is it normal to preach the gospel in the street? what are the benefits and consequenc

[Magenta]

I think my answer and Maxwell's will be somewhat similar.
I have seen street preaching be quite effective when several factors are considered:
1) amplifier loud enough to be heard but not loud enough to be annoying.
2) interspersed with good music well performed.
3) preacher speaks to people not at them.

4) well made deserts and beverages are offered with the sermon.

 

[beastslayer1970]

Yes, It is normal KJVColossians1:28-29 28.Whom we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom; that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus; 29. Whereunto I also labour, striving according to his working,which worketh in me mightily.

Interesting comment , considering Paul was giving this instruction to the church for how to make disciples of the church.

 

[beastslayer1970]

The newest movement in the streets are groups of people who work in pairs. They do not preach, but they approach certain people they feel led to and ask if they need prayer for anything. It is amazing the ones who end up accepting Christ. And some are even healed as they are prayed for.

It is mainly your younger generation doing this - people in their 20s and 30s. What is surprising are the number of people who want prayer and are open to it.

This is exactly how street evangelism should work. 99 people out of a 100 never refuse a prayer.

 

[beastslayer1970]

Alright, I've finished all my nitpicking at things in this thread, lol.

: )

Here is my answer to the OP.


I think it is NORMAL for a Christian to desire to share the gospel.
Period.
Where, and how... those are secondary issues.

It can be done wisely, and with compassion, or it can be done like an idiot.
I think God prefers us to share the gospel wisely, and with compassion.





Great thread everyone.
I think this is a really good topic, and everyone has given a lot of good responses.

Desiring to share the gospel does not mean you should, we have to be led by the Holy Spirit to share, this is why things get weird, silly and foolish and people get into their flesh and not being the move of God they were called to be.

 

[beastslayer1970]

Nowhere in Scripture are the lost commanded to go to a local church(gathering) to hear the gospel. The local church(believers) are to go out into the world and preach the gospel.

Look at the Lord's ministry. After 3 1/2 years of preaching. After 3 1/2 years of raising the dead, causing the blind to see, healing lepers, healing the lame, etc...what good did it do?

500 followers
120 show up for "church" in the upper room
12 came to communion
1 disciple and his mom shows up at the cross

What good does it do? We may never know how much good it does neither are we to worry over such a question. Be faithful. Preach the gospel at work. Preach the gospel in your neighborhood. Hand out gospel tracts where you shop.

Doing any of the things you say without being directly led by the Holy Spirit is just you handing out papers, annoying your neighbors and getting a very sore throat and losing your voice. It also makes you pat yourself on the back and tell God, look what I did today!

 

[beastslayer1970]

Maybe the disconnect with you is your thinking that preaching the gospel on the street pertains to yelling at and condemning people as they walk by. That's not what this thread is about. Do some do that? Probably. But there are other methods that work.

One way that I have found to be effective is while on the streets, I approach individuals, couples, or even families and ask for a moment of their time. I use Hebrews 9:27 as an opener. "For it is appointed unto man once to die, and after that the judgment." I proceed to lead them through "Romans Road". Mind you, I stay respectful and considerate throughout the conversations. If they want to leave, then let them leave and move on.

Try just asking to pray with them about anything they need prayer for.

Romans Road is a false teaching because it only cherry picks certain verses to scare people into avoiding hell. Please stop doing that, so some of us do not have to then renew that persons mind to what Romans is really about.

Respectful and considerate is not moving in compassion




<drops the mic>

 

[beastslayer1970]

I think my answer and Maxwell's will be somewhat similar.

I have seen street preaching be quite effective when several factors are considered:

1) amplifier loud enough to be heard but not loud enough to be annoying.

2) interspersed with good music well performed.

3) preacher speaks to people not at them.

4) well made deserts and beverages are offered with the sermon.

I was with a ministry once thathanded out water bottles in the hot, hot summer to Gays and Lesbians during their protests.

They did not preach, ask to pray or anything else, we just hand them a water bottle.

they had labels made on the water that had John 4:13-14 on them, they do not put the book, chapter or verse numbers on the bottle, the label was pink for girls , blue for guys, the name of the ministry and a contact number was under the verse.


girl label
Jesus answered and said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again; but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life.”

guy label:
Jesus answered and said to him, “Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again; but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life.”



They received a lot of visitors from those water bottles and God got a very large increase.

 

[beastslayer1970]

The only way to get out of a hole is to stop digging. Peter was a coward until he was filled with the Holy Spirit then he preached the gospel with boldness.

For the cause of Christ
Roger

This statement does not invalidate anything willie said.

 

[Snoozy]

Desiring to share the gospel does not mean you should, we have to be led by the Holy Spirit to share, this is why things get weird, silly and foolish and people get into their flesh and not being the move of God they were called to be.

no. we should share the gospel always and everywhere.

 

[beastslayer1970]

no. we should share the gospel always and everywhere.

This is why we fail so much. No sir, unless you are led to share by the Holy Spirit, you are just a clanging cymbal and God does not get any glory.

 

[Snoozy]

This is why we fail so much. No sir, unless you are led to share by the Holy Spirit, you are just a clanging cymbal and God does not get any glory.

u can be sharing the gospel and NOT led by the Spirit? hows that possible when Jesus said preach the gospel to every creature. yeah ur wrong.

 

[John146]

u can be sharing the gospel and NOT led by the Spirit? hows that possible when Jesus said preach the gospel to every creature. yeah ur wrong.

This guy comes to this thread and starts shredding our comments with a unholy judgmental spirit.

