Open Air Meets Black Lives Matter

In late June of 2020, I went to the city of Columbus with Anthony Silvestro, Joe Conkle, Mike Stockwell, and a few other people whose names I don't know very well because I just met them that day. And we intended to go to a rally actually for Satanists, and we were going to preach the gospel and minister to the people there and give them tracts. And we could not actually find any Satanists, so they are not the most organized group of people and they certainly are non-conformists, so it's probably hard to gather them together.

So we were walking through the city of Columbus and what we found was a Black Lives Matter get together with several police officers and we decided that we would preach the gospel. So we preached the gospel and so what you're about to listen to is my open air preaching followed by you'll hear Anthony Silvestro preaching in the background and you may hear me have some conversations while we're standing there and then followed by you will hear Mike Stockwell in the background preaching while I have some conversations. I don't like spending a ton of time doing audio editing, and so there is going to be times that it probably doesn't sound really good because I tried to do a noise reduction on the audio because of all of the wind noise there was on my GoPro camera.

So if I'm going to record into a GoPro, I'm going to need to get a microphone in, I think, to make it a little bit better audio quality. I want to give you a warning that there is profanity in this audio. I'm not going to go through and try to find it all and get rid of it, so I apologize if that offends anyone, and so please don't listen with children or people who you don't want to hear those things.

One thing you may notice, about 30 or 37 seconds in, there's actually a woman who was angry with the police when we first started because they had a big gun. You hear her talk about why do they have a big gun out. And then after I started preaching, you hear her ask them to shoot me. And it's a little bit striking when you think about that. So this is otherwise unedited.

So you'll hear our side conversations that we had. You'll hear my conversation that I had for a short period with a Seventh-day Adventist. And so I hope it's edifying to those of you who go to the streets. I hope it's helpful to people to learn how to do evangelism on the street, whether you preach or whether you're just accompanying people and interacting with non-believers.

So without any more introduction, here it is. videoing now because he's got the big launcher out. What are you doing with the big gun? All right, friends. Here we go. Greetings, friends of Columbus. We're here to proclaim to you the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ.

Yes, Jesus Christ, the name that is above all names. The judge of the earth. The one who's going to come to judge blasphemers, fornicators, adulterers, liars, the cowardly, the detestable. Jesus Christ, the judge of all the earth. I want to tell you, he's going to also judge murderers and those who hate people. And he's going to send you to hell, where you belong.

But Jesus Christ offers forgiveness. And that's why we're here. So that we might know the forgiveness of God. This isn't about God. This is about the fact that people have abandoned God. That's why we have so much pain and so much angst in this world.

And so here we are. The Apostle Paul has been preaching in Athens. Excuse me? The police and the protesters abandoned God. Everybody in our nation has. Our whole nation needs repentance.

Our whole nation does. so Paul standing in the middle of the Areopagus said this men of Athens but he could have been speaking to the people of Columbus he says I perceive that in every way you are very religious for as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship I found an altar with this inscription to the unknown God. What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you. The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything.

And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, that they should seek God and perhaps feel their way toward him. and find Him. See, the Bible tells us that the wrath of God is already revealed against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men. And that because of our unrighteousness we suppress the truth that we know about God Because everything that we need to know about God to be accountable to Him has been clearly perceived through nature, through creation.

So we're able to see His eternal power, His divine nature, just by looking around at creation, even by looking at other people. Absolutely. This man says there's no justice, there's no peace. The problem is, is this man doesn't know what justice is. Justice is something that God has defined. God is the one who defines justice.

And God's justice means that we need to understand God's law. God's law is revealed to us in the Ten Commandments. The Ten Commandments tell us that we should not steal. We should not lie. We should not murder. We should not commit adultery.

But Jesus came and told us that all of those who even lust after someone in their heart, they've already committed adultery in the eyes of God. Jesus told us that if you've murdered someone, you're liable to judgment. But if you've even hated your brother, you're liable to judgment. That if you insult your brother or call him a fool with hatred in your heart, that you're guilty of murder in the eyes of a holy God.

None of us can stand before a holy God on our own righteousness. None of us can stand before a holy God, even on our own two feet, on our own strength. But God, who is angry with the wicked every day, God who hates hands that shed innocent blood God who hates haughty eyes and a lying tongue that God is going to come and judge the living and the dead one day does he hate gay people?

