“That they may keep thee from the strange woman, from the stranger which FLATTERETH with her words” (v. 5). With her much fair speech she caused him to yield, with the FLATTERY of her lips she forced him” (v. 21).

She may even compliment you by telling you that you are right and that she thinks that “You guys are right.” “My dad is a “Baptist” preacher.” “You’re doing the right thing.” “Keep up the good work.” “I believe in God…” “Yes, I’m saved.” Etc.

4. SUBTILTY

“And, behold, there met him a woman with the attire of an harlot, and SUBTIL of heart” (v.10). The public minister should know Satan’s devices, “Now the serpent was more SUBTIL than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made” (Gen. 3:1).

The devil takes them captive at their will to work through them to get YOU. Satan is after YOU, and he will use anybody to get to the one that is standing out there in the streets witnessing for God. So here she comes after you with all subtlety of heart.

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5. SENSUAL SUGGESTIONS “And, behold, there met him a woman with the attire of an harlot…” (v. 10). Today they are all dressed like harlots. It’s hard to tell one from another; the loud high heels, tight skirts, (or even pants), the low cut blouses or T shirts, the belly showing, the make-up; they “are haughty, and walk with stretched forth necks and wanton eyes, walking and mincing as they go, and making a tinkling with their feet…” (Isa. 3:16).

“the lust of the eyes”

She says, “I have decked my bed with coverings of tapestry, with carved works, with fine linen of Egypt” (v.16). Here she entices with the sense of sight. She is working on the IMAGINATION through his EYES.

Satan said, “For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your EYES shall be opened” (Gen. 3:5). This is the lust of the eyes.

“I have perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon” (v.17). Now she is working on the sense of smell. She is out to excite the passions.

Now here comes the offer- “Come, let us take our fill of love until the morning: let us solace ourselves with loves” (v.18). “Come” taking you by the hand having already ‘baited’ you with sensual suggestions and having dealt with your senses now she’s got you hooked. “Looking for ‘love’ in all the wrong places” as the song went back in the 70’s. It may be “until the morning” but it is most certainly short lived. A pleasure of sin for a season but death awaits you around the corner. THE KILLING ZONE!!!

“For the goodman is not at home, he is gone a long journey” (v.19). “She doesn’t say, “My husband is not at home” although it could be her husband, nonetheless she assures you that the goodman won’t be home for quite some time and there is no need to fear of danger. She is ready to answer all objections. The set-up is to nullify any and all objections to her sensual suggestions.

“He hath taken a bag of money with him, and will come home at the day appointed” (v.20).

6. TENACITY and BOLDNESS

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“…LOUD AND STUBBORN…” (v.11). “…with the flattery of her lips SHE FORCED HIM” (v. 21).

“SO SHE CAUGHT HIM and KISSED HIM and with an IMPUDENT FACE” (v.13).

There it is - the tenacious, bold kiss, the KISS OF DEATH!

7. PERSISTANCE

“Therefore came I forth to meet thee, DILIGENTLY to seek thy face, and I have found thee.” (v. 15). “With her MUCH fair speech she caused him to yield, with the flattery of her lips she forced him” (v. 21).

If there is any one thing that can wear out a saint it is that constant attack that doesn’t let up; day in and day out, that constant barrage of artillery, the darts hitting the heart in all of their subtlety, the flatter and sensual suggestions that the Christian is exposed to out on the street in the KILLING ZONE.

The victim that is near her corner where she was plying, or in the way to her house, where she was sitting, or standing, waiting and watching for such an opportunity, for such a person, as a prey to fasten on; and no sooner she saw him, and come up to him, but, without any ceremony or address, she laid hold upon him, throws her arms about his neck, and embraces him in them; and, what is unusual for women to do, with all boldness kisses him to stir up lustful affections and impure desires within him. “He goeth after her straightway, as an ox goeth to the slaughter, or as a fool to the correction of the stocks; Till a dart strike through his liver; as a bird hasteth to the snare, and knoweth not that it is for his life” (7:22, 23).

You are a dead duck sticking around that kind of stuff!

“FLEE ALSO YOUTHFUL LUSTS” (2 Tim. 2:22).

So then where is the victory won? Where does the Christian get the victory over Satan’s subtle barrages of attack?

The Battle of Battles

“For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;)

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Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ; And having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled” (2 Cor. 10:3-6).

This is where it all begins and this is where it all ends. If the preacher does not get victory here, he most certainly will not get victory anywhere over the world, flesh and the Devil out in the street with all of its garb, garbage and subtle suggestions presented to him or at home. The Christian is a SOLDIER. You must learn how to fight. “This charge I commit unto thee, son Timothy, according to the prophecies which went before on thee, that thou by them mightest WAR A GOOD WARFARE” (1 Tim. 1:18).

Your enemy

There are three basic enemies that you have to war against. 1.) The flesh. “the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the

flesh.” 2.) Imaginations. It was the imaginations of man’s heart that brought on the flood

and every body was KILLED except 8 souls. “And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually” (Gen. 6:5).

3.) Everything that exalts itself against the knowledge of God.

Your Warfare and Weapons

Since your flesh is against the Holy Spirit then your warfare is not “after the flesh,” nor are your weapons “carnal.” Your weapons are SPIRITUAL and they are “MIGHTY THROUGH GOD.” They are;

1.) The word of God which is the sword of the Spirit (Eph. 6:17). 2.) And prayer (Eph. 6:18) which is able to build you up, “But ye,

beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost” (Jude v.20).

Those weapons are “mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds.” The strong holds are your IMAGINATIONS! So you’ve got to deal with the strong holds of imaginations in your own heart and mind. You are to do five things;

1.) “[Cast] down imaginations”2.) Cast down “EVERY high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of

God”What Satan was to attempt was first SAID IN HIS OWN HEART, “For thou hast said IN THINE HEART, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God, I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation…” “I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the most High” (Isa. 14:12-14).

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3.) And [“bring] into captivity EVERY THOUGHT to the obedience of Christ.” 4.) Be ready! “And having in a READINESS to revenge all disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled.” 5.) Obey! None of the above will occur until there is undaunted OBEDIENCE on your part. “…WHEN your obedience is fulfilled.”

By far you are not to deal with the spirit world in your own wisdom and strength. For that matter God gives us the supply we need - PROVERBS CHAPTER 8. Chapter eight of Proverbs is altogether different. The wisdom presented in this chapter is by which you are to stand for it (wisdom) was before the creation of the universe (v.23) and CREATED the universe. Again, this type of wisdom “…from above is first PURE, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy.”

The wisdom which is from ABOVE is first PURE; thus the cleansing process and keeping of you to help you stand out in the street and for unregenerate sinners to survive the death spoken of in 7: 26 and 27- the KILLING ZONE.

“Wherewithal shall a young man CLEANSE his way? by taking heed thereto according to thy word” (Psa. 119:9).

“Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee” (Psa. 119:11).

“SANCTIFY them through thy truth: thy word is truth” (John 17:17).

“Now ye are CLEAN through the word which I have spoken unto you” (John 15:3).

Who is this wisdom???

In the Authorized Version of the King James Bible wisdom is used with the pronoun “her,” (v.2) “she,” (vvs.2, 3) simply in comparison to the strange woman of 7:5 “which flattereth with HER words.” So we’ve got the comparison; “her words” the harlots’ against “her voice” the voice of wisdom.

THREE REPRESENTATIVES OF WISDOM

We are far from completely expounding chapter 8. We’ve not yet come to the conclusion as to who else may this wisdom be. There are three representatives of wisdom;

1.) The words of the Living God are this Wisdom ; “Hear; for I will SPEAK of excellent things; and the opening of my lips shall be right things. For my mouth shall SPEAK truth; and wickedness is an abomination to my lips.

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All the WORDS OF MY MOUTH are in righteousness; there is nothing froward or perverse in them. THEY ARE ALL PLAIN to him that understandeth, and right to them that find knowledge” (vvs. 6-9).

2.) Jesus Christ is The Personification of Wisdom; “By me kings reign, and princes decree justice. By me princes rule, and nobles, even all the judges of the earth I love them that love me; and those that seek me early shall find me.” (vv.15, 16, 17). Verse 17 goes well with John 8:21 and 14:21. Verses 22 to the end of the chapter are very strong verses concerning the personification of wisdom in Jesus Christ.

3.) Any True Saint of any Period is a Representation of Wisdom . For you will find saints throughout the different periods heralding the word of God, “in the top of high places,” by the way in the places of the paths,” “at the gates,” “at the entry of the city,” “at the coming in at the doors.”

Israel and Her Public Witness

“Zion heard, and was glad; and the daughters of Judah rejoiced because of thy judgments, O LORD” (Psa. 97:8).

“When the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion, and shall have purged the blood of Jerusalem from the midst thereof by the spirit of judgment, and by the spirit of burning” (Isa. 4:4).

“Mine eye affecteth mine heart because of all the daughters of my city” (Lam. 3:51).

“Surely as a wife treacherously departeth from her husband, so have ye dealt treacherously with me, O house of Israel, saith the LORD” (Jer. 3:20).

The nation Israel as a whole is considered to be Jehovah’s wife. It is “she” in the Old Testament that was a witness out in the streets. God had always raised up some kind of witness especially the prophets in times of Israel’s apostasy.

Virgins of the Great Tribulation

God has it so planned that there will be yet another witness and representing the wisdom spoken of in Proverbs chapter 8. They are “virgins” of the Tribulation.

“Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom” (Matt. 25:1)

“Then all those virgins arose, and trimmed their lamps” (Matt. 25:7).

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“These are they which were not defiled with women; for they are virgins. “These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth. These were redeemed from among men, being the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb” (Rev. 14:4).

Doctrinally we are dealing with a public witness of 144,000 eunuchs during the Great Tribulation that will be calling Israel to repentance and to believe in their God. You will notice that chapter one of Proverbs verses 23-33 God’s call through these “preachers.” Notice also verses 21 and 22, “She crieth in the chief place of concourse, in the openings of the gates: in the city she uttereth her words, saying, How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity? and the scorners delight in their scorning, and fools hate knowledge?.” Notice the “gates” of the “city.” Of course, doctrinally this is speaking of Jerusalem where the Antichrist will try to take over the city. Some parallel passages to Proverbs 1 and 8 would also be Zephaniah 1; Joel 2; and Revelation 14 and 19.

The Church and Her Acts

One of the greatest blessings in life is to know the will of God and do it especially when you read in the Bible something that you are fulfilling. In the New Testament the Church, as a chaste virgin and the bride of Christ properly represents the wisdom as a public witness. And bless God, there in chapter 8 of Proverbs the Church is spoken of. Note the following characteristics of her-

SHE CRIES (vvs. 1). “Doth not wisdom CRY? and understanding put forth her voice?”

SHE STANDS (v. 2). “She standeth…”

SHE MINISTERS PUBLICLY (vvs.2-4)“She standeth in the top of high places, by the way in the places of the paths. She crieth at the gates, at the entry of the city, at the coming in at the doors.”

