I’ve been preaching on the streets now for a few months.  I’ll be the first to admit I’m not a veteran and I’m not an expert.  There are many people with more experience and there’s many that probably do it better than me.

    But preaching on a street corner sure does give God a chance to teach you a few things!  It’s “on-the-job training” and I’m coming to find out that that is a primary way that the Lord teaches us, while we’re actually doing it ("it" being His word), being vunerable to making mistakes.  It’s in our weaknesses that He is made strong in us.  I’m going to start writing out some of the lessons I’m learning while preaching on the streets.  I hope the Lord can use them to help and encourage you.

    So, the first question is, why?  I can see your faces as you drive by.  Some are confused, ashamed, embarassed, mad, and luckily a few that are excited!  (If you want the fear of man to be broken off of your life, get out on the streets and preach, it’ll get wiped out real quick.  Either you’ll break under the faces or you’ll explode with courage and boldness.)

    I’ve finally decided that God wants me on the streets to preach the gospel to the world.  Before, I wasn’t to sure.  But what were my options?  The question really became, why wouldn’t I preach the gospel on the streets?

    I’ve forsaken the world system and now I have a lot of free time on my hands.  So, time isn’t an issue.  And for those that are about to use it, TIME IS NO EXCUSE.  If you don’t have time to spend time with God, read the word, and do the word, then you have some issues you need to work out.  Click Here For Help And Encouragement.

    It’s real simple.  We’ve confused it so much, I know because I was confused myself(and I’m sure I still am). 

Here’s the simplicity of it:
If I have the message of the gospel, why wouldn’t I preach on a corner?

The answers:
Fear
Pride 

    I didn’t realize this until after I started preaching, but looking back, that’s what it was.
 
I was afraid of:
-What people would think
-What I would look like
-Not knowing what to say

 
    Pride kept me from addressing those issues honestly.  I was so prideful to think that I didn’t belong on that corner, that what I had to do was more important than looking like an idiot.  It’s not that I thought people shouldn’t be doing it, just not me, it’s not my style.  Well, what was my style?  It was hiding behind religious excuses like “I need to be studying”, or “I need to be praying” instead.  And to be honest, I thought I was too good for it.  What I had to tell people was way more complex and smart that I couldn’t stand on a corner to preach it, I needed focused attention so people could really see how smart I was.

    Thank the Lord I’m set free from that!!!!  I didn’t even realize that I was bound until the first proclaimation I made on that sidewalk in Tulsa.  Since then, things have become increasingly more simple and clear.  The only thing I need to know is how to preach “Repent, the Kingdom of God is here.”   I thank God it’s so simple.  I don’t need to know how to do anything else other than to say “Repent, the Kingdom of God is here” (and then demonstrate it, which the Lord is teaching me).  It’s getting more and more fun to preach it too.

    Why preach the gospel on the streets?  It’s simple, because people need to hear it.  There are people that will never step foot in a church to hear the gospel, and you have to catch them in their world doing what they do…and that’s on the street.  Interupting their lives for the gospel’s sake.  They need to be interuppted and confronted with a decision to make, accept Jesus or deny Him.  Those are the only two options I preach and I let them know that those are the only two options.

    If you’ve never thought about preaching on the streets, or if you have and have been to scared too, or if you think you’re too good for it.  Ask God what He would want you to do.  Read the gospels and see how Jesus did it and see how He told His disciples to share the message and measure that against your life…how does it compare?  Make a decision in light of that and begin to walk towards it.

    Have courage, be strengthened, have boldness and preach the Gospel!  There is nothing more important you could possibly do.

[tags]street preaching,open air preaching,street preacher,street minister,how to preach[/tags]