 

[Snoozy]

This guy comes to this thread and starts shredding our comments with a unholy judgmental spirit.

hes most likely just saying that cause hes not doing no soul-winning. thats usually how it is.

any time u see someone doing soul-winning theres someone who aint doing nothing for the Lord criticizing them saying u shoulda said this and shoulda done that.
its the plague of our times. backseat drivers.

i must admit ive done this too and im trying to get rid of that type of mentality. it aint of God.

 

[John146]

This is why we fail so much. No sir, unless you are led to share by the Holy Spirit, you are just a clanging cymbal and God does not get any glory.

Failure in your view has to do with numbers. Success is through obedience to what the Lord has commanded us to do.

Mark 16:15 And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.

 

[John146]

hes most likely just saying that cause hes not doing no soul-winning. thats usually how it is.

any time u see someone doing soul-winning theres someone who aint doing nothing for the Lord criticizing them saying u shoulda said this and shoulda done that.
its the plague of our times. backseat drivers.

i must admit ive done this too and im trying to get rid of that type of mentality. it aint of God.

I have found the biggest critics of preaching the gospel are other believers.

 

[beastslayer1970]

u can be sharing the gospel and NOT led by the Spirit? hows that possible when Jesus said preach the gospel to every creature. yeah ur wrong.

Jesus never witnessed or shared the Gospel to anyone until he was in the power of the Spirit, and that never happened until his trial in the wilderness was over.

Luke 4:14-16[SUP]

14 [/SUP]And Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about Him spread through all the surrounding district. [SUP]15 [/SUP]And He began teaching in their synagogues and was praised by all.

[SUP]16 [/SUP]And He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up; and as was His custom, He entered the synagogue on the Sabbath, and stood up to read. [SUP]17 [/SUP]And the book of the prophet Isaiah was handed to Him. And He opened the book and found the place where it was written,
[SUP]18 [/SUP]“The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me,
Because He anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor.
He has sent Me to proclaim release to the captives,
And recovery of sight to the blind,
To set free those who are oppressed,
[SUP]19 [/SUP]To proclaim the favorable year of the Lord.”

 

[beastslayer1970]

This guy comes to this thread and starts shredding our comments with a unholy judgmental spirit.

Do you convict a sinner of their sin by giving them a tract, you probably think you do. The Holy Spirit does the work not you.

 

[Snoozy]

Do you convict a sinner of their sin by giving them a tract, you probably think you do. The Holy Spirit does the work not you.

yes the Holy Spirit does the work. and we are commanded to spread the gospel to every creature.

we preach it, God works in man the faith. u cant save urself.

 

[maxwel]

Doing any of the things you say without being directly led by the Holy Spirit is just you handing out papers, annoying your neighbors and getting a very sore throat and losing your voice. It also makes you pat yourself on the back and tell God, look what I did today!

I see no reason to disagree with anything in this comment.


But let's look a little closer, and parse a few things out.



2 Realms of Commandment:
A. We are commanded to do certain physical things, like evangelize and train disciples.
B. We are told to certain spiritual things: walk closely with God, be led by his spirit, and be filled with love and compassion.

Conclusions:
1. There are many commands of different varieties, and all commands are to be obeyed, independently, whether other commands are ignored or not. All commands of God have weight, and are to be obeyed.
1. So, although the spiritual commands in group B SHOULD precede the physical commands in group A, their absence does nothing to abrogate the physical commands in group A.
2. Therefore, the physical commands in group A are STILL COMMANDS, whether or not you sufficiently meet the spiritual commands of group B.

Further Conclusions:
1. Therefore, someone who is witnessing and evangelizing, certainly IS obeying certain commands of God.
2. But if he is doing the witnessing and evangelism without love and compassion, he is obeying SOME commands while also disobeying OTHER commands.


* It is possible, and COMMON, for us humans to be obeying some commands while failing at other commands... this can be intentional, or it can be quite unintentional.





My Overall Point:

1. Let's just try to see things, first, as they are... both the good and the bad.

2. We don't always know WHY a person is doing what they're doing.

A. A person could be street preaching, WITH all sincerity to obey the commands of God, and he could be making a mess of things because he is also ignoring other commands of God... commands about prioritizing love and compassion.
(This person needs prayer and instruction, not attack.)

B.A person could be street preaching WITHOUT real sincerity to obey God, but just to serve his own pride, and is full of self righteousness, pride, and anger.
(This person does need to be reproved.)

C. A person could be street preaching WITH all sincerity, and with all attention to prioritizing love and compassion, while also being led by the spirit... but he is just doing something in a way we don't understand or agree with.
(We need to leave this person alone.)


3. Since we don't always know WHY a person is doing what they're doing, a person could be sincere with good intentions while still making a mess of things through simple ignorance or immaturity... or possibly just doing something that seems weird to us, but which is perfectly fine.

* We need to consider that appropriate compassion is also required of us, the observers.

 

[beastslayer1970]

hes most likely just saying that cause hes not doing no soul-winning. thats usually how it is.

any time u see someone doing soul-winning theres someone who aint doing nothing for the Lord criticizing them saying u shoulda said this and shoulda done that.
its the plague of our times. backseat drivers.

i must admit ive done this too and im trying to get rid of that type of mentality. it aint of God.

What a lovely display of the fruit of the spirit you got going her, bro.

While this would be a great time to defend and validate myself, it would just be me getting in my own way, God does not get glory from me validating the ministry he gave me.

Now, you and Ole John 146 do me a favor.

Both of you stop playing the hypocrite, while trying to one up me and stop stating the first idiotic thoughts you have about me, that comes to your mind and fingers.