Last night was another great night of being Salt and Light at the Irvine Spectrum. In fact, not only were me and my partner Mark being salt and light, we got to cap the evening by using salt (more on this later).
Mark started the evening off by approaching two middle eastern men who claimed to be of the Sikh faith. They proved
Proverbs 20:6 in that they proclaimed their own goodness, claiming that the way to get to heaven is to be a good humanitarian. Mark started to share the gospel with them but they had to leave with their wives. At the very least, we were able to tell them about the Day of Judgment and God's holy, perfect law which none can keep. Mark just started to tell them that Jesus paid the price on their behalf by his suffering and death on the cross when they had to leave. We prayed that God would continue the work in their hearts using the seed we planted.
The next conversation was a divine appointment. We approached a young couple and asked them what they think happens when somebody dies and heads off into eternity. The young lady looked at us with wide eyes and said that they were just talking about her funeral! Wow, talk about a great opening to a spiritual conversation. We were able to share with them the requirements of the Law followed by the gospel message of grace through faith. The young man told us that he occasionally attends church but he was not able to explain the way to gain eternal life. They both left with a clear understanding of the gospel and they took a New Testament.
The next couple of conversations were with Christians who we were able to minister to and encourage to esteem God's word more than their necessary food (
Job 23:12). At this point I realized that God was answering the prayer of a lady who prayed with the team before we went to the Spectrum. She prayed specifically that God would bring struggling Christians to us so that we could minister to them. This was the very thing that we were experiencing!! What an amazing privilege to be a part of God answering prayer!
The last encounter of the evening was another definite divine appointment. As we were walking back toward our meeting spot to pray with the group before leaving, a lady approached Mark and I and said "Can I ask you guys a question?". I was so excited... I thought I was about to be witnessed to by another believer from another group. Then she asked us if we knew about the Dead Sea. At this point I thought that was a strange way to begin a spiritual conversation, but we went along with it and said that we knew of the Dead Sea. She then brought us over to her vendor stand... she was selling exfoliating salts and creams!! She told us to put our hands over a bowl, then began to spray our hands with water and gave us some Dead Sea Salt to rub into our hands. All the while I was trying to think of a way to swing this around to a spiritual conversation. She started to rinse our hands with a spray bottle and told us more about the Dead Sea. I then told her that I know of a man from that area of the world by the name of "Jesus of Nazareth". I then asked her the million dollar question, "What do you think happens when somebody dies. What happens when somebody steps off into eternity?". She told me that she would not enter into a conversation about that and continued to try to sell Mark and I some beauty products (I guess we looked like we REALLY needed it!). I asked her if she had change for a big bill. I then gave her a million dollar bill gospel tract and told her that she could keep it since she didn't have enough change to break it. I told her that the message on the back was worth more than a million and gave one to her partner as well. Mark and I then prayed as we walked off that they would read the tract and prayed that God would use that to save them. This was definitely the most interesting witnessing encounter I have had yet!! I think I'll call it
"Exfoliation Evangelism".
Needless to say, it was a night to remember!