God hates all workers of iniquity does he hate gay people? say it out loud absolutely God hates all workers of iniquity that includes homosexuals fornicators blasphemers it includes everyone of us but in Jesus Christ there's forgiveness. Jesus Christ came and lived the sinless life that you and I could not live. Jesus Christ never once committed adultery.

Jesus once never used God's name in vain as a curse word. Jesus Christ is the only Savior of the world and He lived the sinless life that you and I could not live. And when Jesus Christ came into the world, he was tempted in every way and yet without sin. And so Jesus Christ, when he went to the cross, when he was crucified and he was victimized and he was martyred, Jesus Christ is the only innocent man who was ever killed.

And when Jesus Christ was killed on that cross, he was fulfilling an eternal plan of God. He was fulfilling God's eternal plan to redeem a people for himself. And Jesus Christ died the death that sinners deserve. And when Jesus Christ rose from the dead, he was announcing that he had conquered death and sin. That there was nothing that could hold him in the grave.

Death couldn't hold him. Satan couldn't hold him. your sin and my sin couldn't hold them because Jesus Christ's life is worth more than our sin. And so the announcement to you today is to repent. To turn from your sin and turn to Jesus Christ. And to trust that Jesus Christ is your only hope before a holy God. God is just and he will have his vengeance on the wicked in this world wicked men will get away with things periodically but no one will escape God's judgment his eyes are in every place keeping watch on the evil and on the good and so what we're announcing to you today is that you can have your sins personally forgiven.

You can be forgiven by the God that you've offended, by the God that you've angered. You can be forgiven because of what Jesus Christ did, not because of anything that you have done. The Bible says that the mercy of God comes not through works of righteousness that we have done, but according to the kindness and the mercy of our Savior, Jesus Christ.

God has given us the knowledge of Him through His creation. So when we look at the buildings, we look at the sky, we look at trees, we look at each other, We can see his astounding design, his immense intelligence, his perfect ability to create anything that he so pleases. And what that's supposed to do is cause you to tremble in fear before him. but instead what we have done is we have taken the good gifts that god has provided and we have twisted them and turned them into something they weren't meant for let me give you an example that might hit a little home god has given us a great variety in humanity in the way we look and that supposed to be a testament to how creative he is and how beautiful he is in making such a beautiful creation and yet we here today and many people are here because of the problem of racism so we've taken something good that god has given us and we have twisted it for our own iniquitous desires.

God gave us sexuality to be shared between one man and one woman in marriage. It's a good gift of God to be enjoyed by people who are living in the righteous situation of marriage. But we have twisted it and we have created pornography and strip clubs and all manner of fornication. We've twisted it into perversions like homosexuality and child molestation.

And when we twist the good gifts that God give us, we break his law. And what we do is we tell God that we don't care what he has said and that we're really not afraid of his judgment. But so we're here today to announce to you the judgment of God that is coming, that you may tremble before him. The Bible says all the earth should tremble before God. And so we tell you about his law, about his righteous judgment, about his holy anger towards sinners, so that you might repent, so that you might be forgiven.

What color was Jesus? We don't know what color Jesus was. The Bible doesn't tell us. we know it doesn't matter what color he was because Jesus came to save people from every tribe, tongue, language, nation in the whole world there's people from all over it says he was the color of bronze no it doesn't tell me what verse it says in Revelation it says he has feet that were burnished as if they were bronze as if he'd walked through fire which is what he did Jesus Christ's color is irrelevant what's relevant is that his blood was shed for men and for women worldwide that when Jesus Christ became a man he was a real man just like we are real human beings and that God actually condescended to come into this world and to become a man and suffer the same types of things we suffer to suffer the temptations that we suffer And yet Jesus Christ never once gave in to sin.

He never once gave in to the lusts that we give in to daily. Because Jesus Christ is perfect and he always has been perfect. The Bible tells us Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. This is a God you can count on. This is a Savior who will never leave you if you will come to him. So the word is repent.

