10 People I met tracting last Saturday

We gave out tracts last Saturday in Golders Green. Most people try to ignore you but here re ten that, for various reasons I interacted with. (I can't remember the order in which they came)

1. The tract was entitle forgiveness and one woman simply said "we all need more of that" with which I could not disagree.
2. An Algerian Muslim, keen to be friendly and convinced that our only hope is God's mercy but adamantly opposed to the idea that Jesus is anything more than a prophet.
3. A lady from Nepal who I had thought was a Filipina.
4. A lady we have known for many years who mostly sits under Charismatic ministry. I was glad to see her because the last time she was with us I had corrected her prayer.
5. A Filipino who came to the house once to groom our dog. He said he was a believer too.
6. The son of one of my very elderly members currently in hospital. It was good to hear about this member's situation face to face.
7. I have never had this before but a teenage boy flounced past and said "I am gay" the implication being that he could not take my tract on forgiveness, although I said he was welcome to take it.
8. A man who saw the tract and said "rubbish". I like to be quick on my feet and so I replied "So are you" - not exactly a Christian response, on reflection. What I meant was that we are all rubbish without Christ. I don't think he was offended.
9. A young woman who I am sure was Jewish sat nearby and read the whole thing carefully. I wanted to interact with her after but she went, although I saw her later and she was urging her boyfriend to read it.
10. A red haired Ukrainian lady called Aleksandra who said she was looking for a church to attend.

Busy Days

The last few weeks have been pretty busy. My daughter-in-law's younger sister was married on the 14th and it was good to be there. The wedding was held at King Alfred's School, where my first son's wedding reception was held ten years back. Lovely day. Nice to have family around for that and for some days before. The following Saturday (21st) we headed down to Crawley where our friends the Saywells were having a house warming cum birthday party for their boys. Nice to meet Jeremy and Alyssa Walker and many others new and old. We were able to pop in and see our friend Georgina too before she heads back to New Zealand. I'm glad we did. These are not easy days. before that Eleri and Owain had gone to Essex to view birds of prey and I had been at a men's meeting followed by tract giving in Golders Green. I then took the train to meet Eleri and lost my wallet en route somehow.

This week is a week of prayer and so I was up early on Monday for the first of these. The next was on Tuesday morning and then we gave our midweek meeting over to prayer and will meet again, God willing. We have had seven or eight at each meeting and most have prayed aloud. My wife's brother-in-law was with us last night and that was nice.

Tracting

Christians today disagree on the value of trying to give out tracts in the High Street. I can see both advantages and disadvantages. We continue to try and go out once a month, however, and I find it stimulating. Last time we went most did not take tracts but some did. One lady wasn't going to but then did.

Among the refusers were a lady who claimed to be an atheist. Apparently there is a lack of evidence so I suggested she take a look around. She was unconvinced so I pointed out that God had sent me to her to tell her that there is a God/ She was unimpressed. It is hard to see what more could be done.

Another refuser said he did not believe in Christianity. I try not to get wound up but I did tell him he was a silly man as the whole reason I was there on the streets was to reach people who don't believe.

I also saw three Hindu priests dressed in saffron accompanied by a minder. They were heading for the opticians. They politely refused my Christian tract.

At one point I saw someone I knew. I thought it was someone else, a woman who grew up coming to the church, at first but then I realised who it was. I don't think what I said was out of place.

Some of the time there was a lull and at one point the wind blew a tin can about so that it danced in quite a delightful way for about 30 or 40 seconds. God puts on these little shows sometimes quite unexpectedly just to amuse us.

At one point a girl stopped to sit on a bench nearby and take a stone out of her shoe. I remember thinking - if only all problems were as easy to solve.

A busy week

I've struggled a little this week partly possibly due to a busy week. (Eleri was the busy one rather than me to be truthful. She works two days a week and spent one day in Macclesfield at the new Go Teach offices). I gave the paper on Proverbs on Monday to about 17 of us, all eager to hear and to ask questions. Good time. In the evening we went to see Toy Story 4 which was good (nice to see a reference to conscience in there, even if only as the pretext for a joke). It is great that there are still one or two films we can all see together.