SHE CALLS SINNERS TO SALVATION (v. 4).“Unto you, O men, I call…”

SHE is a “VOICE” (v. 4)“…and my voice is to the sons of man.”

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SHE SPEAKS (v.6,7) “Hear; for I will speak of excellent things; and the opening of my lips shall be right things. For my mouth shall speak truth”

SHE ABHORS and HATES SIN (vvs.7, 13).“wickedness is an abomination to my lips.”

“The fear of the LORD is to hate evil: pride, and arrogancy, and the evil way, and the froward mouth, do I hate.”

SHE INSTRUCTS (v.10) “Receive my instruction, and not silver; and knowledge rather than choice gold.”

If you are active in witnessing publicly then this chapter is speaking of YOU. It is also a great privilege to know that we are in the line of a great many prophets and others of the Old Testament that were a public witness for the Lord. You, as a member of the body of Christ are a representation of God’s wisdom by crying (v.1), standing (v.2), ministering publicly (vvs.2-4), calling sinners to salvation (v.4), being a voice (v.4), speaking of excellent things (vvs. 6, 7) abhorring and hating sin (vvs. 7, 13) and instructing people of the proper value of temporal and spiritual things. What a blessing! Now let’s take a look at the ministry more practically as to where to preach and minister publicly.

Chapter Five

PLACES TO PREACH

Try to find an elevated place, if necessary and if possible so that your voice will carry farther. “The curbstone is a sufficient elevation when speaking to a handful of people: but it is an immense advantage to stand on a stool or chair, or raised platform, when speaking to an ordinary street crowd. The speaker can thus spare his voice, and be better heard than when he is on a level with the people. The common sense of street-preachers is sadly lacking when they will not thus aid their voices by standing head-and-shoulders above the people. Besides, this method is a Scriptural one: for we read in the account of the great open-air meeting in "the street that was before the water gate" in Jerusalem, that “Ezra the scribe stood upon a pulpit of wood, which they had made for the purpose,” and thus “opened the book in the sight of all the people; for he was above all the people” (Nehemiah 8. 4, 5). It is worthy of observation that that is the only place in the Bible where a "pulpit" is mentioned; so that the street-preacher is fairly entitled to its use on the best authority. “Jotham . . . stood in the top of Mount Gerizim, and lifted up his voice, and cried” (Judges 9. 7).” (Definite Directions for Open-Air Preaching by Gawin Kirkham)

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1. There are many places to preach; preach anywhere and everywhere possible. A. In parks. Usually people are less in a hurry. A park is more conducive for listeners. I’ve gone up to people sitting at a bench in a park and ask, “Would you like to hear something from the epistles?” I’ve gotten the response, “Yes.” Then I’ve proceeded to preach the word of God. What a blessing! People on park benches can be your ‘congregation.’ B. On a side walk on a curb. C. At a street corner, stop light. D. In front of buildings. Walls make good soundboards for your voice to carry farther. E. In open fields. This was a popular place of the preaching of George Whitfield (1714-1770). F. In a Cemetery. John Wesley writes in his Journal of the time when he preached on his father’s tombstone. “Accordingly at six I came, and found such a congregation as I believe Epworth never saw before. I stood near the east end of he church, upon my father’s tombstone, and cried, “The kingdom of heaven is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost’” With a group of men from King James Bible Baptist Church (Mt. Prospect, Ill) we had heard that there were some ‘sightings’ of the Lord Jesus Christ at a very prominent cemetery in Chicago. We immediately endeavored to go to ‘minister’ the word of God to sinners. There were many people gathered at a certain place in the cemetery. There we ‘commenced fire.’ We were able to preach for quite some time. Then we left. My father in law had passed away but before he died he trusted the Lord Jesus Christ to save him. Since my mother in law had still hung on to her Orthodox tradition she had asked the local priest to do the funeral. I was also asked by my wife and her sisters to preach at the gravesite. As I was preaching and others listening the priest became furious and began sprinkling water on me. I continued to preach while he walked away upset. It was a privilege to preach at an occasion knowing that my father in law had gone to heaven. G. Near Sports stadiums, before and after a soccer game or any other sports event. Bro. Nico Verhoef, (missionary) had reported that they were easily able to pass out thousands of tracts at the 2006 world soccer championship in Germany. Sport events allow great opportunity for preaching and passing out innumerable tracts and booklets. H. Train stations. As of 2006 (Sept.) when we preached at the train station there were close to 20 people that gathered to listen to the word of God preached.

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Note the many that stopped to hear the preaching at the Central train station in Kiev (spring, 2007).

I. Bus stations. J. At places where many people are gathered during holidays; center of a city, town or village. K. Fireworks display. L. Parades. We’ve had the opportunities to stand on both sides of a street where a parade is taking place and act as if we were part of the parade and proceeded to pass out tracts passing by the multitudes standing near the street, preaching to them. M. Concerts. N. Expos, etc. O. County Fair or any other Fair. You can rent out a booth and set up a picture display, banners, a tract stand, with a T.V-video cassette player or computer showing some Christian documentary or any other film to attract an audience. Then give a short message. P. The market places. Paul preached there daily, “Therefore disputed he in the synagogue with the Jews, and with the devout persons, and in the market daily with them that met with him” (Acts 17:17). Q. On the main street or a side street of a city. R. In the yards of apartment buildings. At one time we used to see 50-100 people gather in the yards of different regions in the city of Kiev (Ukraine) for the preaching of the word of God.

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S. In cities, town, and villages. [For that see our work “Missionary Material” and the chapter “Cities, Towns and Villages” which speaks of all the places the disciples, apostles and Saviour preached during the first century.]

One of our men, Anatoly, from Bible Baptist Church of Kiev, (we call him our “Ezekiel”) preaches literally everywhere; on the trams, on the metros, (that is in the trains), on buses, at the train station, at bus stops. He will even do this Sunday mornings on his way to church. He knows how to ‘ruin somebody’s day’ to say the least. He usually has someone respond negatively toward him but he gets people stirred up and thinking.

The central train station of Kiev provides one of the greatest places to preach in all of Eastern Europe. Thousands of onlookers go by in a day during our preaching. Since 1992 we have seen many sinners come to the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation as a result of street preaching. Gathered for this particular Saturday were men (from Ukraine and one man from Kazakhstan, far right) that we had the opportunity to teach at our Institute and also teach them the ropes concerning street preaching.

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2. There are some basics you want to remember when preaching in the various places mentioned above;

1.) Don’t block the way where someone is selling something. In the open markets of Europe at a market place sellers need their clients to walk right up to what they are selling. That is not the place to set up and minister.

2.) Don’t stand in front of a store that is open. The manager might complain and have you move or stop the preaching altogether. 3.) Sometimes it is good to preach where people are not in a hurry to go somewhere. More often a crowd of people will gather rather than where people are in a hurry to get somewhere.

Chapter Six

SERMON OUTLINES and STREET PREACHING

Most of street preaching is going to be a bit different than preaching to a congregation at a church service for a number of reasons;

1.) As a preacher preaches before a congregation, for the most part he will have what is called an “outline,” i.e., a planned out sermon.

2.) An outline may consist of 2 to 5 or 6 or maybe even 7 main points with sub points and illustrations to better explain your subject.

3.) In a church service most of the preaching is aimed at those that are already saved.

4.) Therefore the length of most sermons will go from 30 to 45 minutes and sometimes a bit longer depending on the preacher, the congregation, the occasion, and of course as the Lord leads.

In contrast to a sermon aimed to a congregation in a local church of mostly saved members, street preaching will be much shorter to say the least. You may not have noticed but the sermons that were preached by the apostles in the Book of Acts were preached on the street before a public audience. If you were to actually preach any one of those given sermons word for word it wouldn’t last but just a few minutes at the most. Just for your interests you might want to read those sermons. Here is the list of all the sermons in the Book of Acts;

1.) 2:14-36 8.) 14:15-17 2.) 3:12-26 9.) 17:22-31 3.) 4:8-12 10.) 20:18-35 4.) 4:29-32 11.) 22:1-21 5.) 7:2-60 12.) 24:10-21 6.) 10:34-43 13.) 26:1-28

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7.) 13:16-41 14.) 28-17-28 Street preaching in most circumstances today will be simply quoting verses and with short explanation with short illustrations. Here are some basic rules to go by in a street situation where your audience is ‘moving.’ 1.) Usually, as a rule, your sermon should be short. 2.) Your text, (the verse from which you are going to preach) should be short. 3.) Maybe a part of a verse or a verse is all you need. 4.) If you choose a long text, let’s say about 5 verses or so, this would be exceptional. It would be quite difficult to expound the whole passage and for all your listeners to hear the whole message. Therefore keep your text short. If you are more comfortable with breaking down a verse for your text and preaching each part, below are some outlines to give you some ideas. As you read the scriptures and gain experience preaching on the street the Lord will give you more texts. The following texts have been used for street preaching.

Examples of Sermon Outlines

A. 1 Timothy 2:5 Your first point could be- I. “There is one God…” Your second point could be- II. “…and one mediator between God and men…” Your third point could be- III. “…the man Christ Jesus.”

You want to preach on every point for just a minute or two, MAXIMUM. B. “NO FEAR” and the “FEARFUL” can be preached in a very short time and / or lengthened and expounded upon depending on the audience.

I. “There is no fear of God before their eyes” (Rom. 3:18).

II. “But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death” (Rev. 21:8).

C. This next text is a good one especially dealing with sinners who think they can get away with sin; “But if ye will not do so, behold, ye have sinned against the LORD: and be sure your sin will find you out” (Num. 32:23).

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Your text may be simply the last part. It is short and easy for your ‘audience’ to grab and REMEMBER.

D. John 14:6 Notice how this verse can be divided very easily also;

I. “I am the way.” II. “…the truth…”

III. “…and the life” IV. “…no man cometh unto the Father but by me.”

There are other verses in the Book of John that are classic and that are along the line of the “I am’s” that the Lord preached Himself and about Himself. They are also easy to divide into points; John 6:51; 8:12; 10:9; 10:11; and 11:25.

E. You might want to preach the gospel as mentioned in 1 Corinthians 15. Notice how these verses are easily divided; I. “…Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures…” II. “…And that he was buried…” III. “…and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures.”

F. John 3:36 is a verse that I’ve preached many times on the street; I. The Wrath of God is SURE. II. The Wrath of God is SEVERE. III. The Wrath of God is SUDDEN.

Notice how you can take a particular theme from the verse and break that theme down explaining it. In this case the theme is “the wrath of God.” Notice that the wrath of God is “sure,” “severe,” and “sudden.” Each of these points can be preached for a minute or two.

Try dividing John 3:16 into a few points for a sermon. Preach on each point for a minute of two, MAXIMUM.