Repent and turn to Jesus Christ for salvation. Stop following what other men are telling you to do. Stop following the mob or the crowd. Stop believing what people are telling you in this world and believe what God has said in his word that has been established for all eternity. His unchanging word. and what we believe in his unchanging word is that jesus christ came into the world to save sinners that while we were still weak christ died for the ungodly it scarcely would anyone die for a righteous man but perhaps for a good man somebody would dare to die but while we were still sinners, Jesus Christ died.

He demonstrated his love. And so what we announce to you today is the love of Jesus Christ, the hope that is offered by Jesus Christ for sinners to be forgiven. We stand out here and everybody here fancies themselves somewhat powerful. Everybody here thinks that they've got some control over the world and themselves. And yet even a little bit of wind should be enough to scare you.

Because this wind that's sent by God is nothing for him. but if he increased it just a little bit, he could kill us all. And so you're not to fear man who could kill your body, but fear God who could destroy your body and soul in hell. We implore you by the mercies of God to come to Jesus Christ today for forgiveness. Call out to Jesus Christ and believe that he's the one who died on the cross for your sins. believe that only the righteousness of Jesus Christ will allow you to enter the presence of God believe that Jesus Christ died on the cross for your sins and rose again three days later believe that that same power can raise you to new life one day that is what we announce today the forgiveness of sins the hope of a future resurrection The love of God manifested in the sacrifice of his own son for sinners.

Our sins are many, but his forgiveness is even more. And all those who come to him, he will never cast out. There is hope in Jesus Christ. There is forgiveness in Jesus Christ but for those who will not come to Him there awaits only judgment The judgment of God is severe and it will be harsh and it will be strict There will not be time for you to open your mouth and argue with God when you stand before Him.

God sees everything that you do, everything you say, everything you think. And God will hold you accountable for every idle word that you've ever said. That is why the Bible says that God looks to the one who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles before his word. We have to fear God and turn away from evil to have life. It is okay to protest something that you disagree with.

What is not okay is to rebel against your creator. It is not okay to celebrate sin. It is not okay to celebrate unrighteousness and evil. We look at what is probably the greatest evil of our day, and that's abortion. we are murdering thousands of our children in the United States every day thousands a day are murdered most of them black babies we are systematically murdering our most innocent and weak people and God hears the earth itself cry out to him the creation groans in the pains of childbirth.

And one day God will deliver all of creation from this curse. And on that day, those who have been redeemed, those who believe that Jesus Christ is the Savior, they will go with God into eternity. And those who have not turned to Jesus Christ by faith, they are the ones who will be punished. and God's punishment is in eternity in hell. Hell is a horrible place and I don't want you to go there.

I don't want you to taste even one moment of it. Jesus Christ came and suffered and died so that sinners could be forgiven. Jesus came and died so that people like you and me could be reconciled to God and to each other. Jesus died in a sense so that we could have peace with God and thus we have a chance of peace with each other so we announce Jesus Christ is God he reigns he is sitting in the heavens right now reigning and he is watching everything we do and when terrible destruction comes upon the wicked, he will laugh at the calamity of the wicked.

And God's judgment will be more creative and more powerful and more painful than the most cruel humans have ever been able to come up with. And God's punishment will never end. Because your sins against a holy God are infinite in their nature because they are against an infinite being. That means that your punishment must be infinite as well. But Jesus Christ, who is God in the flesh, was able to take the penalty sinners deserve fully on himself.

Because Jesus Christ was God himself when he became a man and suffered. He was able to fully take on the wrath of God, the result of God's perfect justice meted out towards sinners. Jesus Christ is the one who took the punishment that sinners deserve. And all those who come to him are forgiven. If you truly come to Jesus Christ, you will never be cast away.

He will send his Holy Spirit to indwell you and protect you and keep you holy as a seal of your redemption as a down payment that your body will be taken to heaven. And so we announce to you today, Jesus Christ is Lord and King, Savior of the world. Come to Him today. We'd be happy to talk to you. We'd be happy to answer your questions. And we'd also be happy to see you bow your knee to Jesus Christ as Savior right now today.

Don't wait another day. You want to preach, Mike? You want to preach? I'll keep going. Are you ready? In the book of Isaiah, Jesus Christ's coming is predicted. it says surely he has borne our griefs and taken our sorrows but we esteemed him stricken smitten by god and afflicted he was pierced for our transgressions and crushed for our iniquities upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace and with his wounds we are healed all we like sheep have gone astray we have turned everyone to our own way but Yahweh God has laid on Jesus Christ the iniquity of us all You hear me, don't you?

