Thank God For Trouble Makers

Pastor and Evangelist Greg Locke preached a sermon called "Thank God For Trouble Makers" in which he used for his text Acts 16:16-20 "[16] And it came to pass, as we went to prayer, a certain damsel possessed with a spirit of divination met us, which brought her masters much gain by soothsaying:[17] The same followed Paul and us, and cried, saying, These men are the servants of the most high God, which shew unto us the way of salvation.[18] And this did she many days. But Paul, being grieved, turned and said to the spirit, I command thee in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her. And he came out the same hour.[19] And when her masters saw that the hope of their gains was gone, they caught Paul and Silas, and drew them into the marketplace unto the rulers,[20] And brought them to the magistrates, saying, These men, being Jews, do exceedingly trouble our city,".

Last night I had the opportunity to go street preaching with our church, much like Paul and Silas used to do, and we had a time. I'm always a little nervous and, yes I'll admit it, embarrassed when I first start out. Yesterday, though, I began thinking about this passage and Greg Locke's sermon and it gave me boldness knowing that I was simply doing that which the Bible gave us as an example of public evangelism. We met some mild opposition such as teenagers ripping tracts up in front of us and people jeering or laughing, but we also had some gather to listen to what we were saying. I had four teenagers stand in front of me the whole time I was preaching to hear the message, and when I finished I jumped down off the wall on which I was standing and went through God's plan of salvation with them. One was already saved, but the other three were catholics. Unfortunately peer pressure got hold of them and they were too embarrassed to pray publicly. I can only hope they got right with God when they went home. The others that were with us got to give the gospel to many people standing around, hundreds of tracts were passed out, and one of the ladies led two teenage boys to the Lord! It was a real blessing, as always, to leave knowing that not only did we make a public profession of our belief and faith in Jesus, but God used it to change the lives of some individuals whom we will now see in Heaven. If nothing else, two people got saved and the rest of them know that there are still Christians who aren't ashamed of Jesus, and who care enough about them to bring the Gospel to a lost and dying world. Thank God for Trouble Makers!