Remember the more points that you have in a sermon the SHORTER each point should be. Of course it is not always necessary to preach a verse by breaking it down into points. You might just simply take a verse and preach on it and then go to another verse or part of it and preach it and go to yet another verse and preach on it and so on. There are many ways to preach a verse. Let’s review;

1.) Divide a verse into points. 2.) Preach on a theme of a verse as D above. 3.) Preach from verse to verse (or part of a verse).

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The more verses that you have memorized the easier it will be to preach extemporaneously.

G. Romans 6:23 is a rather well known verse that can also be preached on the street; I. “For the wages of sin is death…” Preach on sins’ payment-death. Everybody dies because every sins. II. “…but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ or Lord.” Preach on the gift of God, Jesus Christ Who is eternal life. Sins cannot be paid for by our own good works. Jesus Christ paid the price for our sins on Calvary’s cross. God offers Him to you as a free gift. H. John 1:11, 12 is another good verse to preach on the street; I. “He came unto his own, and his own received him not. II. But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name.”

You can preach on how Jesus Christ is not to be received and how He IS to be received. The sinner is not to be saved by baptism, doing the sign of the cross, lighting candles, etc. He IS to receive Jesus Christ by believing on Him in the heart not just having head knowledge about Him. Romans 10:9 and 10 are good verses to explain this.

I. John 3:7 “Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.”

This verse can also be explained in a short sermon explaining the new birth that it is something that must be done for a sinner to be saved and go to heaven for there is no other choice.

Here are other verses to preach on –

Genesis 3:9; Proverbs 16:25; Isaiah 1:18; 55:6, 7; Amos 4:12; Matthew 23:9; Mark 8:36; Luke 19:10; 23:41, 42; John 3:36; 5:24; 6:35; 11:25; Acts 4:12; 16:31; 17:30; Romans 3:23; 4:4, 5; 10:9, 10; 10:13; 1 Corinthians 1:17; 2 Corinthians 6:2; Hebrews 2:3; 9:27; Revelation 3:20; 20:15; Etc.

There are many more verses to choose from. With prayer, Bible reading and practice the Lord will give you more as you go. Remember that whatever subject you preach, whether it be on hell, the Second Coming, judgment, sin, evolution, atheism, procrastination, the wrath of God, etc., always give them a “way out” (John 14:6). You may tell them of their sinful condition but also give them the “medicine” to be “healed.” Any doctor may diagnose the problem or sickness, but to leave the patient without any healing balm will soon be out of business. You have the answer that they need, therefore don’t forget to let them know about it. The two-edged sword of the word of God (Heb. 4:12) is very capable of diagnosing the problem, getting to the issue and healing the

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broken hearted. A false balance (Prov. 11:1) in your preaching will do you and your listener less good.

Chapter Seven

THE INVITATION

If you know that you have some definite listeners, you should always conclude your sermon with an invitation for salvation. Let them know that you are willing to want to talk with them. Maybe the listener(s) want to be saved. You never know who is listening and wants to be saved! Don’t ever take it for granted that nobody wants to receive the Lord Jesus Christ during or after your preaching. Many a time when a hunter least expected it, a deer or other animal came within shooting distance. How often has it been that fishermen have told story after story when they least expected it a large fish took the bait. For example when you see it is time to give an invitation you might want to say something like this- “Who would like to be saved today, please raise your hand?” “How many of you would like to go to hell, please raise your hand. How many would like to go to heaven, please raise your hand.” “If you would like to be saved today please come forward. I would like to talk to you about it.” “If there is anyone that would like to receive the gift of God, please come forward. One of our men would like to show you how to be saved. “If you see your need of salvation today, please come forward. I would like to have prayer with you. “Please do not wait for tomorrow. Come to Jesus today. He is waiting for you. He wants to save you. Will you step forward right now? I would like to pray for you. During our tent meetings when we give the invitation for people to be saved we have them raise their hands who want to be saved. If there are any that raise their hands we ask them to step out of their place and come forward and have them tell us that they want to be saved. We try to make the invitations as clear as possible that the invitation is not for those who want good health, or want a better job, or for somebody’s son to quit drinking but for those who want the Lord Jesus Chrst to save them from hell.

Earnestness

Be earnest when giving the invitation. You might want to remind your audience of some verses concerning the urgency of getting saved-

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(For he saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succoured thee: behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.) (2 Cor. 6:2). “Boast not thyself of to morrow; for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth” (Prov. 27:1).

Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me. (Rev. 3:20).

There is nothing wrong with being urgent in this matter of calling sinners to the Saviour. Of course forcing your listeners to make a decision for Christ is one thing, but trusting the Lord to do His work by the Holy Spirit to convict and cut is something else. As a matter of fact, the word sermon is from Latin which means “stab” or “thrust.” We find throughout the book of Acts after the preaching of the apostles that many believed. So trust God and give Him a chance. Preach! And invite sinners to the Saviour. Leave the results to the Lord but give your audience a chance to make some kind of decision. I have found that there are two extremes in this matter of the invitation and street preaching. One extreme is that ministers try to force a decision from a sinner and rush ahead of the Holy Spirit because of impatience. Either they are looking to impress other ministers to tell of their results, as fishermen tend to exaggerate. Some preachers have actually preached in front of some people publicly and after having preached some fifteen minutes ask the congregation to repeat a prayer all in unison. That is exactly what the Orthodox churches do. Everybody in the church repeats a prayer in unison. That is pretty shallow work for Christians to do in public. Of course God can use anything, but in these last days Christians are getting pretty “hard up” for results. (We further explain this in the following chapter on Soul Winning and the Public Ministry). The other extreme is not giving the invitation at all. That is kind of a Calvinistic thing believing that it is not necessary to call sinners to repentance and salvation, thinking that they will get saved automatically against their own will if they’ve been “elected” before the foundation of the world. That is one of the reasons why during the Reformation that Calvinists saw less people saved than under the preaching of D.L. Moody and Billy Sunday. Some of the deadest churches in the world are Calvinistic, Reformed churches. The extreme of not giving any invitation is expressing no trust in what God can do with His word when it is published and proclaimed. These ministers are not in contact with the reality, power, and work of the Holy Ghost in the heart of a sinner. He needs to be waken up to the fact that the very words that he is preaching created the heaven and the earth, raised the dead and saved his very own soul. So why doubt what the word of God and the Holy Spirit can do in the hearts of others during that moment of preaching. Somebody like D.L. Moody (19th century) or Billy Sunday (20th century) would give invitations after their sermons for people to make some kind of decision. As a result many more people responded and were saved than during the preaching of many of the

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Reformers and Calvinists who would rather leave their audience to the “unconditional election” of God, which is some of Calvin’s’ philosophical speculations. It is rather strange that people are always invited to something; a birthday party, an anniversary, some sports event, a special dinner, or even to meet someone special, while Christians are hesitant to invite sinners to the Savior. May that not be with you. Make note of the invitations scattered throughout the Bible; “Then Moses stood in the gate of the camp, and said, Who is on the LORD'S side? LET HIM COME UNTO ME. And all the sons of Levi gathered themselves together unto him” (Exod. 32:26). “Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool” (Isa 1:18).

“And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you THIS DAY whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD” (Josh. 24:15).

“And Elijah came unto all the people, and said, How long halt ye between two opinions? if the LORD be God, follow him: but if Baal, then follow him. And the people answered him not a word” (1 Kings 18:21).

“Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” (Matt. 11:28).

“And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely” (Rev. 22:17).

Press for a Decision

Having seen the various invitations in the Bible you should press for a decision from your audience. Remember that your sermon or testimony should lead to the invitation. This is where you “drive the last nail into the coffin.” This is where you try to convince your audience that there is no middle ground. They should understand that their response will be either for or against God.

“No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.” (Matt. 6:24).

You never know how someone may respond. Throw out the life line. Invite them to be saved. “And the lord said unto the servant, Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled” (Luke 14:23). Eventually you will have a catch.

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Earnestness and PatienceDuring a series of Evangelistic Meetings

Earnestness is a great virtue but patience is the equalizer that balances matters out especially when giving the invitation. During a series of days of preaching to the same people, for instance at an evangelistic meeting, as has been our experience during tent meetings, it is not always wise to immediately give an invitation on the first day. Sometimes it is wise to wait for the following reasons;

1.) Always be flexible as the Lord leads. 2.) People that are coming for the first time might need a little bit of time. They just

aren’t ready yet and many are there at the meetings checking out who you are, scoping the matter out.

3.) The Lord also needs time to work on their hearts convincing them of their need of the Saviour.

4.) Making haste might be forcing decisions that can turn out to confuse your listeners. Many have been taught a certain religion and many traditions for years and for them to hear such radical doctrine (although it is the gospel in simplicity) takes time for many of them (especially older folks) to be convinced of what you are saying.

“And when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked: and others said, We will hear thee again of this matter” (Acts 17:32).

While holding a two week evangelistic tent meeting in the village of Kosivka (pop. 700) located in Kievski County, we didn’t give any invitation for salvation until the third night. The Lord showed Himself as usual to be right on time. It was a tremendous blessing to see many hands of those at the meeting go up signifying that they wanted to be saved. The children by then had already heard preaching not only in the evening services but also during the day services that are especially for children. There were adults mostly men that came forward along with teenagers and children ages from eight to sixteen years old. They all came forward and we split them up for the national workers to deal with them about their souls. It turned out that that evening was the peak of the whole evangelistic meeting. We were there another week after that but that night (Thursday evening) of the first week was the best. So be flexible and open to the leadership of the Holy Spirit in this matter of the invitations of open air preaching.

Music and the Invitation

Although we have already talked somewhat about music, there is yet another aspect of music even in open air meetings that seems to be somewhat overlooked, and that is music and the Invitation. Music throughout the service helps supplement a meeting to minister to sinners and saints alike especially at the invitation. We’ve had singers sing at an open air meeting. In the tent we always play invitation songs on the Yamaha portable piano while the

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congregation sings “Such as I Am.” Our invitations are the same in the tent meetings as during our church services in Kiev. So, if at all possible when there are times that give opportunity where people have gathered and there are planned meetings for instance in a tent or some building where people have previously been invited to meetings, using singers or at least a musical instrument along with congregational singing at the invitation can be used as a mighty tool to minister to hearts at the invitation. Take advantage of such circumstances.

Chapter Eight

SOUL WINNING AND THE PUBLIC MINISTRY Soul winning is essential when working publicly. Street preaching allows one of the easiest and most natural places to win souls. During or after the preaching many times we have experienced (especially in a tent, Ukraine) sinners that were ready, ‘open’ and willing to be saved. The following are some guidelines to help you when seeking out sinners at a street meeting, tent meeting or any kind of open air meeting;

1.) Whenever you attend a meeting watch for someone to deal with A. During or after the meetingB. At the invitation C. After the meeting

2.) Do not wait for them to come to you; you are to seek them out. 3.) As the sermon is being preached watch who is either really attentive and or

getting ‘hit.’ In this matter don’t be obtrusive so as to make yourself obvious or steer their attention from the preaching of the word of God, “be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.”

4.) Before the meeting pray specifically that God will give you a soul to deal with and trust God to answer prayer.