You're hearing about Jesus Christ. I want you to repent and trust Him. Everything is about Jesus. If people would worship Jesus, we wouldn't have the problems we're having. Jesus brings peace. Jesus Christ is the one who's the Prince of Peace.

He is the King of Righteousness. and we have all turned away from him and we need to individually repent of our sins and we need to trust that Jesus can forgive us because they made his grave with the wicked but he bears the sins of many because it's Jesus Christ who is able to forgive sinners. He came into the world to forgive sinners and it's Jesus Christ alone who has the power to forgive sin. And so we announce to you today that Jesus Christ, the King of Peace, the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords, Jesus Christ is the one who you must bow the knee to.

Jesus Christ is the only victim that ever lived that was a truly innocent man. Jesus Christ is the only martyr who was truly innocent he was punished for his sinlessness and so we want to exalt the name of Jesus Christ today in your presence and we desire that you would exalt him too that you would worship him in the splendor of holiness and tremble before him for he is God alone and there is no other God before him. All your gods are worthless idols.

You all have them. You have your gods that you worship and your God demands self-sacrifice, your God demands your time, your money, your self-abasement, and you are becoming like your God. And if your God is not the living God, then you're actually becoming like your dead God. You're dying. But we call on you to be born again by the Holy Spirit. For no one will see the kingdom of heaven unless he is born again.

This is not a tricky saying. This is simply what scripture tells us about Jesus Christ and how to come to faith in him. So today, believe in him. Beg God for mercy. confess to God your sinfulness and your need for his mercy and grace in the book of Genesis we read thank you sign and let them have dominion over the mission of the Lord and over the heavens and over the life of God and over all earth and over the creation of faith that creeps on the earth.

For God created man in his own image. In the image of God, he created him. Male and female, he created them. Here the reality is that God made every single person that is out here today Every person here looks like Adam and Eve Every person here is related The Bible speaks of nationalities. The Bible speaks of ethnicities. The Bible does not speak of different races.

There is one blood and one race according to the Bible. God made every one of us derived from Adam and Eve. Every one of us believes the exact same bride. We're all made in His image. There's a common ground. You're welcome.

Can you hold that for a minute? Can you get a break? Can you put it in my bag for me? We're all made in His image. There's like a big pouch with a cord going in it. Every one of us is broken God's law continuously.

We've lied. We've stolen. We've lost it. You take the Lord's name as made, as like what a lot of people do already today. As God said, every man deported wants to die in that judgment. Every one of us is going to face God when we die.

And that's why they're drowning for every one of our sins. And the reality is, how are you going to prepare a judgment day when you face God? See, God talks about, God talks about justice. You know what God's justice is? God's justice is a perfect justice because in order for justice to occur there's some rain that's the only God the God of the universe the God who made everything that we see out here today that God is the only one that is actually just and that God is the only one that can give justice true justice and see that God is concerned mostly about the souls of people That God is going to see every single person who died on that judgment day is going to have to get accounted for their sins.

That means as we destroy cities, as we put cars, treat other people bad, murder people, you'll be able to get accountable in front of God on judgment day. And the reality is there will be no peace. There will only be peace through Jesus Christ. Peace can only occur through Jesus Christ. And the reason why is because this life is a very short life for all of us here.

You might live 70, maybe 80 years if you're lucky. And then after that you face God, and for eternity you will be in heaven or in hell. Hell is reserved for fornicators and liars. Hell is reserved for drunkenness. hell is reserved for thieves hell is reserved for all unrepentant sin and the reality is that we can pretend that there's some type of justice among people we can pretend that there's some type of peace but ultimately you cannot have peace unless you have peace with God we have to fear about God is love and you know what, 1 John 4 would talk about this God is love Hey, Joe.

The love of God which made man a pastor is sunset on the cross. See, the reality is we can only have peace if we're reconciled with God. And the only way we can be reconciled with God is repentance and faith. I don't think we're going to escape some rain here. God commands all men everywhere to repent and believe in God will Yeah this wind change That gospel is clear That God himself came down the road and lived a perfect life and none of us are capable of And he went to the cross to die for his own death.

