Struck down, but not Destroyed

Matthew 10:14 And if anyone will not receive you or listen to your words, shake off the dust from your feet when you leave that house or town. 15 Truly, I say to you, it will be more bearable on the day of judgment for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah than for that town.

Our ministry on Panama City Beach has gotten more dangerous…

Yesterday we had some great ministry down on the beach. It was 75 degrees, a beautiful day. You could not walk one step without being completely engulfed by drunken college students waiting for their favorite MTV band, and all this without a police officer in sight- unless you are planning to preach the Gospel.

Withing five minutes of our arrival at our first spot, we were surrounded by hotel security and the Sheriff’s department. Michael explained to the Sheriff’s department that we have gotten permission from the city attorney to preach within 25 feet of the water. This confirmed, they immediately left. There was no tickets issued to the multiple underage teenagers drinking alcohol, none issued to the ones flashing their bodies or gyrating sexually. This place is truly wicked, and the city council and those charged with enforcing the law are complicit in the wickedness.

One example was early in the day. An underaged female charged our speaker, knocked it over and in the process struck two people, one of whom was my son. We followed her and her friends until the single police officer arrived about 30 minutes later. Even though she and her friends were carrying liter bottles of booze, and were clearly intoxicated, none were issued a citation, or brethalyzed, despite a proponderance of witnesses to the incident. In his follow up, this young smallish officer witnessed a knockdown dragout brawl, and was surrounded immediately (with no backup, save me) by a bunch of angry, drunken, screaming breakers. He handled it well, no arrests made despite two young men who were brawling and bleeding. There were laws clearly broken, and kids who could have well been placed at least in a drunk tank, but nothing at all done. This city will reap what it sows as it supports this lawlessness with a total lack of police presence on this beach. I feel badly for these overwhelmed officers.

The ministry went on; we were on the northeast corner of the MTV stage with 7 preachers in rotation from all over the country. Thurstin, one of our CCN ministry students preached in the open air for the first time. He did well in conditions that even the most seasoned open air preachers can stumble and fall in. As usual, people who are drunk have a lack of boundaries and self control, so we had many situations where objects were thrown, people climbing up on our platform with the preacher, the usual obscene gestures and people flashing trying to get the attention of the preacher. None of it worked, and the Word of God was proclaimed with power and sparked many one to one conversations.

It was my last rotation that was interesting. There was a young woman that was intent on my exposition of Isaiah 53 and Psalm 51, as I was describing what Christ did and what we must to to respond. She was visibly impacted, weeping in the midst of drunken students who were intent on stoping the message. I continued preaching, and it was a good message with lots of interaction and response from the crowd.

The next thing I know I was being shaken by a young african american man, and slapped. I was surrounded by 50 kids all screaming orders at me. I was dizzy and had a headache and an eyeful of sand. Apparently, I was struck on the temple with a football thrown on purpose from the crowd. I fell backwards from our 2 ft tall podium and struck the ground. It was a scary place to be, surrounded by some angry people and some helpers. I was hoping my brothers were there (and they were). There was a girl crying (I think it was the same one listening to the message) telling the crowd that was surrounding me that the message was true, that they needed to repent and trust Jesus. I dont know if she was a Christian, but her demeanor makes me think Christ was working on her that moment in her weeping and pleading.

Eventually I was led away from the scene until the police could arrive (about 30 minutes later) and the EMT’s who were charged with checking me out. I was informed that the kid who threw the ball on purpose would only be charged with a misdemeanor, and would not be stopped even from continuing to enjoy his sin for a season. I praised God that there were some who were concerned, a brother from Bethel college prayed for me. Others who were listening to the message were there and I was able to share with them. The MTV guys were laughing and yelling at me saying I deserved it, and brother Jake and Shawn went over to preach to them. It was then the security showed up, and we were told that we were being trespassed from another hotels property. I didn’t get it; but we walked off. It was the same young officer, but while he was doing his paperwork, we began to preach at the kids gathered in the balconies. You see, while being trespassed, we had to stay on the property until he was able to gather all the information. So I preached, and it seemed to be effective, for eventually the officer and the security guards all agreed it was better that they give up on the tresspass order and stop our preaching than to pursue it. So the young officer escorted us off, and explained that it was no trespass order, and that we should stay off the property anyway. I thanked him for all his hard work through the day. I hope he gets saved.

I cannot wait to get on the box today, for I am ready to die for my king if need be. A bump on the head will not stop the message, by the grace of God.

~ by pastorboy on March 18, 2009.