5.) Once the opportunity arises to deal with a particular individual then go to that person without delay. As a lion after its prey, do not let the opportunity slip from you.

Leading A Soul to Jesus Christ

Every Christian especially preachers should know how to lead a person through verses in the Bible to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. When doing personal work you should lead the sinner through some main points that have to be dealt with in the sinner’s life. As the Lord dealt with the woman of Samaria in John chapter 4, so should the soulwinner deal with sinners. [For help see the 12 th Lesson “Witnessing for Christ” of our Correspondence Course for Bible Believers.] Here we give a step-by-step explanation how to confront any sinner with the gospel and lead him/her to the Saviour. [See also our booklet, “A Guide To Lead A Sinner to the Saviour” which is an explanation of John chapter 4 and how the Lord lead the Samaritan woman to Himself. We use this booklet also in our

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Discipleship class to teach students and members of our church how to be a soul winner.] After all the Lord did say, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men (Matt 4:19). It would be best to have from time to time in your church a series of Bible teachings on how to lead sinners to the Lord. Again it cannot be stressed enough that every church member should know how to lead a sinner through a number of verses which we call a “plan of salvation,” to lead any sinner to the Lord.

Here are some essentials that the soul winner should know to lead a sinner to the Lord. He should know the following main points along with verses to show;

1.) That he is a sinner and guilty before God (Rom. 3:10; 3:23). 2.) That there is a penalty for sin (Rom. 6:23b). 3.) That the second death awaits him (Rev. 20:15; 21:8). 4.) That the sinner needs not to go to hell because Jesus Christ already paid for his

sin debt, rose from the dead and is alive (Rom. 5:8; 1 Cor. 15:3, 4). 5.) The sinner must trust the Lord Jesus Christ to save him (Rom. 10:9, 10, 13; John

1:11, 12). 6.) That the sinner ought to do that without delay (2 Cor. 6:2).

A rule of thumb to go by when dealing with a sinner is- As long as you are not stopped when trying to lead the sinner through a ‘plan of salvation’ you should be thorough and try to patiently go all the way to the end in explaining the necessary points of scripture. Then invite the sinner to be saved.

Repetition-The Mother of Learning

It is well worth it at times when necessary to briefly repeat the main points to the sinner before you have prayer. In Ukraine there is the saying, “Repetition is the mother of learning.” That makes a lot of sense because really, there is so much that God Himself has to continually repeat to us throughout the Bible for a number of reasons. First of all, we forget alot. Secondly, it is still edifying to hear instructions, rebukes, encouragements, etc. over and over again to strengthen, correct, and guide us along the right path. Therefore after having gone through a ‘plan of salvation’ it is quite helpful to repeat the main points. Some sinners are more ready than others when dealing with them so use discretion, be wise, and especially be patient. You could say something like this; “Now Victor, let’s go over some things- Do you believe that you are a guilty sinner before God? Do you believe that you must pay for your sins in hell if you do not get saved? Do you believe that the Lord Jesus Christ paid for your sin debt, was buried, rose again from the dead and is alive, and willing to save you? Would you be willing, the best way you know how to trust and receive Him as your own personal Saviour?

Some last details concerning the “sinners’ prayer.”

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If the sinner wants to be saved then explain some details that will help him. 1.) Remind the sinner that God knows the heart whether the heart is sincere or not. 2.) That you might want to say a prayer as an example for the sinner to pray on his

own. You might need to repeat it simply for the penitent sinner to get a better grasp how to pray. Many people are shy, nervous, and uncertain of many things at this point, although willing to be saved. That’s why a little added direction from you at this point can help.

3.) Let the sinner pray in his own words. If at all possible, try not to have him ‘repeat a prayer’ type of a thing. This helps avoid the ‘fast, cookie factory’ salvation where a sinner immediately repeats each phrase of a prayer and is not repentant in the heart.

Of course that is not to say that sinners have not been saved in this fashion. We simply want to emphasis that if it all possible, try to avoid the “repeat after me” prayer when the Spirit of God is not bearing witness to what is going on. We are living in the day of shallow conversions simply because Christians and churches are more interested in quantity rather than quality. Conversions are a dime a dozen these days and a lot of shallow, superficial work is going on concerning winning souls. This pressure-type of soul-winning is motivated by temporary rewards and patting each other on the back just to build works at the expense of the word of God. Modern-day fundamentalism has been the cause of many a spiritual shipwrecks of those who tried to “keep-a-quota of the year” status for publicity matters and to ‘stay in’ with the “big boys” of fundamentalism. These kind make their “convictions” absolute doctrine and unfortunately end up shipwreck (1 Tim. 1:18-20). They lost faith and a good conscience in what the Book can do. Seducing spirits are running rampant these days. What we don’t need is a form of ‘fundamentalism.’ Many left off the main fundamental - absolute faith and practice according to the Holy Bible, and the Authorized Version of the King James Bible (1611). Be thorough in your approach when dealing with souls. I was a Greek Orthodox before I was saved. When we attended church the whole congregation was to repeat a prayer. It never meant anything to me. It was stiff ritualism. That is basically what goes on in any of the other main religions; Catholicism, Hinduism, Judaism, Buddhism, etc. Repeating a prayer can be tricky, stiff without the leading and work of the Holy Spirit. Of course the prayer itself may be a good one even if it is written on the back of a tract or spoken by the soul winner. That is not the problem. The problem lies at the moment with the soul winner when he gets ahead of God and hurries for results. Be patient in your approach when dealing with souls.

Additional Literature

Of course you ought to have other literature for all kind of needs. Here is a sample list of topics for which you should have extra literature;

1.) Assurance of salvation

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2.) Cults3.) Correspondence Lesson(s) 4.) Other Gospel tracts5.) Address of your church 6.) Devotional material for growth for a new convert7.) Doctrinal material for heretics8.) Johns and Romans. This is excellent material for new converts to start reading. 9.) Etc.

The reason to have extra literature is simply to meet the needs of those you come across publicly. This is quite important because the person that you meet might not have the literature that you are offering and may not have access to getting such material. He may be delayed in getting the necessary material and might be steered in the wrong direction by somebody from apostate denominations and cults; Catholic, Orthodox, J.W.’s, Mormons, Pentecostals, Charismatics, etc. Any fisherman has various kinds of lures to catch fish “and he that winneth souls is wise” (Prov. 11:30). I’ve known men that publicly proclaim the word of God and carry with them a tackle box. That is a great idea. They’ve got various sorts of tracts and booklets to give to those to whom they minister.

Chapter Nine

ANYBODY CAN TESTIFY

One of the greatest and yet simplest things that any Christian can do is give a testimony of his salvation. Most Christians are not called to preach but everybody can testify of their salvation. Once a person gets saved, he then has a testimony. It was the Lord Jesus Christ that told Pilate the reason why He was born “Pilate therefore said unto him, Art thou a king then? Jesus answered, Thou sayest that I am a king. To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice” (John 18:37). Notice that the Lord also said, “Every one that is of the truth hearth my voice.” Any true believer should be able to testify of how he was saved. That is the simplest means of witnessing, simply telling what happened. There is POWER in a simple, personal testimony.

THE POWER IN A SIMPLE, PERSONAL TESTIMONY

For example, has there ever been a time when you testified of an accident that you saw? Or maybe you were one of the “witnesses” at a wedding. See, you have a testimony of that occasion. Even so it is in the Christian life, you have a witness. You know of your salvation.

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A Blind Man’s Testimony

A good example of that is in the Book of John chapter nine where the Lord Jesus Christ gave sight to a blind man on the Sabbath day. Of course that drew the attention of the Pharisees. No, the blind man that could now see was not called to preach, but he did testify and that, publicly. He simply explained what happened, that’s all. Listen to his testimony. First of all his neighbors noticed that that something changed with him “that sat and begged?” (v. 8). Their curiosity got the best of them and enquired how the blind man could now see (vvs.9, 10). Now here comes his first opportunity to witness-, “He answered and said, A man that is called Jesus made clay, and anointed mine eyes, and said unto me, Go to the pool of Siloam, and wash: and I went and washed, and I received sight” (v.11). You see, he simply told what happened. The second time the blind man had the opportunity to witness was to the Pharisees. Notice again what he says, “Then again the Pharisees also asked him how he had received his sight. He said unto them, He put clay upon mine eyes, and I washed, and do see” (v.15). By then, the neighbors and Pharisees were getting under conviction by the man’s simple testimony. They did not want to believe the man so they went to his parents. Of course the Pharisees would try to belittle the Lord Jesus Christ of the testimony of the former blind man. The Pharisees tried to scare the parents that were already under threat and feared the Jews: “for the Jews had agreed already, that if any man did confess that he (Jesus) was Christ, he should be put out of the synagogue” (vvs. 19-23). Scare tactics! Well, the parents answered in such a way so that the Pharisees would have to go again and enquire of the man that was blind. Now the Pharisees were blood hounds and would belittle Jesus Christ (v. 24) but that could not take away the fact of what happened to the blind man and thus again he simply testified what happened to himself. Look at the simple answer, “He answered and said, Whether he be a sinner or no, I know not: one thing I know, that, whereas I was blind, now I see.” (v. 25). By the time the man that was blind had already witnessed the third time he was already giving an invitation for them to be the Lord’s disciples also (v. 27). Oh! How the Pharisees hate that! Then the blind man proceeded to preach as a answer to the ignorance of the Pharisees (vv. 28-33). Well of course the Pharisees couldn’t handle that. “They answered and said unto him, Thou wast altogether born in sins, and dost thou teach us? And they cast him out” (v.34).

Now here are some things you want to remember when giving a personal testimony;

1.) Be Simple, Honest and Sincere in Your Testimony. 2.) Tell Exactly what Happened. 3.) Be not Concerned How Others May React.4.) No Matter What Others May Say about Jesus Christ (be it good or bad) YOU

KNOW WHAT HE DID FOR YOU!!! He saved you, so say it with assurance. 5.) Remember that there is POWER IN A SIMPLE, PERSONAL TESTIMONY.

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Dear friend, you will see results. They may not be immediate but people will listen to a personal testimony as to what happened in a man or woman’s life. There are so many ‘talk shows’ on the television where someone is being interviewed and how their lives were changed. When people’s lives change there are others that take note and listen. So take advantage of the opportunities.