I might just go behind a building or something. It didn't deserve death. And yet he went to die on the cross. I still want all my gear to get wet. You know what, I'm going to put it... Kind of.

To get the plug to plug in, I have to leave that open. To have the backup battery plugged in. And justice is going to be served. And that justice is going to be served. We're going to face God in this Wednesday. And all of you out here who are not in Christ, without the fact that you're sinning, but you're trusting Christ, we will face God.

And the reality is, is you don't know. But I can assure you this, Hebrews 9, 27, it says, Every man is appointed once to die in the judgment. immediately when you die you will face God on that judgment day there is no crematory there is no place you can go you're not going to be able to tell God that you did a bunch of good that outweighs your bad in life to be able to go to heaven there is no amount of good you can do to be able to ruin your way to heaven and it's strictly through Christ's blood of the cross and his love was poured out of that cross and the father, the father poured out his wrath on the son where Jesus paid that penalty for sinners. His love, his love came out to those who were bent to believe.

Where are you guys from? Whitehall Mass. I'll give you one of my cards. Oh, thanks. I've got a blog and a podcast. Maybe it'll encourage you.

All right. Yeah, there's a lot of teaching on there. All right, good deal. Is this your first time coming down for one of these or have you come a couple of times? No, this is our first time. We came home because the Satanists that were supposed to be marching down here.

That's what we came for. We couldn't find them. But here's the thing. God had a plan. Yeah. And these people need to hear what God had to say.

Yeah. It was like the, I was saying it's the worst Satanist march ever. Yeah. We didn't see one. That's funny because my son, when I was telling him about it, he's 10 and he's like, they're going to lose. Yeah.

No, I was like, this is, I, my buddy called me and said, I'm going to come down for this, this Luciferian thing. Do you want to go? And I told him, I said, I said, I doubt they'll get 12 people there. yeah and he said well i'm coming anyway and i said well i'll just meet you downtown i live close yeah yeah so pretty funny well the devil likes the uh likes these shadows anyway confusion yeah yeah are we leaving now okay No, I left the house.

I didn't expect rain. Yeah, do you want a bottle of water or something? I'd love one. Oh, thank you. I was out there thinking, why didn't I have more water with me? Yeah, I got you.

Thanks so much. You're welcome. Thank you. Appreciate it No problem Do any of you want a bottle of water or anything Yeah If you ask anthony who just preached he might just give him some water i sure i'm not with those people i'm not with you guys either jesus christ and what you've got well we are done well you're you're seven day events right yeah so we keep all the commandments Yeah, no.

We've been through this, yeah. You need to repent of your idolatry. Trust in the grace of Christ only. Oh, my God. Jesus said, no man takes my life. But I'm going to do it.

And I'm going to take it again. And with Christ, the risen Savior, Jesus Christ, the rose from the dead, he came into the world the same. He's merciful and he's mighty the same. Yeah, finish the verse, buddy. But the gift of God is eternal life. Yeah.

What do you believe? He believes he keeps all the commandments. Oh, one of those. He keeps all the commandments. You know, pride is a sin too. And that's the first sin when somebody says they can keep all the commandments.

It's pride to think that. Idolaters in here at the Lake of Fire. We're here to warn you. But we have to warn people against you. You've set yourself up as a false teacher. I've known that guy for years.

7 day Adventists every big event that's what I was wondering yeah yeah he thinks that this is going to be damned he thinks that he keeps all the commandments right but he told us we're going to hell yeah because we don't keep all the commandments but he doesn't, he has 7 day Adventists they don't believe in hell Annihilation or whatever. I didn't say they were logically consistent. I just said he was a 17th century pastor.

But he quoted the wages of sin as death to me. I'm like, why don't you finish the verse? The gift of God is the start of life. That's real life, man. If you've got a guy that you're trying to teach theology to, bring him down here. Don't argue with the guy, though.

No arguing. For hours. And it really trained my son and some other guys. Wow. You all done, Mike? Yep.

Okay. Thank you for listening to Be a Berean with your host, Michael Coughlin. I am a writer at thingsabove.us. And I also have a personal website. michaelcoghlan.net You can contact me by emailing me michael at thingsabove.us I hope that you have been encouraged to search the scriptures.