I found on Friday night that there was going to be a party in Cincinnati Saturday.  It had something to do with a huge goat and beer... so me a Jim were in!  Where there is beer and goats, there has GOT to be sinners in need of a savior!

We cruised by the Bockfest area early and didn't find many partiers so we decided to start the evening at Fountain Square.  The first decent conversation we had was with the parking-lot-attendant-dude (we'll call him Dude).  He was all over the map - Jesus smoked weed, the Bible isn't literal, if you don't believe that he Bible is literal you are on the way to hell...etc.  Dude claimed to be a Christian but his favorite past-times involve lusting after women, smoking refer, and using the Lord's name in vain (we experienced that first hand).  Uh... according to the Bible, this dude is NOT a Christian.  We asked him if he has ever been "born-again" and he responded with a, "WHAT'S THAT?" 

After expounding on John 3 and sharing our testimonies, we left Dude because he had to get back to work.  Pray for this man that God open his eyes and that he sees how lost he really is.

The next guy we had an engaging conversation with was Addict.  Addict helped guide me as I was parallel parking my car and then promptly asked us for money.  Contrary to popular opinion, street preachers usually don't make much money but what we had be gave him... JESUS!  Addict shared with us that he's addicted to crack.  We talked for quite a while on how Jesus can deliver him from that awful drug.  Once again, we shared on being born again.  I told him that asking a sinner to stop sinning is like asking a dog to quit wagging his tail.  A transformation is required... being born again.  We were able to pray with Addict.  Keep him in your prayers.

That pretty much sums up our Bockfest outing.  We went to where the party was and the crowds were all in-doors on private property.  We were hoping to do a little preaching but found ourselves looking for a crowd to preach to.  We could have made moments to preach but we both think that the fear of man got the best of us.  Pray for us that the Holy Spirit anoint us with boldness to proclaim the gospel in the face of sin.

Here is what God gave me last night as I was about to go to bed (regarding fear):

-      Fear is the absence of faith

-          If you don’t believe you can, you can’t

-          If you don’t believe you will, you won’t

-          Perfect faith does anything

-          Perfect fear does nothing

-          Because of fear, potential never germinates into actual

-          Because of faith, actual always germinates from potential

-          Men full of faith harness fear and train it into zeal

-          Men full of fear put to pasture faith and run from it in timidity.

-          The root of fear is selfishness

-          The root of faith is love.

Wow... what can I say?  The videos pretty much sum up our outreach.  We did have an opportunity to do quite a bit of one-on-one witnessing while there.  Our small group managed to pray with 5-6 people to accept Christ as their Lord.  We pray that they earnestly seek the Lord as if their soul depended on it. 

It was interesting that God used each of us to bring forth the full counsel of God.  One brother would preach on God's wrath and another would preach on his mercy and grace.  One would clearly define sin and another would clearly lay out the way out of sin. 

The mockery and bitterness toward the gospel was beyond belief.  It's quite sad to see our nation's youth given over to sexual perversion and drunkenness.  When you kick God out of the public schools and replace him with a message of evolution, this is what you get.  We, as a nation, are reaping what we sowed.

All in all, this mission trip was a spiritual blessing.  If you ever get a chance to attend one of these outreaches, DO IT!  It will change you forever.  It will embolden you to stand up for righteousness and the gospel.