I've reported on Tuesday, my day off. Wednesday I was out with the other ministers walking across Hampstead Heath. About six of us were present. Good times. Rest of the day went on preparing and then leading the Midweek meeting.

We should have had an officers meeting on Thursday evening but that God postponed. Otherwise the main thing has been preparing for the Lord's Day. I've also started reading Penelope Fitzgerald's The gate of angels (a kind birthday gift from friends). (I had intended writing a post called a month of celebration marking the way my May 22 birthday tumbled into June with a lovely barbecue organised by friends for me and another church member. I was given books, ties and other gifts)

This morning (Saturday) we were out giving tracts in Golders Green. There were five of us. That was good to do again. Otherwise the busyness has just been with visitors - two sons and their wives at different times going to different weddings and two friends with each couple. In the first case the friend is relation from America. She, her friend and Gwion (our son) have travelled to France for the world cup. We are hoping for three extra at church tomorrow then.

J C Ryle Resources

I notice that there are J C Ryle items all over the internet. Ryle wrote many tracts and many of these were combined to form books. It can be confusing sometimes to know what is where. Among his many writings are those that deal with church history, mainly in biographical form. perhaps the best two items I have noticed are Ryle's Light for old times and many other titles of his in mobi and epub format here on this page (look for Ryle) and this long list of tracts and other things (187 or more) with a link to his books on Amazon here.

Rugby and Tracts

Some of our members have been given out this Roger Carswell tract recently. That's one of my sons there. (He's got my coat on. If salvation were by works would I score anything for that?)

Preaching in Trafalgar Square again

There was an opportunity to preach in Trafalgar Square again today. Things have changed a lot since we began doing this. We are now down to three hours and don't get use of the plinth. They'd kept the protesting doctors to a spot outside the square at least, however. We had the prime spot. We probably need more powerful speakers. We are competing often with people outside the national gallery. I preached first and Roland Brown, Peter Bell and others followed. It was cold but dry and lots of tracts and Bibles were given out.

Stairway to Heaven

Evangelism has been the theme today (Saturday). In the morning three or four of us went out with a tract into Golders Green. By the time we headed out the early rain had passed and some people at least were willing to take a tract. We also had a book table but there was not too much interest – it needs perking up.
Then tonight I travelled down to Sidcup in Kent where I was the speaker at an evangelistic meal in Days Lane Baptist Church. I have known the pastor Scotsman Stuart Pendrich for many years through the Westminster Fellowship, Banner and preaching in Trafalgar Square. The real connection, however, is the Barns family who were with us for many years but have latterly moved to Sidcup in order to accommodate their large family.
South and North London are quite different and so are the two churches in some ways (size, make up, some few theological issues) so I felt a little out of touch but they are friendly people and I was warmly welcomed. I spoke at a houseparty for them a few years ago. A group has left since then but they still seem a very good number.
Days Lane has excellent facilities and they put on quite a meal, paid for partly by a ticketing system. Around a hundred, including plenty of outsiders, were present with little room for more. The evening (a three course meal and coffee followed by a talk) was conducted efficiently without too many frills and was an excellent opportunity. I sat with Stuart on one side and a charming 8 year old girl on the other who was there with her mother (the father is unwell). I was opposite an Ulster man and his wife. His testimony was to a godly start in the Bible belt, the ensnarement of alcohol and then 21 years of sobriety.
I spoke on a stairway to heaven, using the Led Zeppelin number as a starting point. It also formed the basis of the tract we used this morning. It was mainly material that I had prepared some years ago and had stumbled across again recently. I very simply spoke of the fact of heaven, its desirability, our inability to get there by ourselves, the need to look to God and the fact that Jesus is the stairway to heaven. One hopes it will have its impact by the grace of God.
I am preaching in the meetings in Days Lane tomorrow too, God willing. It is teir 72nd anniversary. We have an LTS student preaching in Childs Hill.