A Jailbird’s Testimony

Now let’s go to another great example that the Bible records for our edification and for the salvation of souls. In Acts 26 Paul had already been in jail for two years (24:27), arrested for his belief in the Lord Jesus Christ. He had earlier requested to get a chance to testify in Rome of his position concerning what he believed, so to Rome he was bound. He was to stand before king Agrippa (Acts 26). Now there are a couple of things that come to mind concerning the testimony of the apostle Paul having been in jail for two whole years. One might think that he would have no testimony at all having had to spend his time in a jail. There, Christians have either become discouraged and may have doubted as to who the Lord is. Such was the case of John the Baptist. But the disciples were sent to the Baptist to give him assurance as to Who the Lord was. The other side of Paul’s stay in jail is that he had a lot of time on his hand. I’ve known Christians who read the Bible completely through at least three times within a year. Of course they had no where to go and very little to do but read and study the scriptures. Now Paul was the great theologian that wrote half of the New Testament. He’s the one who wrote the great doctrines for the Church. He spent two whole years in jail. You would think that while spending so much time in jail that he would have put together some real good outlines for sermons; real deep stuff! After two years when he had opportunity to testify, he did not preach on the various dispensations, or the 7 resurrections, or the 7 judgments, etc. What was his testimony? His testimony was how he got saved. Isn’t that something? Here is the greatest Christian that ever lived and you’d think this guy was going to really give them some pretty heavy stuff. But no, he witnessed concerning his salvation and how it happened. That’s it! Any true believer should and can do that.

Three Basic Outlines for a Personal Testimony

I. The Outline the Apostle Paul used. Look at what Paul said about what happened concerning his salvation;

1.) He spoke of his OCCUPATION BEFORE his salvation “I lived a Pharisee” (v.5).

2.) He spoke of what happened JUST BEFORE his salvation; “I saw in the way a light” (v. 13).

3.) He spoke of what happened AT THAT MOMENT of salvation “I heard a voice” (v. 14).

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4.) He spoke of what he had done AFTER HIS SALVATION “I was not disobedient” (v.19).

5.) He spoke of what he was doing AT PRESENT “I continue unto this day” (v.22).

Can you imagine little Paul (Paul means “little”) standing before a king and all the council? These men had power, authority, reputation and at the snap of a finger could have just about anything they wanted. Yet the word of God and the testimony of the apostle Paul cut to the heart of the king. His reaction was this, “Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian” (v. 28). That’s tremendous!!! The king was under conviction and just about got saved all because of one man’s simple testimony.

To make practical application from Paul’s witness, here is a very basic outline for you to remember;

1.) What you were like before you got saved . (It is not necessary to go into detail.) 2.) What events took place that brought you to the point of salvation .3.) What happened at the very moment of salvation .4.) What happened after your salvation . 5.) What you are presently doing .

II. The Simple 3-Point Outline

This outline is somewhat like the apostle Paul’s but even simpler. It has only three points which can easily be divided;

1.) Before Salvation 2.) The Moment of Salvation 3.) After Salvation

These three points are usually what people tell when they were converted. There have been many a time when preaching on the street that I mentioned that in October of 1983 this poor sinner prayed to God and asked the Lord Jesus Christ to save him. I’ve even gotten on my knees and re-enacted my prayer to God to impress upon my audience’s hearts how simple it really is to be saved. I wonder how that will come out at the Judgment Seat of Christ. Maybe I’ll see some other brother there as a result of that re-enactment.

Yet Another Option

III. A Simple Testimony of Jesus Christ

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There are Christians that cannot really recall what happened at the point of salvation, on what day they were saved and other details about their salvation. Sometimes people get saved at an early age and can’t recall how it all happened. Then if that be the case the Christian can testify about two things;

1. About being saved . 2. About the Lord Jesus Christ .

That is probably the easiest way to testify. It also can be very powerful. Dima is now 14 years old (2006). He is from the little local assembly in Gorenko (pop. 10,000) just outside of Kiev. He was saved when he was 7 years old. He was asked to give a simple testimony to all the children that were gathered at one of our tent meetings in Kosivka (pop. 900) of how he was saved. He doesn’t know all the details but he does remember when at the time his mother prayed and was saved that he did the same thing. He wanted to be saved and also prayed. As he was giving his testimony I noticed how all the eyes of the children (ages from 3 to 15) were ‘glued’ to Dima and all ears were open to listen how a 7 year old boy came to a saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. At the same meeting Kostya, member of Bible Baptist Church (Kiev) decided to give his testimony to all the adults during the evening service; what he was before he was saved, what happened at the moment he was saved and also how the Lord completely changed his life. He most certainly had the audience’s attention.

REMEMBER! THERE IS POWER IN A SIMPLE, PERSONAL TESTIMONY!!!

Many times Christians can take it for granted when telling about their salvation and underestimate what the Lord can do with something like that especially if a verse or two quoted are quoted along with that testimony. Because of the fact that we hear certain verses over and over again we forget the power of God’s word when dealing with sinners. We must never forget that the word of God has many attributes. We had adults, teenagers and children come to a saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ in our two week tent meeting in Kosivka. Only God knows which of those had eventually gotten saved that heard the witness of the blind man in John 9. Only God knows which of those that heard Paul’s witness before King Agrippa had eventually gotten saved. Paul sowed the word of God through a personal witness to his listeners. Maybe nobody got saved, but then again, maybe somebody eventually got saved. You can be sure of one thing; the word of God can work on and in a sinner’s heart. Make note of and remember the power in a personal witness and use of the word of God.

A Special Combination

One of the most effective ways to give a personal witness is when you not only speak of how the Lord saved you but also add from time to time a verse from Holy Writ. That combination is mighty powerful. Solomon writes, “A word fitly spoken is like apples of

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gold in pictures of silver” (Prov. 25:11). A verse at the right time while giving a testimony can really work in a sinners’ heart.

The word of God is alive and gets to the core of any sinner’s heart. “For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart” (Heb 4:12). It also can break the sinners’ heart. “Is not my word like as a fire? saith the LORD; and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces?” (Jer. 23:29).

The word of God can outrun any sinner and find him wherever he’s at. “He sendeth forth his commandment upon earth: his word runneth very swiftly.” (Ps 147:15).

The word of God pricks the heart. “Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do?” (Acts 2:37).

The word pricks the conscience. “And he said, Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest: it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks” (Acts 9:5).

The word of God cuts the heart. “When they heard that, they were cut to the heart, and took counsel to slay them” (Acts 5:33).

The word of God burns in the heart. “And they said one to another, Did not our heart burn within us, while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the scriptures?” (Luke 24:32).

It will do its job with whom He pleases. “So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it” (Isa 55:11). God sends his word out to fulfill His purpose, to accomplish that which He pleases and as He said, to “prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.” So make use of the word of God when giving a testimony. It may be just a verse or two. That is a very good combination.

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Chapter Ten

OTHER PUBLIC MINSTRIES

There are many other things that can be done publicly if you are not called to preach. Most of the following ministries can done by any Christian and should do them.

1. Passing out Tracts while Street Preaching

Passing out tracts is also another part of the public ministry and is a very efficient method that ought to be done to supplement street-preaching. It is as if you are casting out live bait to the fish that eventually will be ‘caught.’ Many a time before we actually used our fishing rods and reels to catch fish we’d throw out some bait in that general area to attract the fish. Then when they were already gathered we would cast in our bait on a hook to catch them. This is basically our approach when we try to start a new church in a village. First we go door to door and pass out tracts and also in the streets weeks before we set up the tent and have an evangelistic meeting. The door to door method is first to feel out the people and introduce ourselves. It is as if we are casting out some food for the fish. Then in the tent at the evangelistic meetings we cast out our “bait” with a hook. Then we try to catch men.

Basic Instructions and Passing out Tracts

1. Don’t pass a tract to someone who is window shopping. Give them one when they walk away.

2. If someone refuses a tract, don’t argue with them.

3. There is no need to follow someone down the street to get them to take a tract.

4. You should always have enough tracts and an assortment of them that are appropriate for certain holiday and times of the year. We have tracts about the blood of Christ, Victory Day, Passover, This is Your Life, And What after Death, and a whole series of tracts with good pictures and illustrations.

5. Tracts are also helpful when they have a prayer at the end. Too many sinners have absolutely no idea how to prayer other than the “Our Father…” prayer.

6. On the back of your tracts should be the church address along with an e-mail address and even a telephone number where they can contact someone from the church. Churches should make themselves as available as possible so that any sinner can get help when needed by the address and phone number on the back of each tract.

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The Blessings of Passing out Tracts

A. Anybody can pass out tracts; older folks, young boys and girls, teenagers, the youth group, etc., whether they are called to preach or not. It is a great experience for all to enjoy. Our four year-old daughter likes to give tracts to people also. B. Tracts are often used as a means to stop people to hear the preaching. C. Many people going by may not want to hear the street-preaching but they will take a tract and read it. D. A tract can also be used as a means to start a conversation with somebody. We have seen many people get saved after we had first given a tract. We have experienced many times where somebody came up to us and took a tract and then asked for more tracts to pass out to their friends. What a blessing! E. Often people do not have time to hear the preaching but their curiosity may bring them close enough to receive a tract. F. People cannot argue with a tract. They simply receive it and then having read it think about what was written. G. Passing out tracts is a good way for the seed of the word of God to be sown in the heart of those passing by.

II. Banners, Scripture Signs, and other Visual Aids

Another ministry which is also very effective publicly is the usage of visual aids such as banners, scripture signs, charts, and pictures of some Biblical event. These are real good “attention getters.” Also these methods are a very good supplement during street preaching. These are effective in a number of ways-

1. While people not only hear the word of God, the word of God is also impressed upon their hearts by reading what the Bible says from a scripture sign or seeing a Biblical event illustrated by a drawing or painted of a banner.

2. They say, “A picture is worth a thousand words.” Therefore banners are really effective in open air meetings for a number of reasons- A. They draw crowds. B. They make people stop and read. C. And get the peoples’ attention to stop and hear the preaching.

3. Banners and scripture signs are both very effective in that they leave a lasting impression upon the hearts of those either passing by or those that are interested and stop to listen to the preaching.

4. We use all different kinds of banners and scripture signs. During our tent meetings we hang up banners on all four walls of the tent. Each banner is about 2 meters wide and about a meter and a half high with poles running through the top and bottom to help stabilize and keep each banner straight.

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One banner is over 9 meters long made of durable vinyl table cloth, very colorfully painted showing the major events throughout the entire Bible from the first creation to the end showing the new heavens and the new earth. All of our banners are very colorfully painted. [If you would like to learn more about how we evangelize and plant churches using a tent ask for the book “Missionary Material” or please contact us at the following addresses; pdkjv1611@gmail.com or www.harvestukraine.org or call us 332-4167.] 5. We’ve also used our 8 meter long detailed panoramic banner in the yards of apartment buildings. We’ve seen many people come out just to see what was on the banner. We’ve often noticed that although many others would not come out of their apartment buildings they would view this banner from their apartment windows.

