“You Put Too Much Trust in Jesus!” – Andover Evangelism
The rain poured down as I made my way to Andover; according to the forecast, it would be a wet outreach. To my surprise, the weather cleared in time for the ministry to begin.
It was quiet in the town centre, and to be honest, I didn’t expect much engagement with the preaching, but the Lord had other plans. As I preached on “The Big Picture of Easter,” a couple of people stopped to listen. One responded to the preaching by accepting a copy of John’s Gospel.
A lady who listened wasn’t as receptive. She told me she disagreed with our message but appreciated us being out there. As she spoke, she revealed she was a Jehovah’s Witness. At first, she wanted to talk about Easter and Christmas (claiming they are pagan), then she wanted to know why I preached about the resurrection. Finally, she listed her big objection: she said, “You put too much trust in Jesus!” With that, she declared that to become righteous, one had to do good works.
This lady believed that Jesus did some of the work, but we had to add to it. In response, I took her to Isaiah 64:6 to show that our best deeds are filthy in the sight of God. I then asked her to examine Titus 3:5, which proclaims that salvation is not by anything we do. Finally, I took her to 2 Corinthians 5:21 so she could see that our righteousness comes through Jesus alone. After listening, she openly said, “I reject your message!” With that, she walked away.
Paul and I both preached a couple more times before the outreach finished. One man who listened to me preach came back to ask for literature and a Muslim convert who heard Paul asked for material also.
Between the five of us on the team, many in Andover were exposed to the gospel either verbally or in written form. It was a quiet day, but even in the quietness, the truth kept advancing.
SDG!
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Josh Williamson is a full-time evangelist with The Open-Air Mission. Since 1853, OAM has been sharing the good news on the streets of the United Kingdom. To stay updated about the work of the Mission, please sign up for the free quarterly magazine and monthly prayer notes.
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