TWTWTW

I must admit I'm half glad that the snow has come as I'm incredibly busy at present. It started last Monday with an evening committee meeting for the London Inreach Project in Covent Garden. Prior to that the day was fairly easy. Managed to go for a run round the park.

On Tuesday I was out all afternoon continuing to pursue the matter of where the Evangelical Library should move to. As reported, I spent Tuesday evening at Grove Chapel listening to jazz.

Wednesday was dominated by my regular visits to take services at Spring Court and Heath Grove Lodge (on Philippians 1 and Jonah 4). In between that I popped into central London to meet up with my good friend Chris Buckingham. In the evening it was our regular midweek meeting (looking at Deuteronomy 18).

In the midst of all this I found myself sheltering from the rain with my i-pod on. A live version of Sylvia (my all time favourite) came on and although I've listened to that song thousands of times it struck me once again how good it is. As I looked up there was the word Sylvia across the road in front to me (good job I'm not religious, eh?).

By Thursday I had so much to do I had to get up an hour earlier. I fitted most of it in, including writing a tract, preparing various other things and an afternoon Greek session at LTS on participles and the opening verses of the Sermon on the Mount. In the evening we had our bi-monthly church members meeting. It's always a good time but I wish we could have more present.

On Friday I was in Welwyn at the EMF lecturing on JWs and Mormons. I had some business at a bank near Goodge Street en route home plus a visit to Finchley to read from Lloyd-Jones' masterful Preachers and preaching with Richard Raven a student at LTS who is one of our mentoring students. (He preached for us yesterday and quite acceptably too). We celebrated Dylan's birthday in the evening with fahitas and krispy kreme doughnuts. Also that evening, of course, it was the clubs for children and young people where I spoke about this current ad on the buses suggesting there is no God and we had a quiz.

Saturday morning we were giving out tracts in Golders Green in the bitterly cold wind - not the best weather for it. In the afternoon most of the family went to Aldenham Country Park and had a nice time there despite the cold.

Sunday morning I preached in the Welsh church, as reported. The three older boys were in Childs Hill to hear Richard. We went for a walk in Kenwood in the afternoon. I took communion in the evening adn then Richard preached on Psalm 145.

September Revolution

It was a busy weekend. I was speaking to the children and then the young people on Friday night on Lot and his bad choice. A bit low on numbers with the younger ones but a decent number of older ones. We played the yes, no game and just a minute after. Good fun.

On Saturday morning we gave out tracts in Golders Green. Little response there but naive to meet Elias, an Angolan pastor based at a Pentecostal church in Hammersmith.

In the evening we had a 15+ meeting for the older ones at our house. About 12 came. I chose September Revolution as the theme. I found some revolution music and did a revolution quiz. Why September Revolution? September obviously because it's still September. As for revolution -