III. Sandwich Signs

At the train station one of our men, Sergei would hold a sandwich sign. That is basically having two scripture signs tied together and hung over the shoulders. One is hung in the front of you and the other hung on the back. The reason for this is so that people approaching from behind will read a verse and those coming in front of you can also read a verse. Of course it is a bit unusual for someone to hold such a sign but then again the Lord has a sense of humor when it comes to “signs.” Note how the Lord called Ezekiel to pantomime as a sign to Israel who had fallen into apostasy. The Lord wanted the nation to get a vivid picture of understanding of the pending judgment of that nation. Note chapter 4:1-12. 1. Thou also, son of man, take thee a tile, and lay it before thee, and pourtray upon it the city, even Jerusalem: 2 And lay siege against it, and build a fort against it, and cast a mount against it; set the camp also against it, and set battering rams against it round about. 3 Moreover take thou unto thee an iron pan, and set it for a wall of iron between thee and the city: and set thy face against it, and it shall be besieged, and thou shalt lay siege against it. This shall be a sign to the house of Israel. 4 Lie thou also upon thy left side, and lay the iniquity of the house of Israel upon it: according to the number of the days that thou shalt lie upon it thou shalt bear their iniquity. 5 For I have laid upon thee the years of their iniquity, according to the number of the days, three hundred and ninety days: so shalt thou bear the iniquity of the house of Israel. 6 And when thou hast accomplished them, lie again on thy right side, and thou shalt bear the iniquity of the house of Judah forty days: I have appointed thee each day for a year. 7 Therefore thou shalt set thy face toward the siege of Jerusalem, and thine arm shall be uncovered, and thou shalt prophesy against it. 8 And, behold, I will lay bands upon thee, and thou shalt not turn thee from one side to another, till thou hast ended the days of thy siege.

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9 ¶ Take thou also unto thee wheat, and barley, and beans, and lentiles, and millet, and fitches, and put them in one vessel, and make thee bread thereof, according to the number of the days that thou shalt lie upon thy side, three hundred and ninety days shalt thou eat thereof. 10 And thy meat which thou shalt eat shall be by weight, twenty shekels a day: from time to time shalt thou eat it. 11 Thou shalt drink also water by measure, the sixth part of an hin: from time to time shalt thou drink. 12 And thou shalt eat it as barley cakes, and thou shalt bake it with dung that cometh out of man, in their sight.

Now how is that for a pantomime? Wouldn’t that be a strange thing to see out in a park or near a street corner in your town? Of course God was dealing with the nation Israel but the application of judgment today in just about any country would fit perfectly. You say, “That would be too wild!” Okay, then just hold a sign, a scripture sign, a sandwich sign; any kind of a sign. Anybody can do that!

These men from Bible Baptist Church of Kiev, Kostya (left) and Sergei (right) are shown here taking a stand for the Lord Jesus Christ by using a banner, a sandwich and scripture signs all at one time.

IV. Car signs

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Another tremendous way to publicly proclaim the word of God is by putting on a car magnetic signs that have verses (in Russian) printed on them. We used them in America. Members of our church in Kiev have them on their cars. It is absolutely amazing how people stare at the verses and look as if they are shocked. Many times when we stop at a street light passengers in a bus, car or truck read the verses and glare and stare at the verses. It is really amazing to see their reaction. In Tetiev (pop. 16,000) there was a funeral. In some of your former Soviet countries as in Ukraine usually there is a truck that has an open bed in the back of it for the open casket to be set upon while a crowd of people and relatives of the one that died following along behind the truck as it slowly goes through the town or village. There is also a small brass band and bass drummer with cymbals that plays a very slow, mournful song in a minor key. Cars that come from the opposite direction are supposed to stop and drivers are supposed to get out of their cars and observe the procession as a sign of respect. Onlookers that are simply walking along the roads or streets also stop and watch. Well, we just happened to drive up behind a funeral and decided to following along. While everybody was stopped they not only watched the funeral procession but also noticed our van following behind and just about everyone that was standing on both sides of the street read the scripture signs on the van. Of course while we were passing by we kept a very serious face about us so that they would think we were part of that funeral. Their eyes were “glued” to the signs. They all got preached to. It was a sight to behold! What a blessing!!! Only God knows the result of His word read and sowed in the hearts of thousands because of scripture magnetic signs on cars. Others have been known to have a vivid picture painted on the side of their car, truck of other vehicle. That is quite effective to draw the attention of a lost and dying world and encourage other Christians concerning the public witness.

V. Pictures and Posters Pictures and posters can also be used on your vehicle. These are very effective when drivers, passengers and passers by look and get a visual presentation of some Biblical truth. Sasha, a missionary from our church uses a large picture on a board as an illustration when preaching at the market place in the village where he has a church, Tetiev (Kiev oblast).

VI. Tracts and Balloons

Another way to publicly witness would be to put tracts in balloons. Many people take balloons. You could pass out hundred of tracts to people in just a little time because the balloons always attract people especially when you are giving them away free. We have also tied tracts to the end of a string that was tied to the balloon itself and let the balloons out of a window from an apartment floor far above the ground.

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Families and Females and the Public Ministry

One of the greatest blessings for a family is to pass out tracts together even if the husband is not called to preach. One of our men from Bible Baptist Church of Kiev takes his family out to witness and pass out tracts. That is a tremendous testimony. Why should the parents wait for the pastor of the local church to do something with your kids when the dad can take responsibility of this? What about the street ministry being a part of family ‘devotions.’ That is a good way to devote your family to the Lord by taking them someplace and publicly witness. There are a number of things the family can do as a ‘team’ and publicly witness;

1.) Sing together. 2.) Pass out tracts. 3.) Take turns witnessing by giving a personal testimony.

Simply taking the family out to the park for a casual walk brings a number of opportunities to witness to others. There are a great many martyrs whose family’s witnessed the burning or torturing of one of the members. Public witnessing for them was a way of life, Biblical life. Now it is looked upon in Christianity of something of the past. But in many countries Christians are far from being martyred for their faith. They are simply frowned upon. For example, in Ukraine, there is a considerable amount of freedom to publicly witness. You should take advantage of any and all freedoms available to use the opportunities to “preach the gospel to every creature.” You will find throughout the Bible that women had played no small role in the public arena of witnessing for our Lord and Saviour. Of course women are not to have an ordained position in the local church but that does not mean that they are not to be a public witness. In the Book of John chapter 4 the Lord led the Samaritan woman to Himself. She got ‘saved.” Her response to that was she went into the city from whence she came and told others what happened. The response was tremendous! “The woman then left her waterpot, and went her way into the city, and saith to the men, Come, see a man, which told me all things that ever I did: is not this the Christ? Then they went out of the city, and came unto him” (John 4:28-30).

If that isn’t enough, observe what else followed;

“And many of the Samaritans of that city believed on him for the saying of the woman, which testified, He told me all that ever I did. So when the Samaritans were come unto him, they besought him that he would tarry with them: and he abode there two days. And many more believed because of his own word;

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And said unto the woman, Now we believe, not because of thy saying: for we have heard him ourselves, and know that this is indeed the Christ, the Saviour of the world” (vvs. 39-42).

She played a big part in leading them to the Lord and eventually they were saved.

A woman’s testimony may reach a sinner lady that otherwise may never had gotten saved. When doing personal work, a woman can work much better with other women when trying to witness and lead them to the Lord. This is more natural and keeps the man away from all appearances of evil (1 Thess. 5:23). Of course the exception only proves the rule. My wife is a good soul winner. She was my first disciple after our marriage. She has lead a number of women to the Lord. She has lead older women, middle aged, teenagers and younger girls to the Lord. Whenever we have young ladies and women that work with us during the evangelistic tent meetings we usually have one or two of then give a testimony of their salvation. Every woman ought to be a witness for the Lord in some way or another. Little boys and girls can also be used of God in the public arena. Very few times have I ever seen a tract that was turned down by someone when given by a child. What a rebuke to so many believers that are apathetic when it comes to a public witness or at least passing out tracts. We’ve had 4 and 5 year-olds passing out tracts while on the street. Our 4 year-old daughter, Hannah passes out tracts (2006). One of our converts, Dima from Kiev was passing out tracts when he was 4 years old also. At about 9 years old Dima was saved. In 2006 when he was 14 years old I had the pleasure of baptizing him. He was passing out tracts before he was “saved” at the age of 4. In 1990 on our way to that city of sin, (New Orleans) to preach we were traveling in the car taking turns telling about how we were saved. Along with us was a brother (Bro. Myers) along with his wife and young boy of 5. When it was his turn to tell of his salvation he said, “I remember when I was a sinner, lost and on my way to hell. I didn’t want to go to hell and burn. I knew that I was a God-forsaken sinner. So I asked Jesus Christ to save me.” After I heard that I was about to stop the car and head for an altar and pray and get right with God. Anyway, that little boy had a testimony of his salvation. Out on the street in New Orleans he testified to sinners walking by him. What a bold witness! When working in the open-air if there are any children present they should be well looked after so that nothing will happen to them. Parents or some other adult(s) should be present at all times overseeing the situation.

Chapter Eleven

PUBLIC RELATIONS AND PUBLIC MINISTRY

There is nothing wrong with trying to win the favour of local authorities. The apostle Paul tried to do this when he had to stand before them when he witnessed during his missionary endeavors. He did this without compromising. Honor was simply given to

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whom honor was due. “Render therefore to all their dues: tribute to whom tribute is due; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honour to whom honour” (Rom. 13:7). Very often Christians have foolishly tried to go about doing something that required a simple explanation to the local authorities. If necessary, it would be best to get permission from the local authorities if you want to preach in a certain place that may be questionable. Whenever we’ve set up the tent and preached in any of the villages, we’ve always gotten permission first from the chairman so that we’d have no problems if someone complained. God has shown us much favor in this approach. In most cases the chairman of the village will not allow you to preach without permission, simply because they’ve got to answer before the community if something goes wrong at the meeting inside the tent or around it. For example, if for some reason something happens to a child; gets hurt or something, or if we have to plug into someone’s’ electricity, it could be a “fire hazard.” Well, anything so long that they will have the ‘oversight’ of the situation. That is alright. We simply want the opportunity to reach souls for the Lord Jesus Christ. Such laws, for instance in Ukraine (2006) allow freedom of religion, therefore local authorities cannot forbid the proclaiming the word of God publicly. It just depends on where. Most of the time it is just a matter of paper work to get the ‘okay,’ and get the job done.

Sometimes it may be a ‘touch and go’ situation concerning being able to preach in a certain place. For example in the waiting halls of the central train station in Kiev, there are security guards that pass by every once in awhile. If they see you preaching they tell you to leave. But we post someone nearby the preaching so that if they see the guard coming they just let the preacher know and he stops preaching but not without having proclaimed the good news to a multitude of people. This is called, “guerrilla warfare.” You must use wisdom in such cases.

Winning the King’s Favour

“The king's favour is toward a wise servant: but his wrath is against him that causeth shame” (Prov. 14:35).