The word is from Latin and means to turn around. A revolution can refer to the act of revolving, rotating, turning round on an axis or a centre as with a wheel or top or earth on its axis. When a car engine turns over that is called a revolution, a rev for short. When I was a boy vinyl records were more popular than today. The big ones (LPs) were 33 1/3 rpm and the small ones (singles) 45 rpm. Rpm = “revolutions per minute”. Today's CDs have a variable rpm (200-500 rpm).
We're much more familiar with the word in reference to a fundamental change in power or organisational structures that takes place in a relatively short period of time. Revolutions of various sorts have occurred throughout human history. Scholars debate what is and isn't a revolution but among the most famous are the various French, American and Russian (leading to communism). Less obvious - Glorious Revolution, 1688 when one king (James II) was deposed and a new king and queen brought in from overseas (William and Mary of Orange). The word is also used for social or intellectual movements such as the Copernican, agricultural, industrial or scientific revolutions.
One dictionary defines it “a drastic and far-reaching change in ways of thinking and behaving” and as you may have guessed that is the meaning that I focused on. I myself knew “a drastic and far-reaching change” in my ways of thinking and behaving when I was about 12. I was born again. It was like a revolution. Everything turned round. I experienced what the Bible talks about when it talks about being born again, when it says If anyone is in Christ he is a new creation. The old has gone the new has come. (2 Cor 5:17).
In other words, if you turn from your sin and put your trust in Christ then you'll be made into a new person. Everything will change. Not that you'll become a different person in the sense of your personality changing but all the old ways will go and in will come all sorts of new ways. There will be a revolution of enormous proportions. I'm sure it is more noticeable if like me you don't come from a Christian home. I was brought up to believe in God and believe the Bible was his Word but my parents didn't know God and didn't know much about what was in the Bible. When the revolution came to me then it was quite obvious there had been a big change. If you grow up in a Christian home the change may be less obvious to outsiders. Nevertheless becoming a Christian is a big change – as big a change as any earthly revolution. For me
1. It was like a Copernican Revolution. The Copernican Revolution is the term used to describe the change that took place when Nicholas Copernicus discovered that it is not that the sun goes round the earth but that the earth and the other planets go round the sun. I had thought that everything revolved around me but I discovered that in fact it all centres on God. Have you had a Copernican Revolution? Is God now at the centre of your life?
2. It was a little like the American Revolution and other revolutions of that sort it was all about who was going to rule over my life. There was a time when that old tyrant was ruling but he was overthrown by that powerful revolutionary Jesus Christ. He now rules in my life.
3. It was also cultural revolution, a big change like the agricultural or industrial revolutions. All sorts of changes have come from that one great change in my life.
4. Finally, it was like the Peaceful Revolution of 1989 in Germany or the Glorious Revolution of 1688 here, sometimes called the bloodless revolution. I say that because there was no actual blood shed in my conversion although just as there was some fighting and some bloodshed in the Glorious Revolution and the overthrow of communism came at a price too so in fact blood was shed in order for me to become a Christian too - the blood of Jesus Christ on the cross. If he'd not died in my place then I could never have found forgiveness and I could never have been born again.
So I am saying that a radical revolution has come in my life. There has been a very great change. Now you may say that is very nice for you but what has it got to do with me? It is not just me who has known this revolution but countless thousands of others around the world have had their lives turned around too. They too have been converted. They have been born again. They have come to trust in Christ and so they are a new creation. The old has gone the new has come.
In Bob Marley's song Revolution he starts by singing the slightly different word Revelation. He says “Revelation reveals the truth – revelation” before saying “It takes a revolution to make a solution”. I'm not sure why he does that but God's Revelation, the Bible, makes clear that this revolution that I'm talking about is something that needs to happen to us all. Without this you can't hope to go to heaven. Jesus himself says (Matthew 18:3) I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. To be a Christian you need to change. There needs to be a revolution, a turn around. There are many calls to repent – to change your mind, to undergo a revolution in your head. So Peter says in Acts 3:19 Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord.
So when I speak about a September Revolution I'm saying to you "Now is the time for change. Now is the time for revolution. Now is the time for repenting."
1. Stop thinking everything revolves around you and start seeing that God needs to be at the centre of what you do.
2. You've spent enough time following the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in you, Satan. Don't you see that tyrant is doomed. The ruler of this world has been thrown down by Christ and he has as much of a future as poor old Louis XVI who they sent to the guillotine in the French Revolution or poor old Tsar Nicholas II whose body they soaked in acid and burned in the Russian Revolution.
3. Big changes are needed in your life – in the way you think, the way you speak, the way you live. The Bible says that by nature you have a heart of stone. You need to have that stony heart torn out and a new fleshy heart put in its place. You need a new heart and a new spirit. The axe needs to be put to the root of the old true and a new tree put in its place.
4. It's not a matter of starting some sort of war or shedding your blood. All the fighting and bloodshed needed has already been done by Christ on the cross. On the cross he fought against sin, death and Satan and was victorious. He paid the price – his own life blood – to set people like us free. All you have to do is look to him and you'll be free. All your sins will be taken away and you'll have the power to begin again, to turn round and start all over again. You will be a new creation in Christ.
Very practically, how does the revolution begin? Recognise how very sinful you are, how you've broken God's law. Confess your sins to him, ask for forgiveness in Christ. Trust only in him. Do this and you'll be saved. But be warned, it will change everything. It's like a revolution – a September Revolution!