There are a couple of reasons why Bible Baptist Church of Kiev is registered. First of all, as missionaries we needed an invitation at the time (in the nineties) from a church that we could be “under” according to the Religious Department. Secondly, many times when we want to set the tent up in a village we need to show some kind of registration. Unfortunately, every time some kind of religious group comes into a smaller town or village, the locals there are very suspicious as to whether the group is a cult or not. So, to them, a document with a seal on it is evidence to them that you are “okay.” You know, “we approve of your group.” Well, we just try to go along with their “game” for the sake of souls that are lost and going to hell. That document has opened up so many opportunities for us to preach and as a result many souls have come to a saving

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knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. Not only that; The Lord has given us the opportunity to pitch tent in various places of different counties of Ukraine where now there are small local churches and services being held. Maintaining the right relationship with the civil authorities can go along way. We are not talking about compromising the truth just for the sake of civil authority. There is no reason to try to provoke them by cutting corners and usurping any kind of authority when you could “gain the king’s favour” by honestly going to them and asking for permission. In Tetiev, (Kievski County) Sasha Dolbin has always gone to the regional center of Administration to get permission from the person overseeing the whole region. Each regional center of administration had jurisdiction over a number of smaller villages during communism. That hangover is still there so you have to deal with the situation. Be flexible in situations such as this. Once you “get it” with the chairman or director of that regional center there usually is no problem to have open air services, (in our situation, in a tent) in all the surrounding villages. In Tetiev where Sasha used to live, the chairwoman was his neighbor. One day we visited her. She and her family is Orthodox. Most Orthodox will have nothing to do with Baptists. She is respected among her co-workers and is held in honor. When we visited her in her apartment she was very hospitable to us. That visit went a long way. After that we had no problems getting permission to preach in other surrounding villages. As of October (2006) we’ve been given permission to set the tent up in yet another village. Having good public relations with the civil authorities can be a real blessing. It often means having a great door and effectual (1 Cor. 16:9) of opportunities to preach the word of God. A lot of this has to do with “winning the king’s favour. “

“When a man's ways please the LORD, he maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him” (Prov. 16:7).

The Police on the ‘Beat.’

You should never argue with the policeman. Be kind and show respect. If he tells you that you cannot preach in a certain place then ask him where you can, or simply go to another place to preach.

“Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord’s sake: whether it be to the king, as supreme; Or unto governors, as unto them that are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers, and for the praise of them that do well” (1 Peter 2:13-14).

It is best, if possible to have a constitution just in case some policeman is simply in a bad mood and doesn’t want you to preach for no legal reason.

   “Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men” (Acts 5:29).

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There have been times throughout the period of the apostles and Church age where Christians have had to do what God says when the civil authorities were forcing Christians to do things contrary to the Bible. At that point it is a matter of obeying God rather than men. But even then it might be wise simply to move to another place. There is no sense in starting any trouble when it is not necessary. In any given town there are other places to preach. In any given county (Ukraine) there are hundreds of places to preach. In any given country, (for the most part, Eastern Europe) there are literally thousands of places to preach and hold evangelistic meetings, set up a tent, preach in a hall, etc. “There is more than one way to skin a cat.”

Chapter Twelve

THE BENEFITS OF PUBLIC MINISTRY

[The following basic outline is taken from “The Benefits of Public Ministry” by Pastor James W. Knox, Deland Florida]. I. How the Public Ministry Benefits the Preacher There are a great number of benefits that are attributed to the public ministry.

1. It helps the preacher concentrate on preaching through a number of distractions. The Devil would want nothing more than for the preacher to lose his train of though and quit preaching. When he is to stand before a congregation in a church where there may be some distractions, he has already had some training on the street where he has had to overcome many more distractions. Out on the street, a preacher has to deal with hecklers, people throwing things, complainers, dogs barking, people laughing, cars or trains rushing by, music played loudly, threats, drunkards trying to argue, etc. Therefore, ‘street training’ is as the military’s’ boot camp, concerning concentration and staying with your text and preaching it without allowing other things to break your thought. If others will be confused, allow it now in your train of thought and preaching.

2. The second benefit of street preaching is basically three-fold. First, you will be able to “freely” speak of those who preached on the street during the Bible times knowing that you practice that yourself. It will be much easier to teach something in the Bible that you yourself practice without condemning yourself. Secondly, you won’t be considered a compromiser as a great many preachers are. For whatever reasons they have, many are either afraid, or don’t want to lose a “good reputation” in their community. Thirdly, you won’t be held guilty at the Judgment Seat of Christ for not practicing what the Bible teaches. That is a great source of encouragement knowing that you are doing what the Bible says about the public ministry.

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3. Thirdly, it helps a preacher train using proper speech and clarity of pronunciation. Having to deal with the elements of the outdoors; wind, traffic, trains, trucks, etc. a preacher who is trained on the street to pronounce his words more clearly will be better understood whether he speaks from a pulpit, radio or Television. Diction is very important for singers, television and radio reporters and conference speakers. A preacher should take his work no less seriously. Therefore street preaching allows him to sharpen his speaking abilities.

4. Street-preaching helps to remind you who you really are – a sinner. In the church building people will compliment you. They come much more prepared to try to be a blessing to one another. Therefore the compliments from members or the mutual respect for one another can be somewhat deceiving because the flesh desires to always here something positive. The flesh likes to take it easy, relax and not have to deal with the worlds problems. The spirits ‘run wild’ out in the world and you experience the anger and bitter attitude toward our Lord Jesus Christ when they ‘take it out’ on you. Any one that ministers publicly will most certainly get a proper estimation of himself by the reaction of his audience. That’s good. It keeps you humble. The world will ‘help’ keep you in your place as you minister the word of God publicly.

II. How the Public Witness Benefits Your Town

1. The great benefit of open-air preaching is that there are so many people that hear the gospel who otherwise would never hear it. The Gospel command is, “Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature,” but it is so little obeyed that one would imagine that the Bible read, “Go into your own place of worship and preach the gospel to the few creatures who will come inside.” Ah yes, quite the contrary is the Biblical command, “Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in” (Luke 14:23), although is part of a parable is to be taken literally.

We were in a big city, Mobile Alabama one time taking turns preaching on the street. A television crew came up to us and started interviewing us. The journalist came up to me with the camera-man right beside him shooting the interview. At that moment I opened my Bible and began reading from Romans 1:24-32. As I read the verses I turned the Bible so that it would be facing the camera so that the viewers watching their televisions could actually see the words in the Bible.

My wife and I were standing in the middle of the Independent Square in Kiev passing out tracts and from time to time I was preaching. Then a journalist with a cameraman was taking interviews with various people. She approached my wife and asked her what she thought of concerning the home. It was a tremendous opportunity for my wife to witness. She took advantage of the opportunity and witnessed concerning the home based on the Bible and the Lord Jesus Christ. Little did we know that that program was shown all across Ukraine. One of our members’ sisters was living in Kherson at that time and heard a familiar voice on the television. When she saw who it was she was

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surprised to hear one of her relatives talking about Jesus Christ. She later moved to Kiev and became a member of our church.

A crowd of close to 60 people had gathered to hear the preaching of the Gospel in the town of Uman, (Cherkaski County). Summer 1997

2. The Public witness forces the people in your community to confront their attitude regarding the gospel. A. People would like for the preaching to stay in the church. They don’t care what is happening within a building, but just as soon as the preaching is taken out into the streets, that is when they’ve got to confront the word of God and their own sins. 3. The public ministry benefits a town because it has forces politicians to keep the laws straight concerning freedom of religion and public opinion. Some in the community might raise a raucous, but it is the duty of the local authorities to stand to the laws and rights of freedom of religion.

4. Street-preaching is beneficial also to those in the community such as policeman, and other governmental branches because it helps keep crime down. There have been some instances when policemen on the street have said that one of the problems they’ve been having is the selling of drugs. I’ve told them that we are here to help. Preaching the word of God will scatter sinners like light will scatter bugs under a rock once they are exposed. “And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil” (John 3:19).

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5. It is a means to provoke other brethren to love and good woIIs. It is “catchy.” Fire begets fire. There are others that simply need a nudge in the right direction.

III. How the Public Witness Benefits Your Church

1. It gives everyone an opportunity to be actively involved; teenagers, older folks, ministers, families, etc. The whole church should be involved in such a ministry.

2. The open-air witness is a reminder to us of how the world and most professing Christians really feel about Jesus Christ. This world and most churches are full of self-righteous hypocrites. They don’t want to be “misrepresented.” There have been a number of times when Christians have actually come up to us and scolded us for not “presenting the love of God as it ought to be.” One time after we had finished preaching on a street corner we started to walk toward our car. At that moment young man came running up to us from the opposite side of the street. He was rather upset because he heard me preaching “that if you don’t accept Jesus Christ into your heart you will go to hell.” He was offended that I preached that. After about five minutes talking with him he told us that he was a student of Moody Bible Institute in Chicago. Can you imagine that? Here is a student going to a Bible Institute upset with the fact that I was preaching the truth about sinners going to hell if they don’t get saved.

3. Street-preaching helps determine which men are really called into the ministry. There should be a desire by any God-called preacher to witness, and eventually the Spirit will prompt him to want to do it publicly. I’ve known some ‘preachers’ who had even preached behind our pulpit in church and were trained to street preach. But since they left our church they’ve quit preaching altogether, let alone publicly. What happened? They got better jobs, got married and had children, and attended other churches, or they got more educated. In short, they got refined, cultured and ‘matured.” Street preaching is no longer a part of their ministry. Do you know what really happened? They just simply backslid!! All that is, is putrid, stinking lukewarm “Christianity” that makes God sick (Rev. 3:16).

4. A bold stand and practice of street-preaching helps keep the carnal babies away. That’s good! A lot of your cultured, refined professing Christians not only keep their “religion” in a building but they will also try to hinder or at least think very little of supporting any kind of a bold, public witness for our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. I’ve known professing Christians ride a hobby horse about “keeping the commandments” and have never won a soul to Christ, or have never given any kind of a public witness. What are they? Little Pharisees! Jesus Christ said, “Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.” He said, “Follow me and I will make you fisher of men.” Do you know what those are? Those are COMMANDMENTS!!!

5. Street work will help a church raise youth to train them to understand the importance of a strong witness, and also give them good memories of tract distribution and singing

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with their friends and even preaching, if they are called to preach. I’ve known many of young men that knew they were called to preached. Youth will grow up with the blessed privilege of thinking it is absolutely normal to spend the day with friends, telling the lost about Jesus Christ.

6. Public ministry helps the preacher keep the right attitude about the ecumenical movement and vise-versa; he won’t have to worry about turning down invitations to the modern movement or getting involved with it because he won’t be asked. What liberals, backslidden apostates, and conservative Christians in the ecumenical movement think about street preachers is the same what street preachers think about them; they are crazy! (Acts 26:24, 25).

Chapter Thirteen

SOME LAST DETAILS

1. Don’t expect a lot of immediate results. You may have heard of the results of those many years ago. We are in the last days. There is no sense in comparing ourselves with others and living in the past. But the God of yesterday is the God of today. He still wants to bless His own people doing His work. Your purpose is simply to make Christ known. You don’t know how many will be in heaven as a result of your public witness. We’ve got the promises of God concerning our labours, “In all labour there is profit” (Prov. 14:23). “So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it” (Isa 55:11). “Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord” (1 Cor. 15:58).

2. Be faithful. The only thing that is consistent in this world is that every thing is inconsistent. But God honors faithfulness more so than talent and knowledge and “success” that is, as the world considers success. The most successful man is he that knows the will of God and does it faithfully. Here are some references for you to study concerning faithfulness; Luke 16:10; 1 Cor. 4:2; Col. 1:7; 1 Tim. 1:12; 2 Tim. 2:2; Col. 4:17.

3. Don’t stop what you are doing to argue or debate. The Devil would like nothing more than for you to lose your temper and do something you will regret later. Moses ‘blew it’ and was denied going into the Promised Land simply because the nation Israel provoked him to hit the rock rather than speaking to it (Exod. 20:7-13). “Charity is not easily provoked” (1 Cor. 13:5).

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4. Keep a good testimony. Do not allow rude people (saved or unsaved) to drag you down to their level to argue with them as a cat and dog fight. I remember a time when we were regularly preaching at Independent Square in Kiev. A Seventh Day Adventist lady would always try to rudely interrupt us. We’d just keep on preaching while someone else tried to deal with her. She was out there just as faithfully as we were. I’ve got to hand it to her. She was more dedicated to her cult than many Christians are to the Lord Jesus Christ.

5. This world is not our home; we’re just a passing through. It is their world. We don’t belong here. We are just strangers and pilgrims here. Therefore if they laugh at you don’t be bothered with it, they laughed at Noah, that “preacher of righteousness.” They laughed at Jeremiah and through him in prison and dungeon where he sunk in the mire (Jer. 38:6). They laughed at the apostle Paul, but he would go to a martyr’s death and get a crown for it. They laughed at and scourged our blessed Saviour, but He would not turn back from going to the cross. Since street-preaching is Biblical and all the preachers of the Bible practiced what Jesus Christ Himself did, then you ought to do it if nobody else does.

Chapter Fourteen

THE FRUIT OF PUBLIC MINISTRY

Of course as time goes by and we approach the Rapture, there are less and less souls getting saved, but that should not by any means be a deterrent from fulfilling the Great Commission. God will still bless the faithful servant over and over again as he stays obedient to such a ministry. We have seen throughout the years (since 1984) a number of souls get saved; whores, drunkards, children, teenagers, adults, etc. We had a band of street preachers pray that God would burn a certain bar and night club down. After a few weeks when we drove by that place we noticed that it was burned to the ground. One time while many couples and teenagers where “hanging out” drinking, partying in a big parking lot of some night club, we decided the next time to preach to them. When the time came we pulled up in my car pulling an empty trailer that had a grille in it with coal. We stopped the car about 15 yards in front of the multitude. We all got out of the car and climbed into the trailer. We poured gasoline on the coals, lit the fire and proceeded taking turns preaching on hell. To say the least, that caused a raucous. Some of them charged the trailer and tried to put out the fire with their beer that they were drinking. Buy the time everything settled down they had slashed 3 tires of my car with a knife. We were able to find spare tires but we didn’t get home until 3:00 in the morning. At the center square, in Kiev, there was a time when we would see 3-5 adults come forward just about every time we gave the invitation for people to be saved. We’ve seen a number of youth come forward for salvation. In Kashperovka we’ve preached to youth outside at a discotheque where there were at least 50-60 listeners. That is more than we have in our church services.

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At the train station, we have a transit “congregation” of at least 50 people that hear the Gospel every week. And that is for preaching only for about a half an hour. A man could preach to those waiting in the various waiting halls all day, 7 days a week and easily preach to over 300 people a day. That would make a “congregation” of 2,100 people a week.

God is keeping the numbers

God only knows how many people have heard the word of God by us only within a 23 year period, (since 1983) and have read and seen banners, have read big scripture signs and have taken and read tracts that we’ve passed out. The total number could easily be a few million people. If (and I realize this is only guess work) only one percent of three million eventually get saved because of the word of God sown in the hearts of sinners by the preached word of God publicly, by banners, scripture signs and the tracts passed out, that means there will be 3,000 souls in heaven as a result. If only half of one percent get saved then that means 1,500 souls saved for our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. I realize this is only guess work but it is something to think about. After all, there is an entire Book of the Old Testament dedicated to “NUMBERS.”

“And he that reapeth receiveth wages, and gathereth fruit unto life eternal: that both he that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice together” (John 4:36) “I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase” (1 Cor. 3:6).

Each and every person that has heard our preaching alone, (not counting all the other public witnesses) will be either at the Great White Throne Judgment where we will judge them or we will see them in heaven. Only God knows. There is absolutely no possible way to determine how many of those souls will eventually be saved and how many will be in hell. But there is one thing for sure, that every person that has heard the word of God heralded in the open-air will be in one of those two places. You can count on THAT!!!

Camaraderie

Something else that should be mentioned concerning the fruit of the street preaching ministry, and that is the camaraderie among the brethren, or the edification of those who labor together publicly. There is nothing like it. When the Lord meets with you and gives you a good meeting together with Him there is that strengthening and unifying power of the Holy Spirit among the saints. Too many veterans of war understand the true meaning of comradeship and camaraderie, having gone through tough times together, tasting victory and the agony of defeat together. Was there not a true love for one another between Jonathan and David? Was there not true “comradeship” between David and his “outlaws?” when David was running from Saul and “escaped to the cave Adullam: and when his brethren and all his father’s house heard it, they went down thither to him.” They were in pretty bad conditions but they “gathered themselves unto him; and he became a captain over them: and there were with him about four hundred men.” (1 Sam. 22:1, 2). They were “tight” and

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tough, yet they had the sweet psalmist (a type of Jesus Christ) in their midst as their captain.

The Honor of Street Preaching

Preaching on the street is a tremendous honor knowing that we are in the ranks of an elite class, among the great saints throughout the Bible and the history of the church; Enoch, Noah, Moses, Joshua, Gideon, Samuel, Elijah, Elisha, Ezra, David, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, John the Baptist, Matthew, Mark, Luke John, Peter, Paul, Polycarp, Athanasius, John Wycliffe (1320-1384), John Huss (1369-1415), Martin Luther (1483-1546), John Bunyan (1628-1688), John Wesley (1703-1791), Charles Finney (1792-1885), D.L. Moody (1837-1899), Billy Sunday (1863-1935), Dr. Peter S. Ruckman (1921- ), and an endless number of street preachers have contributed for the saving of thousands of souls, the edification of the saints and for the glory of God. It is such a privilege and an honor knowing that we are the last of a long line of men that were laughed at, scorned, tortured, beaten and bruised for making the name of the Lord Jesus Christ known publicly. What a responsibility, but what a blessing; what a privilege! What an honor!!! “And they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name” (Acts 5:41).

CONCLUSION The purpose of this book is first of all to encourage any preacher that either has been preaching on the street or would like to get started. We mentioned also that the main reason for this book was that 2 Timothy 2:2 would be fulfilled, “And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also.”

Notice that there are five different people involved in the verse;

First person: “And the things that THOU hast heard” (Timothy) Second person: “of ME” (Paul) Third person: “among many WITNESSES” Fourth person: “…to FAITHFUL MEN…” Fifth person: “…OTHERS…”

It is one thing to gather information from a certain book, especially the Bible, but it is altogether more profitable when there has been thought, deep reflection and then that turned into action. Unless you’ve got a true, clear “vision” of this all-important verse (2 Timothy 2:2) you will not be able to carry out what the Lord intended. “Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he” (Prov. 29:18). You will be happy if you keep that verse at the fore of your heart. It will take the grace of God to work in your heart, “Thou therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus” (2 Tim. 2:1).

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By the grace of God you will be determined to minister publicly. Only by the grace of God will you be able not only to be involved in a public ministry or street preaching but also teach other faithful men. Dear minister, to that end you are to labor-training men.

Would to God there would be a preacher or other reading this right now that would say, “I’m not doing my part as I should. I know that I should be out in the street publicly proclaiming the good news to sinners.” Is that you dear friend? Was there a time when you used to preach the word of God publicly but you no longer do that? Why did you stop? Maybe God has been dealing with your heart about these matters. Will you start preaching on the street? When? Even if none of your friends will go with you, then bless God, get out there and learn to stand like a man. Get your Bible, grab some tracts and PREACH THE WORD; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine (2 Tim. 4:2). Where is the integrity for the word of God today? Is there a Christian man that would be “valiant for the truth…?” (Jer. 9:3) and “lift up [his] voice like a trumpet,” and “stand in the gap” (Eze. 22:30) for our precious Lord and Saviour, the Greatest Street Preacher Who ever lived, Who gave His spirit, soul, and body as a SACRIFICE for you and me. The Lord told Peter after he had denied Him and was restored, “follow thou me.” Dear friend, “Go, and do thou likewise.”

“And I sought for a man among them, that should make up the hedge, and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it: but I found none” (Eze 22:30).

“be thou strong therefore, and shew theyself a man” (1 Kings 2:2).

“Be of good courage, and let us play the men for our people, and for the cities of our God: and the LORD do that which seemeth him good” (2 Sam. 10:12).

“Cursed be he that doeth the work of the LORD deceitfully, and cursed be he that keepeth back his sword from blood” (Jer. 48:10).

May the Lord bless you beloved saints. Sincerely, Bro. Perry

[If you would like to contact Bro. Demopoulos concerning this all-important subject of the public ministry and street preaching you may contact him by the following ways-

E-mail: pdkjv1611@gmail.com Website: www.harvestukraine.org

Phone: (011-38-044)-332-4167

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Additional Material by Perry DemopoulosRightly Dividing the Word of Truth and Things to ComeFrom the series “In Light of the Bible” Wine and the Lord’s Supper in Light of the Bible Music In Light of the Bible The History of Music in Light of the Bible The Sons of God in Light of the Bible Work in Light of the Bible Witchcraft in Light of the Bible What is a Sect in Light of the Bible? A Handbook for Serviceman in Light of the BibleWhat to do with Christians Literature and the Printed PageGod to the Wicked is a Consuming FireThe Heresies of CalvinismStrong Meat for Mature ChristiansIs Your Television Controlling You?

Soul-Winning‘Plan of Salvation’ – A study of John 4 as a soul winners’ guide of leading people to the Lord Jesus Christ.

BooksEternal Security in Light of the BibleAn X-Ray of the Synodal TextReconstructionMissionary Material (5 books in 1). Manuscript Evidence (with 8 full color charts). What’s The Difference Between a Baptist and a Bible Believing Baptist?

Gospel Tracts

Dear PriestWhat Will it Take for You to Receive Jesus Christ?

Correspondence Course and DiscipleshipThese lessons are now being used of God internationally in four different languages and

also by e-mail.

48 lessons come with a booklet of orientation and beginning instructions. These lessons start with “The Gospel and Salvation” and then progressively teach the Biblical approach of “rightly dividing the word of truth” (2 Tim. 2:15) along with doctrinal and practical application of the Christian walk. You may enter this course by E-mail: kjv1611@ukr.net

Various sorts of discipleship material- The Local Church

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Baptism Meditation and Memorization How to Memorize Verses

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